The Handweavers Guild of Connecticut is an “outgrowth of a two-week weaving course taken by ten people which was given by the State at the Vinal Trade School in Middletown.” That 
group of weavers began meeting in October 1947 but didn’t formally organize until 1948.

 

Everyone who took the course was so enthusiastic about it that Evelyn (Mrs. Herbert Straub) of Kensington invited people to meet and bring their friends. The first meeting was attended by 40 people. After it was formally organized Mrs. Straub became its first president.

 

Between 1952 and 1957 the new Handweavers Guild of CT did a lot to organize itself. It developed by-laws; a plan to elect officers; and undertook to learn as much as possible about weaving. In 1953 there was a special meeting at the Wadsworth with a slide show on “Two Thousand Years of Weaving.” The new guild began having regular meetings at various locations such as libraries, churches, museums, historical societies, and the YMCA. They met
on the third Saturday of September, November, January, March, and May. Around 1956, the guild was divided into Areas to allow for more weaving study during the months that the Guild did not meet.

 

By 1963 the Guild had over 140 members. We have grown in numbers to nearly 250! In July of odd-numbered years the Guild took part in the New England Weavers Seminar at UMass in Amherst. An event we still participate in today!