Domestic Furnishings - Overview
Washboards, armchairs, lamps, and pots and pans may not seem to be museum pieces. But they are invaluable evidence of how most people lived day to day, last week or three centuries ago. The Museum's collections of domestic furnishings comprise more than 40,000 artifacts from American households. Large and small, they include four houses, roughly 800 pieces of furniture, fireplace equipment, spinning wheels, ceramics and glass, family portraits, and much more.
The Arthur and Edna Greenwood Collection contains more than 2,000 objects from New England households from colonial times to mid-1800s. From kitchens of the past, the collections hold some 3,300 artifacts, ranging from refrigerators to spatulas. The lighting devices alone number roughly 3,000 lamps, candleholders, and lanterns.
"Domestic Furnishings - Overview" showing 140 items.
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1840 - 1860 "LeMoyne Star" Pieced Quilt
- Description
- The pieces that are used to make the 71 “LeMoyne Star” blocks on this quilt create a useful record. They represent an assortment of fabrics used for ordinary mid-19th century clothes. Brown, tan, grey, and rust-colored fabrics, most twill-woven cotton/wool, were used to piece the blocks. These alternate with 6 ½-inch squares of brown and grey striped cotton/wool fabric. The quilt is lined with a plain-weave, cotton warp/wool weft fabric. Brown carded wool serves as the filling. The quilting pattern consists of parallel diagonal lines 1 ½-inch apart, quilted at 3-4 stitches per inch.
- The machine- and hand-woven textile examples might not otherwise have been preserved if not used to craft this quilt.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1840-1860
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1979.0167.01
- catalog number
- 1979.0167.01
- accession number
- 1979.0167
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1760 Eve Van Cortlandt's Quilted Counterpane
- Description
- Eve Van Cortlandt's fine white linen quilted counterpane is one of the earliest dated American quilts in existence. The date, "1760" and her initials, "E V C," are embroidered in blue silk cross-stitch on the quilt lining. Quilted with white linen thread, a delicate pattern of flowers, feathery stems, and low open baskets surround a central quatrefoil medallion. The design is set off by a background of quilted parallel lines just one-eighth inch apart.
- Eve was born on May 22, 1736, to Frederick Van Cortlandt and Francena Jay each from families of wealthy and prominent New York landowners. She made her quilt for her dower chest while living in the family home. In 1761, Eve married the Honorable Henry White, a businessman and a member of the King’s Council of the Royal Colony of New York. He became president of the New York Chamber of Commerce in 1772 and remained loyal to the King of England during the Revolution.
- When the British evacuated New York in 1783, Henry moved his family to England. Henry White died in London in 1786, and Eve returned to America as a widow, most likely to be near two of her children who lived in New York. Of their five children, two sons were in the British service and remained in London, as did one daughter. Eve died in 1836 at the age of one hundred, having witnessed a century of historic events. Since 1897, the family home in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx has been a museum.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1760
- quilter
- Van Cortlandt, Eve
- ID Number
- 1979.0184.01
- catalog number
- 1979.0184.01
- accession number
- 1979.0184
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1840 - 1860 Catherine Byer's Pieced and Appliqued Quilt
- Description
- Inked leaves and a bird frame the inscription: “Eby – Byers Catherine Byers” and the place, “Chambersburg.” Below Chambersburg is noted "1837," but in a different color ink---possibly a later addition? Did Catherine make this quilt?
- Catherine Byers, born in 1805, was the daughter of Frederick Byers and Anna Eby of Pa. Catherine married James Crawford (1799-1872). They raised their children and lived on the family homestead in Franklin County, Pa. Catherine died in 1892. Both came from families who were early settlers of Pennsylvania, some of whom had fought in the Revolutionary War.
- Thirty-six pieced blocks, each with a center square of dark blue printed cotton and three appliquéd leaves at each corner create a unique pattern. The central focus is the 9 ¾-inch-block with the inked drawing and inscription. The quilt is framed by a 6-inch border and is quilted at 10 stitches per inch. As no information was included with the quilt, it is difficult to know who made the quilt and the significance of the date.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1840-1860
- maker
- Byers, Catherine
- ID Number
- 1980.0253.01
- catalog number
- 1980.0253.01
- accession number
- 1980.0253
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1800 - 1850 Pieced Quilt
- Description
- The 17-inch center block of this 18th-century quilt is appliquéd with a charming array of floral, geometric, and heart-shaped designs. It is surrounded by five pieced borders.
