Emile Bernat, the founder of Emile Bernat & Sons, came to Boston from his native Hungary about 1902. He was trained as a dye chemist and tapestry restorer. He worked for the Museum of Fine Arts, and their annual reports in 1905 and 1907 list the tapestries that he restored. He was also an active member of the Society of Arts and Crafts from 1911 to 1929.

In 1919 his sons, Eugene and Paul Bernat, published The History and Care of Tapestries. At the end there is a note that “M. EMILE BERNAT undertakes the RESTORATION and reproduction of tapestries, tapestry furniture, embroideries and needlework of all kinds.” The address was 4 Bishop Street, Boston. The company was incorporated in 1927. Their main product was “master dyed” yarns.

In 1928 they started a periodical called The Handcrafter. Contributors included, besides Paul Bernat, many of the well-known hand weavers of that period: Mary Meigs Atwater, Anna Ernburg, and Myra L. Davis.

In 1935 they changed the magazine’s name to The Weaver. In the October 1936 issue they introduced “Bernat Superior Looms.” The address was 99 Bickford Street, Jamaica Plain, MA. The looms were to complement the work done with their “superior” yarns.

The Weavers’ Guild of Boston, founded in 1922, began publishing a yearbook in 1939. Advertisements for Bernat Yarns appear between 1946 and 1964, but there are no ads for looms. Since members of this group would be their target customers, it seems to indicate that the company was no longer producing looms.

The company masthead on a letter in 1958 has the subheading “Makers of Master Dyed Bernat Yarns.” It gives the company address as 117 Bickford Street, Jamaica Plain, MA. Branch offices were in New York at 230 Fifth Avenue and Los Angeles at 1706 W. Pico Boulevard. The letter notes that the loom department had been discontinued for a number of years.

In 1962 the company moved to Uxbridge, MA. Besides producing dyed yarns, they designed and published knitting patterns for those yarns. In 1991 the “Bernat Yarns” company and trademark were purchased by a Canadian company. The Bernat mill building in Uxbridge burned in 2007.

Author’s note: Thanks to Linda Snook, librarian of the Weavers’ Guild of Boston; Lauren Whitley, curator, and Maureen Melton, archivist, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and several helpful reference librarians in the business, social science, and fine arts departments at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square.

Editor’s Note: the company’s location (99 and 117 Bickford St) was in the old Thomas Plant Shoe Factory - various industries moved into the space once the shoe company relocated. Florence is the Spinning Wheel Sleuth and would welcome anyone who has further information to contact her via https://spwhsl.com

Bernat Superior Looms Company: A Brief History