| The pictures show views of this 1882 New England Manufacturers & Mechanics Institute Exhibition Woven Souvenir Textile Cloth. This advertising souvenir cloth was very difficult to photograph. The first picture shows the woven text and the building pictured on the cloth. The second picture is the same image only digitally darkened to try to show more detail. The third picture shows the name ''HANNAH J FRENCH'' that was nicely sewn on to the cloth. This is most likely customized with the name of the person who had purchased it or the name of the person who had made the cloth. We believe that it was made on the exhibition site to demonstrate textile machinery. The fourth picture shows the entire unfolded cloth. The fifth picture shows a picture of the Boston, Massachusetts Exhibition building that is woven into the center of the cloth. Besides the detailed building, there are woven stripes on the sides and a checkerboard pattern at the corners. The woven wording on the cloth reads as follows: THE
NEW ENGLAND
MANUFACTURERS & MECHANICS
INSTITUTE
SECOND
ANNUAL EXHIBITION
BOSTON, MASS
1882
HANNAH J FRENCH This cloth is a thin and light weight. We believe that it is made of silk. The advertising souvenir cloth measures about 20-1/4'' x 19-1/2''. It appears to be in over all excellent condition as pictured with no holes or tears. All of the folds could be pressed out. While folded, something orange had lightly spotted the cloth. It could be safely cleaned. We do not believe that it has ever been cleaned in its life. We do not know if the spots can be removed or not. No attempt was made to do so. That will be left up to the buyer to decide. This Historic item will look great pressed, framed, and on display. Below here, for reference, is some additional information about the Exhibition and the elaborate building, that was for only a short time, in Boston, Massachusetts: New England Manufacturers' and Mechanics' Institute
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The New England Manufacturers' and Mechanics' Institute exhibition building was once at the corner of Huntington Avenue and Rogers Avenue. The New England Manufacturers' and Mechanics' Institute was established in 1879. It flourished in the 1880s in Boston, Massachusetts. It existed as a rival to the long established Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association. Individuals affiliated with the NEM and M Institute included businessman John F. Wood, James L. Little, John M. Little, Samuel R. Payson, William B. Merrill, and F. W. Griffin. According to the organization's own institutional history, before 1879, ''the only industrial exhibitions at Boston were organized under the auspices of an association formed with an ulterior purpose. Nor were these held in permanent structures or with regular intervals. ... At the last exhibition held in a temporary structure, that of 1878, it became evident that a permanent organization and a building were needed, as over three fifths of those wishing to exhibit could not be accommodated because of lack of space.'' In response, the NEM & M Institute incorporated in 1879 ''for the purpose of the general improvement of the manufacturing and mechanical interests of New England; to provide means by which worthy and adequate exhibitions of manufactures and other productions can be given, and cognate objects; to obtain and distribute information relative to export business; to create and regulate methods of industrial education; to improve the technical knowledge of the members of the society by libraries, technical lectures and discussions.'' New England Fair
The organization built a large exhibition hall in the Back Bay neighborhood (at Huntington Avenue and Rogers Avenue), very close to the MCMA's Mechanics Hall. The New England Fair building ''covered an area of nearly five acres of land. Its available floor space for exposition purposes exceeded eight acres.'' Its footprint measured some 213,000 square feet (19,800 m2), and the grand hall some 130,000 square feet (12,000 m2). Comparatively, the Mechanics' Hall's footprint measured only 90,000 square feet. Exhibitions were held annually. In 1881, ''Governor Long opened the exhibition, and the Hon. George B. Loring, United States commissioner of agriculture, delivered an oration. The governors, the U.S. senators and representatives in congress, and the mayors of all the cities of New England were invited.'' ''During the winter seasons the New England Fair building was utilized as a skating rink, and pedestrian, bicycle, and other contests were held there.'' In 1885 the exhibition building was sold to the Metropolitan Horse Railroad, for use as ''a storage and repair shop''. The building burnt to the ground in June 1886, in a massive fire that killed 8 people. | 