- Block-printed, copperplate-printed, Indian-painted, and roller-printed techniques are represented in the fabrics that were used for piecing. Plain-woven and pattern-woven white cottons are also evident. The 8 ½-inch blocks that make up the borders are pieced in a variety of patterns popular in the first half of the 19th century. It has a cotton filling and is quilted, 7 stitches/inch.
- The quilt is probably from southern New England, possibly Connecticut, where it was found. The many, many fabrics, different pieced block patterns, and appliquéd designs contribute to this sampler of 19th- century quilt making.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1800-1850
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1981.0417.04
- catalog number
- 1981.0417.04
- accession number
- 1981.0417
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1800 - 1815 Indigo Wool Quilt
- Description
- This example of an early 19th-century whole cloth quilt has an unusual design. Four sprays of large flowers, leaves, and clusters of berries begin in each of the corners and meet in the center of the quilt. They are framed by a wide scrolling vine with a 2 ½ -inch feathered band along the outer edge.
- The fabric for this quilt was dyed blue with indigo, one of the oldest dyes used for textiles. Glazing, a process involving the use of a hot press on wool fabric, resulted in a smooth, lustrous fabric surface.
- The motifs in the design are all outline quilted, 8-9 stitches/inch. The background, parallel diagonal lines quilted ¼-inch apart, further enhances the overall design. The lining is a tan and blue plaid wool/cotton fabric. There is no binding the front and lining are turned in and sewn with a running stitch.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1800-1815
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1981.1020.08
- catalog number
- 1981.1020.08
- accession number
- 1981.1020
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1825 - 1850 Mary Hise Norton's Silk Quilt
- Description
- Mary Hise Norton of Russellville, Kentucky, owned this elaborate silk quilt in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. Each of its thirty-six 14-inch stars is pieced using 32 diamond shapes cut from velvet and striped, checked, plaid, brocaded, and warp-printed silks. The stars are set off by 4-inch and 8-inch squares and 4 x 8-inch rectangles along the edges, all of plain green silk.
- The larger silk squares and the rectangles have quilted and stuffed motifs of flowers or foliage sprays, each a different design. Their backgrounds and the smaller squares are quilted in a diagonal grid. The pieced stars are outline-quilted, all at 12 stitches per inch.
- Mary Hise Norton’s quilt has been displayed at many venues and has won prizes, among them the 1917 McCracken County (Kentucky) Fair Blue Ribbon and in 1981 the Kentucky Heritage Quilt Society Prize.
- In 1981 the donor wrote: “Our family has a rare quilt . . . the preservation of my quilt is my primary consideration. The quilt has been saved and passed down through seven generations. When my grandmother died in 1930 it was taken from her trunk and stored in a cedar chest from then until the late 70’s . . . . It is a treasure that has been added to my life. It is too rare and old to be used on a bed, I have decided to donate it to [the] Museum.” The donor noted that her great-great-grandmother, Mary Hise Norton, was known for her “artistic worth.”
- The daughter of Frederick and Nancy Hise, Mary Hise was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, on March 12, 1797. She moved with her family to Russellville, Kentucky, about 1810. On April 11, 1813, she married William Norton. Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on September 2, 1781, William Norton also moved to Kentucky, settling in Russellville about 1810.The Nortons were the parents of six sons and three daughters and owned a blacksmith shop and iron store. They continued to live in Russellville, Kentucky, until William’s death in 1858 and Mary’s in 1878.
