“Red Bandanas” starts and ends with the idea of the red bandana—an artifact that became important to industry in the mid-19th century, and which today represents a common connection to Turkey-red-colored cottons. I initially imagined an essay that would use the 19th and 20th century reconfigurations of the Turkey red textile coloring process to examine the separation of something (here a color) from the once-standard techniques to produce it as both lose relevance within markets and technical laboratories. Research showed me that the force of the story was lodged in the way chemical engineering and academic chemical laboratories considered past practices and managed ideas of modernity. This force was further influenced by the rising concept of professionalism in manufacturing laboratories, and the external and internal imposition of standards.
Sections
“These Colors Don’t Run: Chemistry, Politics & Red Textiles 1870-2002”
- Iteration 1: Presented at the Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Association annual meeting. Philadelphia, PA 9 November 2023
- Iteration 2: Narrated presentation, available to download and view here and on Slideshare
- Iteration 3:
“History and Nostalgia in the Chemical Laboratory”
- My Red Bandanas. A Meditation on
Chemistrythe Sciences and Nostalgia.” Work in Progress colloquium at the Science History Institute, Philadelphia, PA May 2022 - Iteration 2:“About Those Red Bandanas: A Work in Progress about History in the Chemical Lab,”Presented at the 13th International Conference on the History of Chemistry, European Chemical Society, Vilnius, Lithuania (May 2023)
“Flood and Ebb”
“My Red Bandanas”