Ipswich lace is the only lace known to have been produced at scale on the early American mainland. Hundreds of women worked to make this lace, yet the origins of their industry remains elusive. Karen Thompson—the world’s expert on this lace—details the history. Mary Mangan offers insights into new discoveries and threads we can pull on, and Gail MacLean demonstrates how this lace was made in Ipswich.

This talk was given for the Maine Historical Society in 2022.