This collection displays the importance of the cotton gin during its time before 1865. The cotton gin was invented in 1794 by Eli Whitney. The machine was created to change the way cotton was cleaned in the United States. Basically the sole purpose of the machine was to speed up the time of removing seeds from cotton fiber. 

Before the cotton gin was created, slaves had to individually take out cotton seeds by hand. This process was a very tedious and painful job. The cotton gin could remove 50 pounds more cotton in a single day than one slave could in a day. As you go through the collection you will find out more about the objects and people that were involved with the cotton gin. The cotton gin is an important part of American history because it changed the way American's manufactured cotton.