Wait, What?!? How My Global Textile Project Took a Surprisingly Local Turn

Carol Rifelj Lecture Series 

Armed with a metal detector, Rutland resident John LaFountain discovered a small lead seal while exploring a farm in Middlebury in 2011. Bigger than a quarter, but smaller than the palm of a hand, this seventeenth-century seal was a rare find. Decorated with the civic crest of Leiden, a Dutch city known for its production of fine wool, the seal would have originally been attached to a length of cloth, assuring consumers of its quality. But how did it end up in Middlebury, Vermont? This talk will try to reconstruct the path of this well-traveled lead seal, contextualizing it within the early modern global textile trade.