Streep

Streep

The fiber used to manufacture streep is never explicitly identified in WIC and MCC invoices. However, shipping records often describe streep as “ Haarlem striepen ” or “ Haarlems gestreept, ” which suggests the cloth was made of linen. Haarlem was the primary center for linen production in the Dutch Republic during the period, and other textiles that employ “Haarlem” as a modifier are known to be made of woven linen. [2] The inclusion of Haarlem as a descriptive modifier may have been intended to distinguish this form of striped textile and its fibers (probably flax) from striped cotton cloths that were also exported to West Africa and the Americas from South Asia, such as guinea cloth . That streep was probably a type of linen is further supported by WIC and MCC invoices that identify women as suppliers of this textile. By the eighteenth century, Dutch women played an active role in the global linen trade, helping to fulfill the demand for textiles like slaaplakens (or bed sheets) that were used to facilitate commercial relations with West African traders. [3] Female suppliers included Elijsabeth Verstraten, who provided 135 els of “haarlems gestreept” and 136 els of “Haarlemse streep” to WIC ships bound for Essequibo in 1707 and 1711, and Louisa Zirk Zee, who contributed 2431 els of “Haarlemer striepen” for a MCC voyage to the Americas in 1726. [4]

Though streep likely originated in Haarlem, it was frequently exported to Western Africa (including Angola), the Americas (Rio Essequibo in Guiana) and the Spanish West Indies (the Caribbean) by WIC and MCC ships. Streep could be shipped by the piece or by yardage and was relatively cheap. Data indicates that the cloth could range in price from 7.5 stuivers–25 guilders per piece or 4.1–6.9 stuivers per el on WIC and MCC shipments respectively from the first three decades of the eighteenth century. [5] While archival entries typically combine streep with “Haarlem,” less expensive streep (4.5 stuivers per el and below) is instead modified by the term “Erberveltse,” the meaning of which remains unclear.

While WIC records do not specify color, MCC entries suggest streep was available in a variety of colors (white, blue, and red) that may have appealed to foreign consumers, on which more will be said below. It is unclear if specified colors refer to the cloth’s base color or to its stripes. White was the most popular color, with approximately 11,915 els of “ witte Haarlemm striepen ” being shipped to the coast of the Americas and the Spanish West Indies on the MCC ship Beurs van Middelburg between 1731–1734 (out of a total of 35,406 els). [6] By comparison, 4,282 els of blue and 4,285 els of red streep were transported by this ship during the same period. [7]

Like WIC and MCC archival records, early modern Dutch sources are relatively silent on the exact fiber employed in the production of Haarlem striepen. For instance, the 1773 volume of the painter and physician Johannes le Francq van Berkhey’s Natural History of the Netherlands (Natuurlijke Historie van Holland ) describes streep as a type of decorative red or blue stripe (“Haarlemmer rood of blaauw Streep”) present on the aprons of West Frisian farmers. [8] Perhaps these aprons resembled an example of a girl’s red-and-white striped skirt (c. 1700–1799) held in the Fries Museum. Van Berkhey’s later commentary on “kraamfeesten” or maternity celebrations held after giving birth also notes the cloth’s use in children’s clothing: “with the end of all these maternity festivities, the time approaches to dress the child; that happens sooner or later, depending on whether the child is prosperous and the season is favorable, usually about the eighth or at the latest the twelfth week…White fine linen or muslin is the common style. The country-men often take chintz, cotton, or Haarlemmer Streep.” [9] Van Berkhey’s account distinguishes streep as a type of cloth separate from cotton, further underlining the likelihood that it was a form of linen. Yet he does not provide further insight into the cloth’s appearance. It is possible that streep may have appeared similar to the interior linen linings that were used for silk, cotton, or woolen clothing in the eighteenth century. Surviving examples of a women’s chintz jacket ( jak ) with floral patterns (c.1775–1779), shown above, and a brown woolen jacket with split-vest panels (c. 1750–1774) in the Fries Museum are lined with striped linen fabric.

As an export to the coast of West Africa and the Americas, Haarlemmer streepen—especially those versions with red or blue stripes—must have been intended to appeal to local consumers. Colleen Kriger and others have addressed the popularity of red and blue striped cloth, such as gingham , bajutapauts, nickanees and guinea cloth on the Gold Coast and in the Bight of Benin. Such European- and East-Asian produced textiles adhered to pre-existing tastes and cultural values in these regions, and were worn by both West African elites and enslaved peoples in the Americas. [10] For instance, Albert Eckhout’s paintings of a West African Man (c. 1641) and Angolan Woman and Child (c. 1641)—who have been interpreted as an elite trader from the Gold Coast and an enslaved woman from Angola—wear blue-and-white striped cloths around their waists. [11] Haarlem streep may have been meant to compete with imported striped cotton cloths, or locally produced blue-and-white strip cloths that were sometimes incorporated into the clothing of West African nobility. [12] For example, a blue-and-white tunic composed of cloth sewn together in vertical strips, which became a part of the German merchant Christoph Weickmann’s (1617–81) collection in the mid-seventeenth century, was likely originally worn by a ruler or elite nobleman in the Kingdom of Allada. [13] Perhaps the stripes on Haarlem Streep were of a different width than those present on other examples of striped cloth in West Africa.

Hannah Prescott (November 2024)