| Abstract: |
Many influential figures in the Appalachian Craft Revival (1896-1937) lauded handwoven overshot coverlets as one of the finest expressions of the region's handicraft traditions (e.g., Hall 1912). As a wave of university-educated women arrived from the North and more affluent communities in the South to establish settlement schools, folk schools, health centers, and other beneficial institutions, they encountered coverlets and saw an opportunity to encourage mountain women to revive this fading practice and generate much-needed income for their cash-poor communities (see Alvic 2009). In East Tennessee, a major weaving center developed at the Pi Beta Phi Settlement School (established in 1912), forming the core of its Arrowcraft commercial enterprise, which marketed handmade textiles to charitable alumnae of the national collegiate fraternity and tourists visiting the Great Smoky Mountains. This article presents how the Settlement School's successor institution after 1965, the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, continues to teach weaving and other crafts on the same campus in Gatlinburg. It also holds a collection of Arrowcraft textiles and an archive of photographs and documents. Today, the school looks beyond the local community to draw studio artists and craftspeople from across the country. At the same time, weaving guilds and groups continue to research and teach new weavers in East Tennessee, and many of their members have deep roots in local traditional arts, often connected to the Settlement School, Arrowcraft, and Arrowmont. |