Cultures & Communities

Furniture, cooking wares, clothing, works of art, and many other kinds of artifacts are part of what knit people into communities and cultures. The Museum’s collections feature artifacts from European Americans, Latinos, Arab Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, African Americans, Gypsies, Jews, and Christians, both Catholics and Protestants. The objects range from ceramic face jugs made by enslaved African Americans in South Carolina to graduation robes and wedding gowns. The holdings also include artifacts associated with education, such as teaching equipment, textbooks, and two complete schoolrooms. Uniforms, insignia, and other objects represent a wide variety of civic and voluntary organizations, including youth and fraternal groups, scouting, police forces, and firefighters.

The inscription found on this quilt identifies its origins. Within a wreath cut from a printed cotton chintz on one block is inked: “Ladies’ Donation / to the Fireman’s Fair / Yale Engine Co. No.
Description
The inscription found on this quilt identifies its origins. Within a wreath cut from a printed cotton chintz on one block is inked: “Ladies’ Donation / to the Fireman’s Fair / Yale Engine Co. No. 1 / South Reading / July 1853.” Quite likely a group of women devised the quilt making project to raise funds for the Yale Engine Company. A new engine house was erected in South Reading, Massachusetts, in 1853.
Two blocks in particular indicate the pride the community had in its ability to be prepared for fires. One has an appliquéd and embroidered fire engine marked “Yale 1.” The other block, all embroidered, has a ladder, hook, hose, the date "1853," and inscription: "Yale Engine Company No. 1 / South Reading." As reported in the Official Program of the Celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the Settlement and Incorporation of Ancient Redding” May 1894: “In 1852, by vote of the town, came a handsome new, double-decker fire-engine, resplendent in finish of rosewood and trimmings of polished brass . . . . The new machine was from Jeffers’ works at Pawtucket, R.I., and was named ‘Yale Engine, No. 1,’ in grateful recognition of a large gift . . . from Burrage Yale, Esq., whose tin pedler’s carts were for many years known all over New England." It was further reported that, "'The Yale’ distinguished herself in many fields, and saved much property from destruction. She is still [1894] retained by the town . . . and regarded with respect and appreciation."
All but five of the thirty 15½-inch blocks that comprise this quilt have geometric motifs made by cutting folded cloth. These were made from the same roller printed cotton fabric and appliquéd to a white ground. One block is pieced in a popular pattern, “Star of Bethlehem.” The inclusion of an American flag block contributes an element of patriotism. The blocks are joined in a quilt-as-you-go method. Each one is appliquéd, pieced or embroidered; then lined and quilted; bound with a narrow red-ground print; and finally, joined to make the quilt.
Burrage Yale, whose contributions to the community of South Reading, Massachusetts, were many, was born in Meriden, Connecticut, on March 27, 1781. At an early age he set out to help his family as a peddler of tinware. In 1800 he came to Reading, Massachusetts, and within a few years had settled there and founded a soon-thriving business manufacturing and dealing in tinware.
A man of strong convictions, he was profiled by Lilley Eaton in his 1874 Genealogical History of the Town of Reading. Burrage Yale was known as “polite, dignified, and hospitable, a friend and patron of education and liberal toward public improvement.” He was also “. . . a shrewd and accomplished business man . . . . accused of being proud, haughty and ambitious . . . unmerciful to his debtors.”
According to Eaton, “he once rendered himself so odious to a portion of the people . . . that on a certain night he was hung in effigy . . . and then consumed in a great funeral pyre, amid the shouts of the crowd; and . . . upon a board nailed high upon the oak, these words in epitaph: ‘This great and mighty lord, he is no more!’”
While Burrage Yale may not always have been gracious or generous, he apparently contributed a significant-enough sum to the fire fighting cause in his community that a fire engine, fire house and later an avenue bore his name. His wife, Sarah Boardman (1786-1844), was one of the early female teachers in South Reading. She was described by Lilley Eaton as “. . . a faithful teacher, and our memory of her in that capacity is most pleasant. In after-life she was ever a most worthy and valuable woman.” When Burrage Yale died September 5, 1860, the fully uniformed firefighters of the Yale Engine Company marched in his funeral procession.
