HISTORY IS SOMETIMES DOUBLE-SIDED
©By Elaine Lillback
A four by five foot wooden frame, standing upright, with a multitude of mysterious hanging strings knotted to wooden pieces, and more strings running laterally, was being meticulously “re-set” in our museum last month. It had been displayed since our opening, but this ancient machine had its problems. It was apparent that this very old loom, resurrected from the somewhat ancient past was crying out for restoration.
Questions began to fly to the loom’s donor. This is a loom, but what kind is it? Where did it come from? Whose was it? Is it hand-made? Has it been used here in this area? Can you restore it? Who can?
Information gleaned revealed that the loom had belonged to, and was used by the wife of Paul Lehtonen, a well-known and respected Finnish builder of beautiful homes in the area. Since his death, his wife Kyllikki has been retired in Florida, but still maintains her Concord, Ohio connections.
When Kyllikki was fifteen years old, her mother purchased the loom for her daughter, enabling her study of weaving at the Finnish school. She learned to use this twelve-harness loom, making many complicated patterns of lace tablecloths, linens, runners, and fine cloth. Coming to America in the mid-twentieth century, she brought the loom with her and used it here for many years. She had several other looms at her home.
As the months passed at the museum, visitors looked at the dilapidated loom, and questioned the history, purpose, and future use of the machine. There wasn’t much information to offer, until one day Pat Spivak, vice president of FHM announced, “We have a volunteer who is willing to come and put the loom in operating mode. Rebecca is one of my neighbors and has experience with this kind of loom and is a member of the Weavers’ Guild. This is not a rug weaving loom, but a special double-sided ryijy weaving loom, and Rebecca knows how to do that!”
This was a super revelation of the loom’s newfound history. The Steinbacks, two skilled researchers, having prepared and spent their lives in the field of science and teaching, had stepped out of their retired lives to put new life into a nearly hundred-year-old machine.
Rebecca identifies the loom as one presently made by the Scandinavian Glimarkka Company. It is a Lamm of 1915 vintage. It is not known who the maker of the loom was, as it appears to be hand made, based on its countermarche. The heddles move up and down to provide for a big shed. It’s a complicated loom and will take many hours in setting up the warp threads. Although it can be set up to be a multiple harness loom, Rebecca will thread it as a four-harness loom to make the two-sided Finn-weave. John does the mechanical operation work, replacing parts that are missing or broken, so Rebecca can respond with her magic, making weaving art again.
John met Rebecca Steinback at the University of Wisconsin where he had been granted a National Science Foundation scholarship in science. Rebecca, of Scotch-English-Irish heritage with ancestors who have fought in all of the American wars since its beginning history, had majored in biology and chemistry at the university in Dallas, Texas and taught in a Dallas area high school. During those years, she became involved in a weaving program, learning many skills. After several years of teaching, she moved on to Wisconsin to study for a master’s degree in science education. It was here the two met, and soon after a Dallas marriage, headed to Ohio where John had his teaching position in Mentor, Ohio. Rebecca found employment at the Andrew’s School for Girls in Willoughby.
John’s roots trace back to his Finnish ancestors coming to the Fairport area in the very early 1900’s when men earned their living on the ship loading docks of Lake Erie. Built by John’s parents in those early years, their present Eagle Street home has become a preservation project.
FHM members Don and Juanita Cleary, John’s aunt and uncle, encouraged John and Rebecca to participate in the Finnish Heritage Museum.
After John and Rebecca restore the loom’s operations, Rebecca will be demonstrating the Finn-weave, a double weaving process in the gallery during visitation hours. The winter hours of the museum are on Saturdays from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm.
Since one of the museum’s guiding principles is to educate, this labor of love will contribute to the education of many children and adults interested in weaving for many years.
