Cotton Fibre Item Number: 3263/84 a-d from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Four spun cotton fibre bundles (parts a-d); cocoon-shaped (the form they were removed from the spindle shaft in). The bundles range in colour from brownish-yellow to yellowish-white. The largest (part a) is white along the top and darkens to yellow-brown at the bottom. Pointed protrusions on either end. Second largest (part b) is entirely brown-yellow with a pointed top. Third largest (part c) has a white piece of unspun cotton attached to its right side, near the top, and a pointed bottom. Smallest (part d) appears to have tufts of hair throughout.
Cotton fibre is Z-spun.
Collected in Peru before the 1970s by Ina VanStan, a Professor of Textiles and Clothing at the Florida State College for Women (Florida State University) from the 1940s to c. 1966. VanStan later gifted her collection to the donor. A large amount of the donation was used for teaching at the University of Alberta while others were mainly small study fragments.