This quilt, so carefully worked, is an example of efforts by women of South Reading, then a small rural New England town, to work together to provide for their community.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1853
maker
unknown
ID Number
1995.0011.04
accession number
1995.0011
catalog number
1995.0011.04
The central inscription on this variaton of a “Log Cabin”quilt states that it was “Presented by Mrs. Sarah Butler, February the fourteenth One Thousand nine hundred and six,” followed by the names of four ministers.
Description
The central inscription on this variaton of a “Log Cabin”quilt states that it was “Presented by Mrs. Sarah Butler, February the fourteenth One Thousand nine hundred and six,” followed by the names of four ministers. No occasion, church, or place was indicated in the inscription, but the “Log Cabin” quilt included nearly 400 names written on the “logs”.
Research indicates that three of the ministers, Rev. L.D. Bragg, Rev. F.D. Tyler, and Rev. R. J. Honeywell were at various times pastors of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Hudson, N. H. The fourth, Rev. Van Buskirk, was the pastor of a nearby Methodist church in Antrim, N. H. In 1931 the Methodist Episcopal Church (Hudson) merged with the Congregational Church and is now called the Hudson Community Church.
The Methodist Episcopal Church in Hudson organized in 1840. On August 3, 1879, a fire destroyed the church, parsonage, and a connecting stable. A new meeting house was built in 1880. In December 1905 ceremonies were held to commemorate the 25th anniversary of this church building. In January 1906, the auditorium and vestry were furnished with electric lights. It is assumed that the quilt was a fund raiser and the names on the quilt were donors. The February 1906 date might indicate either the beginning or ending of the fund raising effort, as some of the signatures are names of individuals born after 1906. One of the pastors, Rev. Roy John Honeywell, did not come to the church until 1916; although he did not marry until 1922, his wife’s name is on the quilt. The majority of the names are of people who resided in either Hudson or nearby Nashua, which was connected by trolley to Hudson.
The quilt consists of 18-inch blocks pieced in the “Log Cabin” (also known as “Pineapple,” “Chestnut Burr,” or “Church Steps”) pattern. Printed and plain cottons were used with a red triangle at each corner of the block and a red square in the center. Three hundred eighty-three names are inscribed in ink on the plain tan “logs” as well the inscriptions, “Church built in 1888” and “Alta Theresa House.” The inscriptions and names appear to have been done by the same person. Mainly plain-and twill-weave, roller-printed cottons are used for the pieced blocks, each print repeated on each block. It is lined with a roller-printed cotton.
Names on a quilt are always of interest to a researcher. This particular quilt has many. Often the names are of couples or in some instances whole families. I.e., “Lyman Bragg, Sarah Bragg, Laura Bragg, Earnest Bragg, and Barbara Bragg” are inscribed on adjacent “logs.” Reverend L. D. Bragg was one of the people mentioned in the central inscription. He and Sarah were married in 1880, and their three children were born in 1881, 1885, and 1886 (the last in Medford, Mass.). One daughter, Laura, went to South Carolina, and was the first woman to be named the director of a major American museum (Charleston Museum) in 1920. She was instrumental in advocating education in the museum setting, and also helped to establish other museums in the South. Laura’s career was long and illustrious. She died in 1978, and she is known for her innovative educational ideas and strength of character.
Though of a later date, this “Log Cabin” quilt was part of a larger collection, more than 2,000 objects, donated by Edna Greenwood in the 1950s. The late 18th- and early 19th-century textiles, furniture, ceramics, glass, tools, and implements in the collection are mainly from rural New England farms and villages and provide insight into the lives and environment of ordinary Americans. This quilt, with its many names, had no information about when or where it was collected. Through research, the many inscriptions penned on it were clues to the origins of this quilt, perhaps a community project to provide moneys to either upgrade an existing church or purchase an organ.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1906
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.E388877
accession number
182022
catalog number
E388877
A date of “August 1853” inscribed on seventeen blocks provided a clue to the possible origins of this “Album Patch” quilt. Names and places inscribed on other blocks gave further information.
