Maine in World War I series continues with look at dye shortage

AUGUSTA — Textile and dress historian Jacqueline Field will present the third talk in the March Collaborative Encounters series 6 p.m. Thursday, March 29, at the Maine State Library, 230 State St.
The free event will focus on “The World War I Dye Shortage: Color, Clothes, and Chemistry. Field addresses the little remembered war-time dye and chemical famine caused when the British blockaded German ports.

She will discuss the United States’ dependence on German dyes and chemicals and the survival strategies adopted by the print, textile and clothing industries after supplies were cut off as well as the scramble to develop a domestic dye industry.
Field’s talk is part of a series jointly sponsored by the Maine State Library, Maine State Museum and Maine State Archives.
The museum’s new exhibition, “Over There and Down Home: Mainers and World War I,” will be open free of charge from 5 to 5:30 p.m. before Field’s talk.
The final presentation in the series will be April 12 – “Maine and World War I” — a talk and book signing by Jason Libby and Earle G. Shettleworth Jr. All programs begin at 6 p.m.
The Maine State Library, Maine State Museum, and Maine State Archives are in the Cultural Building, adjacent to the Maine State House. For more information, see the museum’s website www.mainestatemuseum.org, or call the museum, 207-287-2301.

PHOTO: Maine soldiers mobilized during World War I included two units, bound for Texas, pictured here on parade in Bangor June 22, 1916. (Maine Historic Preservation Commission photo)