[2] In 1958, Caroline Stevens Rogers, a member of a textile industry family and a hand weaver and dyer, came into possession of her father’s collection of over 50 spinning wheels in various stages of collapse and a truck load of heavy beams (the disassembled parts of antique hand looms) as well as dozens of reels, winders, skarnes, riddles, and niddy-noddies.

In 1959, J. Bruce Sinclair became the first Director of the North Andover Historical Society, and he proposed that a regional textile museum be established.

18,000 square feet (1,700 m2) of floor space was divided almost evenly among the exhibit, study collection, and administrative areas.

In January, 1961 Sinclair hired a secretary, a curator joined the staff in March, and a librarian was added in August.

In 1973 Caroline Stevens Rogers was succeeded by Walter Muir Whitehead, who had been a member of the Board of Trustees of the museum from the beginning.

They wanted the MATH to be somewhere that offered better access to the public and was large enough to house their collection, as well as accommodate for future expansion.

ATHM reopened in June 2009 with a broader array of interactive exhibits and activities for both adult and child visitors.

[9] As an Affiliate, ATHM explores object loan options with Smithsonian Institution museums and is also developing a relationship with the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation.

Due to large deficits, in June 2016 it was announced that the museum was closing permanently and is attempting to sell off all its assets.

[1][11] The Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives at Cornell University collects materials related to unions, with particular strengths in the area of textile and garment manufacturing.

When the American Textile History Museum (ATHM) closed its doors in 2016, the Kheel Center acquired the bulk of the library and archives as well as many fabric samples.

[2] The Osborne Library was a part of the ATHM that contains an extensive collection of books, prints, photographs, and manuscripts.

It featured examples of materials that ranged from the protective clothing that firefighters and soldiers wear to the “shark skin” swimsuits of Olympic swimmers.