Description
A date of “August 1853” inscribed on seventeen blocks provided a clue to the possible origins of this “Album Patch” quilt. Names and places inscribed on other blocks gave further information. Probably Rachel Young Roseberry started this quilt when the family moved to Brentsville, Va., from Phillipsburg, N.J., in 1853. At the time she and her husband, Michael, had four young children: Emma (1838-1897), Annie (about 1840-?), John (1843-1915, and, Alice (about 1844-?). The names of friends and relatives appear to have been written by the same hand, maybe at different times, and many are further embellished by different floral drawings.
Thirty-six nine-inch “Album Patch” or “Friendship Chain” pieced blocks are composed of plain red and white or printed green and white cottons. The “Album” blocks are framed by a 1 ½-inch border of printed green and plain white triangles. All blocks are signed in ink denoting name, and sometimes a date and/or place. Ink drawings are added to several of the inscriptions. The same red and green cottons and thread were used throughout the quilt and nearly half are inscribed “1853.” The addition of dates of “1858,” “1859,” and “1871,” suggest signatures may have been added after the quilt was completed. Places included Washington, D.C., Youngsville ?, Newark, N. J., and Brentsville, Va.
Rachel Roseberry’s quilt represents a personalized textile document containing names of friends and family and associated dates that may represent visits, marriages, deaths or other significant events related to that name. Album quilts such as this were popular in the mid-19th century, as was the use of the red and green color combination.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1853
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.T11232
accession number
209501
catalog number
T11232
In 1846 nearly 100 friends and family members contributed signed blocks for an album quilt for Merinda Shedd Wright of Washington, N. H.
Description
In 1846 nearly 100 friends and family members contributed signed blocks for an album quilt for Merinda Shedd Wright of Washington, N. H. Possibly made before she moved West, the inscriptions include the towns of Washington, Peterborough, Stoddard, and Goshen in New Hampshire, as well as Lowell and Cambridge Port in Massachusetts.
The signers were the wives or daughters of farmers, marble cutters, mechanics, laborers, shoemakers, doctors, clergy, merchants, and others who populated the New England area in the mid-19th century. A few worked in the Lowell, Mass., mills. They ranged in age from two to the eighties, often mother and daughter combinations.
Ninety-six pieced 8-inch “Nine-patch” signed blocks are set diagonally with 32 half blocks around the entire border. All are signed, and except for one stamped inscription, all are inscribed in ink. Three blocks are dated 1846. The blocks are separated and bordered with printed cotton sashing. The lower corners of the quilt are cut away to accommodate bedposts.
Merinda Shedd, born May 1811, was the daughter of John Shedd (about 1784-1828) and Lydia Farnsworth (1785-1860). Merinda married Zophar Wright (1805-1880). The couple had seven children. It seems Merinda went West, but no further information about her was discovered. Zophar was listed as living in New Hampshire on the 1850 census (pauper) and 1860 census (basket maker). He remarried in 1877 and again in 1879.
Sarah Shedd (1813-1867), sister of Merinda Shedd, penned the following on the quilt: “Oh! A Sister’s heart is deep - And her spirit strong to keep - Each light-link of early hours.” The lines are from a poem, “The Shepherd-poet of the Alps,” by English poet, Felicia Hemans (1793-1835). Sarah was 15 when, after her father died, she found work in the textile mills of Maine and Massachusetts to help support her mother and educate her brother.
In addition to working in the mills, she became a poet and educator. She wrote for the Lowell Offering , and a book of her poetry, Poems of Sarah Shedd, Founder of the Shedd Free Library was published in 1883.
