This Web site has activities and documents about the history of cloth and clothing in the United Sates and the technology involved in that history.

As you do the activities, think about the role of technology and invention in your own lives and understand that anyone can be an inventor and everyone uses technology.

Here's some fun stuff to check out:

Become a 19th-century "Judge Judy": Act in a courtroom drama to decide who gets to use the power of the river.

A board game: What trouble can you get into as a factory worker or a mill owner?

Learn about the cotton gin: Who invented it? (Don't answer too fast!)

Watch a model of the gin work: How can you fix a gin if it breaks?

Dye using plants: What colors do you get from chicory, black walnut, or goldenrod?

What's the story with stockings?: When did women start wearing nylon stockings instead of silk?

Did you know nylon was invented to make stockings?

Find a fun film to rent: An early "Nutty Professor" (Alec Guiness) stars as a textile inventor on the run.

Check out the baggy pants worn by kids in the 1940s: Zoot Suits were all the rage!