Item 1: Extreme closeup of delivery end of cotton card, 1916

Gelatin silver print. Black and white image shows a sliver ("rope of fibers") of cotton being formed from a picker lap ("compressed sheet of cotton . rolled under pressure into a cylindrical package") by a revolving flat card (a machine that spins the picker lap to separate fibers into "individual relationship[s]"). The individual strands of cotton look like a web as they are pulled from the picker lap, but then come together to form what looks like a solid cotton rope. See Item 6, in this folder, for a slightly different angle on this process. 18 x 9 cm.

Format: Stereoptic print.