Educated, independent, and able to pursue her own interests after her mother’s death, she aspired to found a public library for her hometown of Washington, N. H. Her entire estate, $2,500 (over $400,000 today), was left to the Town to establish a library which opened in 1869 as the Shedd Free Library and contained many of her own books. In 1881 a permanent building was dedicated that is still a functioning library, having grown from the original 292 books to over 9000.
Her sister's quilt descended in the Nathan Reed Wright family, but they were not related to Zophar and Merinda Wright. Jane Wright, adopted daughter of Nathan, did sign the quilt, apparently as a friend of Merinda.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1846
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.T15195
catalog number
T15195
accession number
290274
It took Margaret Tormey sixteen years to carefully craft this 86-inch quilt top, dated 1886, and two matching pillow shams.
Description
It took Margaret Tormey sixteen years to carefully craft this 86-inch quilt top, dated 1886, and two matching pillow shams. She included campaign and club ribbons that name New York and Brooklyn; printed silks from the Robinson Company with such motifs as the Statue of Liberty; and brocaded silk pictures to personalize her project. Examples of chromolithograph printing on silk are also found on the quilt top. A multitude of embroidered motifs typical of the era embellish the crazy-patchwork.
Margaret McNamara was born in Ireland (about 1835) and immigrated with her family to the United States about 1848. In 1861 she married Patrick Tormey, who was also born in Ireland (about 1835) and immigrated as a teenager. They lived in Brooklyn, N.Y. Patrick, a Civil War veteran, was keeper of the Brooklyn City Hall for many years. He died in 1900. Margaret died in 1910.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1870-1886
maker
Tormey, Margaret McNamara
ID Number
TE.T12927
accession number
247329
catalog number
T12927
The “Carolina Lily” pattern, popular in the mid-19th century, was chosen for this example of an album quilt. Roller-printed red and blue-green cotton fabrics make up the pieced and appliquéd pattern.
Description
The “Carolina Lily” pattern, popular in the mid-19th century, was chosen for this example of an album quilt. Roller-printed red and blue-green cotton fabrics make up the pieced and appliquéd pattern. The “Carolina Lily” blocks, quilted in diagonal lines, alternate with plain white blocks each quilted with a different floral design. There is a 1-7/8-inch sawtooth band inside the 7-inch plain white border. The border is quilted with a scrolling feathered vine. The quilting is finely done at 12 stitches/inch.
Twenty-one of the “Carolina Lily” blocks have a signature along the stem. Six of the surnames are Crumbaker and six are Stoutsenberger, all born in Lovettsville, Virginia. These families are buried in the New Jerusalem Church Cemetery, the Saint James Reformed Cemetery, or the Lovettsville Union Cemetery. It is not known why or for whom the quilt was made, but the many signatures indicate the place where it was most likely made and used.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1840-1860
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.T11176
accession number
205528
catalog number
T11176
An intriguing note came with this framed medallion quilt when it was donated: “The Quaker Quilt. Phil.
Description
An intriguing note came with this framed medallion quilt when it was donated: “The Quaker Quilt. Phil. ca 1840 made for wedding of bride of early Philadelphia Quaker Abolitionist of pieces from the gowns of her trousseau.” Unfortunately there is no indication of the quilt maker or ownership.
The focus of the 41-inch central square, “Star of Bethlehem,” is set off by a 5-inch octagonal border. Additional pieced and plain borders frame this variation of a medallion-style quilt. The beige, tan, brown, rust, and light grey silks and satins utilized for the pattern would be typical of the Quaker esthetic and period. The quilt is lined with roller printed cottons and filled with wool. It is quilted with a variety of geometric patterns (grid, diagonal, chevron, and parallel lines), feathered and flowering vines in the borders, and a spray of flowers in the corner squares. This quilt is a precisely designed example of Quaker quilts in the mid-19th century.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1835-1845
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.E388880
accession number
182022
catalog number
E388880
About 1855 in Northfield, Mass., Charles Torrence Ripley was preparing to move his family and daguerreotyping business to Fond du Lac, Wis.
