Exhibition Dates: April 2005 - June 2006

Commodity bags, woven fabric bags that originally packaged products such as animal feed, flour, sugar, and salt, were an important resource in home sewing for women from the 1930s through the 1960s. The exhibition Converting Commodity Bags:  Recycling Circa 1940 educated visitors about commodity bags, their history, and the many ways they were used by industrious women, particularly in rural areas, to clothe their families and decorate their homes in the mid-twentieth century. Numerous examples of clothing and home textiles made from commodity bags by Louisiana women were highlighted.  This exhibition has become a traveling exhibit available to smaller sites in the region. Visit the virtual scrapbook for this exhibition.

Read more on our other past exhibitions