National Clothesline

When it comes to cleaning his customers’ clothes at North Hills Cleaners in Wilmington, Mark Peters understands that every garment is personal.

However, when he teaches students from the University of Delaware’s Arts Conservation program, he realizes that every garment they will one day work on will be an actual piece of history.

“This is one of only two such programs offered in the United States. The other is on the West Coast,” noted Peters.

“This program is actually conducted at the Winterthur Museum,” he added. “It has the largest collection in the world of U.S. textile artifacts... everything from furniture to quilting. It’s quite an amazing place. It’s huge.”

In fact, the school’s faculty have consulted on and assisted with a number of impressive historical preservations, such as Rembrandt’s Night Watch, Van Gogh’s Irises and actual drafts of the Declaration of Independence.

Once a year, approximately eight to a dozen college students trek to North Hills Cleaners to gain a glimpse into the world of commercial drycleaning.

“All of these wonderful (usually young) minds get to see what drycleaning is in the real world,” Peters explained. “I always tell them we handle several thousand garments a week whereas they might handle one garment for a couple of months. It’s a different world, but it’s also the same in many ways.”

Peters has been teaching the class for over 30 years, about as long as he has been running the family business. He took over in 1977 from his father who started it in 1947.

The owners of the 62-year old business have worked hard over the years to foster a solid reputation with its clients, which is one of the reasons why it drew the attention of the Arts Conservation program.

“We’ve been at this a long time,” he emphasized. “We’ve always had the reputation of being the best cleaner around. I firmly believe that.”

After a lifetime in the industry, Peters admits he feels recharged whenever a new batch of students visit the plant and he has the opportunity to teach them something new.

“I tell them specifically, right off the bat, that there are two reasons why I do this: 1) It forces me to clean up my plant; and 2) It never fails that someone will ask me a question that makes me stall for a second. I really thought I knew everything about drycleaning and they’ll ask me this question and I’ll let them know: ‘I’ll have to think about that.’ That’s fun for me.”




						A lesson in everyday textile preservation








								When it comes to cleaning his customers’ clothes at North Hills Cleaners in Wilmington, Mark Peters understands that every garment is personal. However, when he teaches students from the University of Delaware’s Arts Conservation program, he realizes that every garment they will one day work on will be an actual piece of history. “This is one of only two such programs offered in the United States. The other is on the West Coast,” noted Peters. “This program is actually conducted at the Winterthur Museum,” he added. “It has the largest collection in the world of U.S. textile artifacts... everything from furniture to quilting. It’s quite an amazing place. It’s huge.” In fact, the school’s faculty have consulted on and assisted with a number of impressive historical preservations, such as Rembrandt’s Night Watch, Van Gogh’s Irises and actual drafts of the Declaration of Independence. Once a year, approximately eight to a dozen college students trek to North Hills Cleaners to gain a glimpse into the world of commercial drycleaning. “All of these wonderful (usually young) minds get to see what drycleaning is in the real world,” Peters explained. “I always tell them we handle several thousand garments a week whereas they might handle one garment for a couple of months. It’s a different world, but it’s also the same in many ways.” Peters has been teaching the class for over 30 years, about as long as he has been running the family business. He took over in 1977 from his father who started it in 1947. The owners of the 62-year old business have worked hard over the years to foster a solid reputation with its clients, which is one of the reasons why it drew the attention of the Arts Conservation program. “We’ve been at this a long time,” he emphasized. “We’ve always had the reputation of being the best cleaner around. I firmly believe that.” After a lifetime in the industry, Peters admits he feels recharged whenever a new batch of students visit the plant and he has the opportunity to teach them something new. “I tell them specifically, right off the bat, that there are two reasons why I do this: 1) It forces me to clean up my plant; and 2) It never fails that someone will ask me a question that makes me stall for a second. I really thought I knew everything about drycleaning and they’ll ask me this question and I’ll let them know: ‘I’ll have to think about that.’ That’s fun for me.”