| Summary: | Textile archives have for decades been recognised as providing support both for design inspiration and as an educational teaching aid. The use of the textile archive as a means for exploring industrial and social history is less established, and this research demonstrates how the tangible evidence can be a tool for an in depth study of a particular manufacturer in the mid-twentieth century. In following up the trail provided by a small number of fabric samples in the Parker Knoll archive (Special Collections, 2018) new findings have been discovered, that have an impact on a national historic collection. The significance of the discovery demonstrates that textile archives are not only a source of design and technical information, but can add to our contextual knowledge of the industry. Through records at The Wiener Holocaust Library and Public Records Office Northern Ireland, the research traces the activity of a Jewish émigré, Henry Nathan, forced to leave his position in a textile company in his native Germany during the 1930s. Subsequently settling in London, he established his own textile business, and a factory in Northern Ireland where records show he introduced new textile skills and produced high end luxury fabrics. The loss of much of the information on the company’s production has up to now resulted in his endeavours being forgotten and unrecorded. The research in this article not only establishes the provenance of previously unknown examples in a national collection, but is a bid to identify further examples of furnishing textiles that may still exist around the world. The significance of the use of textile evidence to commence the research demonstrates this is a methodology that can be adopted elsewhere.
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