Description
About 1855 in Northfield, Mass., Charles Torrence Ripley was preparing to move his family and daguerreotyping business to Fond du Lac, Wis. This “Friendship” quilt was made by friends and family for his wife, Lucy Arabella (Holton) Ripley.
Friendship quilts are composed of signed blocks of the same pattern often accompanied by an inscription. These quilts were popular in the mid-19th century when many families were relocating further west and a tangible reminder of those they left behind was in order. It is through the many signatures on this quilt that some of its history can be traced.
Blue and white printed cottons are pieced in the “Friendship Chain” (“Album” or Chimney Sweep”) pattern, and the blocks are set diagonally with a 3 ½ -inch blue-and-white polka-dot sashing. The blocks are partly outline-quilted and many have four “Xs” quilted in the white center area.
The majority of the ink-inscribed blocks (28) are from Massachusetts (mainly Northfield) and New Hampshire. Three name towns in Wisconsin, one dated 1854, and the other two, 1920s. Five other blocks are dated 1901 and 1926 and are inscribed in indelible pencil. It would appear that these were written long after the quilt was made and may indicate a significant date or person to be remembered.
In addition to names, places, and dates, many of the blocks contain verses pertinent to friendship. Adaline Swan from Northfield, Mass., penned this on her block in 1851:
“The storm-cloud comes o’er the autumn sky
And the flow’rets in their beauty die,
But friendship true, is an ever green.
That decayeth not ‘neath a sky serene”
(”True Friendship” by James Aylward 1813-1872)
The verses were taken from many sources and may have appeared in magazines or newspapers of the period.
The name of the Museum's donor, “Ione Ripley, Aug 18, 1926, Kenosha, Wisconsin” is written on one of the blocks in purple indelible pencil. The quilt had been kept in the family of her father, Floyd Stratton Ripley, until Ione donated it in 1956. Floyd Stratton Ripley was the son of Charles Stratton Ripley (1851-1914), who immigrated with his parents (Charles Torrance Ripley and Lucy Arabella Ripley) in 1855 to Fond du Lac, Wis., from Northfield, Mass. The initial recipient of this quilt, Lucy Arabella Holton, was born in 1821 in Northfield, Mass. She married Charles Torrance Ripley (b.1815) in 1847, and moved with her 3-year-old son to Fond du Lac in 1855 and had two more children. Her husband established a studio in Fond du Lac, but died in 1861. Lucy died in 1887. Her daughter-in-law, Florence Fellows Ripley (1863-1926), owned the quilt before Ione. Her name, also in indelible pencil, is noted on a block with the date 1901 and Kenosha, Wisconsin. Most likely the donor, Ione, received this quilt after her great-aunt’s death in July 1926.
The quilt was kept in the family for more than 100 years, and now serves as an example of one way a community created a memento for those who left to settle in the West.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1851-1855
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.T11452
accession number
210281
catalog number
T11452
This banner is one of two made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by the Ladies Society of the First Presbyterian Church, New York City, as a fundraising project.
Description
This banner is one of two made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by the Ladies Society of the First Presbyterian Church, New York City, as a fundraising project. The donor, Emilie Noakes Manley, referred to them as “Autograph Quilts” as they contain many signatures of prominent political personages of the period.
The banners belonged to her husband’s grandmother, Margaret Clarke Goodall Bradley, and were donated in her memory. According to family information, this banner was raffled as a fund raiser, possibly for an 1893 addition to the church by the firm McKim, Mead & White. Although Margaret Bradley did not win the raffle, the banner was presented to her because of “her efforts for the projects.”
