Tennessee has a long history of supporting folk arts and traditional crafts. A legacy of handicrafts (such as quilting, woodworking, broom making, basket making, chair making, weaving, sewing, knitting, tatting, crochet, whittling, pottery making, instrument making, etc.) has been carefully passed down from one generation to the next. But, if one is not an inheritor of such a skill, how is it acquired? If the skill is knitting or needle craft, for many years in Nashville the answer would have been Page Knit Center.
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| The storefront to the Page Knit Center, from the Agnes Seals Burt Scrapbook in the Jesse C. Burt Jr. Papers, 1920-1981. |
Page Knit Center was located on 21st Ave. South in what is commonly known as Hillsboro Village. The business was owned and operated by Mrs. Eugene H. (Louise “Dot” Gant) Page, Mrs. Agnes Louise Seals Burt, and Miss Mattie Sue Osborne. It opened its doors on Valentine’s Day 1950 “with one box of yarn - and a lot of flowers.” According to an article in The Nashville Banner from February 17, 1975, the proprietors “opened the store to fulfill longtime dreams each had of turning their hobbies of knitting and needlepoint into a business.” The business grew. By 1951, Page Knit Center was an exhibitor at a small business clinic held by the Nashville Business and Professional Women’s Club and, by 1975, the business had a staff of 12.
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| A page from the Agnes Seals Burt Scrapbook in the Jesse C. Burt Jr. Papers, 1920-1981. |
Not only did Page Knit Center sell craft supplies and completed projects (such as knitted socks) but they also taught the skills one needed to complete folk art projects. Mrs. Burt was quoted in the Banner article as saying: “If you buy something from us, you get free instruction until you wear it out of here happily.”
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| Advertisement and business card from the Agnes Seals Burt Scrapbook in the Jesse C. Burt Jr. Papers, 1920-1981. |
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| A page from the Agnes Seals Burt Scrapbook in the Jesse C. Burt Jr. Papers, 1920-1981. |
Page Knit Center also promoted knitting and needle crafts as a form of art therapy. The Banner article stated that “more than one Nashville doctor has sent patients suffering from bad cases of the nerves to the knit center for a bit of therapy.” And a newspaper ad for the center proclaimed: “Ease Cigarette Nerves through KNITTING.”
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| A page from the Agnes Seals Burt Scrapbook in the Jesse C. Burt Jr. Papers, 1920-1981. |
Just like so many of the old traditions, Page Knit Center has faded into obscurity. The business was sold to Elizabeth Scherer in 1979 (Mrs. Page having sold her share in 1976) and later closed its doors for good. However, its story and memory live on in the archives reminding us to learn a new skill and carry on Tennessee’s traditional arts. In other words: “Don’t Just Sit There! Knit Something.”
For more information on Page Knit Center and Mrs. Agnes Burt, take a look at the Jesse C. Burt Jr. Papers (http://share.tn.gov/tsla/history/manuscripts/findingaids/94-114.pdf) at the Library & Archives.
To view historic images of Tennessee’s folk art and craft traditions, please see the Arts, Crafts, & Folklife Photographs (http://share.tn.gov/tsla/TeVAsites/artscrafts/index.htm) and the Tennessee State Parks Folklife Project (http://share.tn.gov/tsla/TeVAsites/TSPFolklife/index.htm) Collections on TeVA (Tennessee Virtual Archive).
The State Library and Archives is a division of the Tennessee Department of State and Tre Hargett, Secretary of State
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