Why Document...

To Teach the Future

Once, not so long ago, two women were visiting Scotland. They had just finished a lovely tour of one property but still had a long time to wait until their transportation home for the night arrived. So they asked to see some of the other buildings. The caretaker knowing their interest in weaving directed them to a small cottage near the back of the property.

This small building had once been the weaver's cottage for the property, but now, after years of neglect it was scheduled to be renovated. Upon entering the cottage they saw the dirt floor and smelled the heavy years of disuse in the dust that their presence stirred. They looked into the dim corners and crannies. One of the women spied a bump on one of the dust covered shelves. Gingerly, she ran her fingers over the ridge and discovered not the feel of wooden boards rubbed smooth with use, but instead the leather binding of a book. Carefully she slid the book to her hands and off the shelf. A small avalanche of dust followed her acquisition of the book. Curious, she moved to one of the small windows of the cottage and in the late afternoon light every so carefully opened the book's cover. There in the failing light of the summer evening was a treasure.

Her sharp intake of breath alerted her traveling companion to the exciting find and together they carefully turned over the delicate pages. What they had found was a notebook. It's pages were covered in a solid writing that captioned each page, and grids of dots, executed in black and white, filled the pages. It was a book of weaving drafts. Each pattern of the warp and weft was carefully recorded on the pages, and small notes to the side of the page told the use of each of these fabrics. Here was a bold colored twill for the Hunting Party of November, 1719, next a fine linen for the Bishop's table. Each page held a slice of history. And here in their hands, the two women, two weavers by the way, heard the voice of a master craftsman from centuries before whispering his secrets.

This is why we document, to teach the future.