This banner has a black satin ground with an appliquéd American flag made of red and white satin with a blue and white printed field of stars. Inked signatures of Benjamin Harrison (president 1889-1893) and his cabinet are on the flag. Near the flag are the embroidered words, "Liberty Union E pluribus Unum." In the center of the banner is an appliquéd blue circle embroidered with white stars surrounded by 44 red and white rays representing the number of states in the early 1890s. The rays are embroidered, following the lines of the original signatures, with the names of state governors, including those of Idaho and Wyoming both of which joined the Union in 1890.
The patriotic center is enhanced with appliquéd and embroidered flags of 48 nations. The embroidered insignia of 86 G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic) posts or units are on a 10-inch black satin border. Between two of the G.A.R. insignia is an embroidered Brooklyn Bridge, completed in 1883, and the inscription “BROOKLYN BRIDGE.” Across the top are 42 thin metal rings, an indication that it was meant to be hung. It is lined with light blue-green silk.
The Grand Army of the Republic was founded in Decatur, Illinois on April 6, 1866 by Benjamin F. Stephenson. Membership was limited to honorably discharged veterans of the Union Army, Navy, or Marine Corps who had served between April 12, 1861, and April 9, 1865. Its peak membership was at more than 400,000 in 1890, about the time this banner was made. It lobbied Congress to establish veterans' pensions, supported voting rights for black veterans, and supported Republican political candidates. The organization ended in 1956 with the death of the last member to have served in the Civil War.
The donor recalled in a letter that she remembered hearing that the banner was “a money-making project, and all the ladies of the church participated in the assembling of the ‘Autograph-Swatches’ and the stitching and embroidery. The signatures on the flags were probably members and friends of the congregation (and possibly charged a small fee for the privilege) and when the quilts were completed they were raffled off.”
Margaret J. Clarke was born December 1858 to John and Matilda McKinney Clarke in New York City. Her parents were born in Ireland. She married Edward F. Goodall on September 18, 1877. He was killed by a train in 1880 and she married Samuel Bradley on February 25, 1885. She died November 21, 1929, in New York.
Margaret's daughter Louise, from her first marriage, married John Gordon Noakes. Their son, Donald Gordon Noakes, married Emilie, the donor. He died in 1948 and Emilie later married John Manley. In 1979 she gave the quilts to the National Museum in honor of the family and Margaret Clarke Goodall Bradley. Another granddaughter, Marjorie Blampied, wrote that the quilts “. . . most certainly are where they belong . . . where they will be treasured and appreciated.”
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1890-1893
maker
unknown
ID Number
1979.1019.01
catalog number
1979.1019.01
accession number
1979.1019
This Hawaiian appliqué quilt, in the “Nightblooming Cereus” pattern, belonged to Frances Kaleipapipi Clinton Akana Char. It was donated in her memory by her daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Akana.
Description
This Hawaiian appliqué quilt, in the “Nightblooming Cereus” pattern, belonged to Frances Kaleipapipi Clinton Akana Char. It was donated in her memory by her daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Akana. The quilt was given to Frances as her Hawaiian name, Kaleipapipi, means the "corral to hold cattle." The night-blooming-cereus plant ( Hylocereus undatus ) may have come from Mexico (or South America) and grows over corral walls. When the flowers bloom in the evening between June and October, it appears as though the corral is a lei of cereus flowers around the cattle. Frances Kaleipapipi Char enjoyed this Hawaiian quilt for many years. According to the donor, it was always atop her bed.
This quilt is an example of the Hawaiian appliqué technique, achieved through folding the fabric into eighths and then cutting the design. The quilting outlines the flower appliqué and radiates outward in an echo pattern, quilted 7 stitches per inch. The design was inspired by the night-blooming-cereus. It is said that originally the lava rock wall of the Punahou School in Honolulu was planted with this type of cactus by a Mrs. Bingham about 1836. The beautiful white flowers attracted many admirers who then took cuttings, such that now the species is established throughout the Hawaiian Islands.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1900-1920
owner
Char, Frances Kaleipapipi Clinton
maker
unknown
ID Number
1995.0242.01
accession number
1995.0242
catalog number
1995.0242.01

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