Context (Related Documents)
Black and white photograph attached to rear of catalogue card

Event Date 1988
Author: rachel hand

Context (Field collection)
Collected during fieldwork in the 1980s by Dr Goody Esther, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge

Event Date 1988
Author: maa

Description (Physical description)
Whirl or long stick used for spinning cotton, with black and white weight on the end, wound with white cotton.
Event Date 10/6/1988
Author: maa

Context (Production / use)
Origin field previously read: 'Locally Made'.
Event Date 2005
Author: rachel hand

Context (Display)
Exhibited in Talking Textiles, a display in the Maudslay Gallery to celebrate the year of Africa 2005 and curated by the Textile Project team.
Captioned: 'Tools for textiles. This case contains examples of the type of equipment used to make the kente cloths shown in the tall case behind you. These tools and materials were collected during fieldwork in the 1980s by Dr. Esther Goody, an anthropologist at the University of Cambridge Department of Social Anthropology. They come from Gonja, a region of Ghana.

Three spindles D 1988.357, D 1988.358, D 1988.369
The third stage in preparing the cotton is spinning the fibre into thread. The spinner holds the cotton fibres in one hand, then uses a spindle to spin the thread with her other hand. Each of these spindles is made from a painted clay ball attached to a stick. The one at the top has spun cotton thread wound around it.'


Event Date 2005
Author: rachel hand

Description (Physical description)
A whirl for spinning cotton. It consists of a thin wooden stick, pointed at one end with a clay weight at the other end. The weight is painted black with narrow white stripes. White cotton thread has been wound around the stick.
Event Date 23/2/2023
Author: Eleanor Beestin-Sheriff