Do Table Linens Play a Major Role in History? - By: Gen Wright

While few of us would want to return to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle, our ancient ancestors might be fairly frightened if they found themselves in today's world. The idea of eating a full course meal at a table rather than snacking nuts and berries on the go would seem like a pretty alarming change in itself, especially once you add the consideration of utensils. But then the custom of placing a covering over the table in order to keep it clean might seem like we're just trying to make thing difficult for fun. It would get worse if they perceived that these cloths come in infinite designs for infinite occasions and that there is a huge, worldwide business in both bulk retail and wholesale table linens, sold for both ridiculously high prices and as inexpensive close-outs with huge discounts. At that point, time traveling cave-folks are going to have a pretty good idea of how complicated civilized life can really be.

Indeed, the history of tablecloths and linens goes at least as far back as eighth century Europe, when the Emperor Charlemagne is said to have used an asbestos tablecloth to persuade foreign guests he had magical powers. A few centuries later, tablecloths were accepted among the aristocracy for more conventional reasons or protocol, and by the fifteenth century we commoners were using not only table coverings, but napkins and the like. (The common male habit of using a paper towel in place of napkins took a few more hundred years to achieve.)

In the modern era, dining tables have been covered in all manners and collection of material and include a vast array of designs which, naturally, reflect changes in history and fashion. As this excellent and rather extensive 2003 article by Joan Kiplinger describes, the printed tablecloth has gone through innumerable alterations and changes over the last few centuries. The untimely death by typhoid of Queen Victoria's husband, the beloved Bertie, resulted in a sort of fashion chain reaction as the monarch's ensuing preferment for bleak colors made semi-funereal colors popular around the world. The trend was reversed when the Art Noveau movement led to far more complicated and colorful designs in table linens. Then history put a hinderance on the fun through the World War I Allied blockade of Germany, which had been producing the lion's share of dyes. A "dye famine" ensued, making long lasting dyes difficult if not impossible to find for a time. And so it went through the depression, World War II, and the post-war economic boom, which saw many of the kind of elaborate and sometimes humorously kitschy designs we now celebrate with just a touch of irony.

Today, of course, table coverings run the gamut of materials and styles from hardy plastic coverings made of vinyl with flannel back, to fine lace doilies. Like any other medium, table linens can ceremonialize just about anything --- though food, animals, and rural life remain popular perennial themes. Place mats are another popular variation on the theme, particularly with busy parents whose spill-prone offspring who might choose eating on a mat celebrating their favorite cartoon characters or musical performers.

Like everything else human and creative, table linens and other coverings reflect in a significant way on how we human beings look at the world. And, just as that evidently changes over time, so do the kind of products we make and sell, either as homey products sold as wholesale table linens at discount or the more elaborate and high toned products sold (often for a good deal more than they're actually worth) at popular department stores. At times, it really does get eye-opening enough that we forget tablecloths actually can prevent furniture stains.

While few of us would want to return to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle, our ancient ancestors might be fairly afraid if they found themselves in today's world. The idea of consuming a full course meal at a table rather than munching nuts and berries on the go would seem like a pretty daunting change in itself, especially once you add the concept of utensils.

This article was written by Marc Joseph, who enjoys giving advice on discount and wholesale tablecloths. Marc has been able to bulk up his savings throughout the years.