- According to David Morton, who in 1891 wrote The Nortons of Russellville, Kentucky, “William and Mary Norton journeyed together as husband and wife for nearly forty-five years, until they became so thoroughly assimilated as to think, talk, and even look alike . . . . Mrs. Norton was more robust in body and mind and more vivacious in temperament than her husband. She did her own thinking, had well-defined opinions and expressed them freely, loved to talk and talked well. A model housekeeper, she rose up while it was yet night and gave meat to her household, nor did her candle go out by night. She ate not the bread of idleness, and her children called her blessed; her husband also praised her. Much of the energy and financial skill evinced by her sons was derived by inheritance from her.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1825-1850
- date made
- Second quarter, 19th century
- quilter
- Norton, Mary Hise
- ID Number
- 1982.0392.01
- catalog number
- 1982.0392.01
- accession number
- 1982.0392
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1839 Frances M. Jolly's Quilt Top
- Description
- The embroidered inscription “Frances M Jolly 1839” graces the center medallion of this quilt top. This signed and dated silk-and-wool-embroidered quilt top came from an African American family, and the maker, Frances M. Jolly, was said to be an ancestor of one of the donor’s grandparents. The family, of whom little else is known, is said to have lived in Massachusetts and moved to Pinehurst, North Carolina.
- A 37½-inch black square set diagonally in the center with red corner triangles is the focal point of this quilt top. It is surrounded by three borders: a 9-inch black, a 10-inch orange, and an 11-inch black. Appliquéd flowers, leaves, and vines embellished with braid and embroidery decorate the surface.
- The edges of the appliquéd motifs are not turned under, but are held in place by buttonhole stitching in matching or near-matching thread colors. Silk or cotton threads are used for securing the appliqué motifs, stitching, and the embroidery, except for the inscription, which is chain-stitched in red wool. The quilt has both hand and machine stitching. The outer two borders are machine-stitched, indicating that they were joined after 1860 when sewing machines became common in households. Wool fabrics are used for both the pieced sections and the appliquéd motifs. Wool and silk braid and silk ribbon contribute to the overall design.
- Little is known about Frances M. Jolly. A headstone in the White Cloud Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Calloway County, Missouri bears the name “Frances M. Jolly dau of E. H. and A. M. Jolly Feb 15, 1915 and Feb. 11, 1916.” Whether this has a connection to the Frances M. Jolly that is inscribed on this quilt top is a question that remains to be answered with further research and information.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1839
- quilter
- Jolly, Frances M.
- ID Number
- 1983.0241.01
- catalog number
- 1983.0241.01
- accession number
- 1983.0241
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1880 - 1899 Copland Family's "Log Cabin" Bedcover
- Description
- This carefully thought-out example of the pieced “Log Cabin” or “Courthouse Steps” pattern was given as a gift of friendship from the Copland Family of Johnson Creek, Wis., to Clara Foy. She in turn gave it to her stepgrand daughter, the donor, in 1942 as a gift before she was married. The quilt was exhibited at a county fair where it won a blue ribbon and possibly was exhibited at the Wisconsin State Fair and other fairs.
- The bedcover is composed of 7 ½-inch blocks made of many different late-19th-century roller-printed cottons. The blocks are framed by four rows of short printed cotton strips, with a 1 ¾-inch cotton border print on the inner edge and a different 1 ¾-inch cotton border print on the outer edge. The blocks and strips are constructed on muslin squares and rectangles. In each of the four corners of the border is a 7-inch block pieced in the “White House Steps” version of the “Log Cabin” pattern. Although the donor referred to it as a quilt, it has neither a lining nor a filling and is not quilted.
- Clara Falcy, the recipient of this bedcover from the Copland Family, was born in Wisconsin in 1887. She married a Mr. Radditz and moved to Indiana. After his death, she married George L. Foy (about 1870-1933) in 1931 and they lived in Wisconsin.
- The numerous fabrics in this version of the “Log Cabin” quilt make it an interesting contribution to the Collection.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1880-1899
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1983.0731.01
- catalog number
- 1983.0731.01
- accession number
- 1983.0731
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1850 - 1880 Lucy Meade's "Sunburst" Pieced Quilt
- Description
- The “Sunburst” quilt was brought to Kansas from Ohio in 1904 by Emma Tracy, Lucy Meade’s mother. She had inherited it from her mother, Candus Cone Northway, whose aunt crafted it in the mid-19th century. Lucy Tracy Meade, the donor’s grandmother, exhibited the quilt in Kansas in the 1970s.
- According to Lucy Meade, it was always referred to in the family as the star pattern. Whether it is called a 14-point star, a sunburst, or a sunflower, the quilt makes a bold graphic statement.
- This carefully designed quilt is composed of five different roller-printed cottons, with a white cotton lining and cotton filling. A 23 ¾-inch red circular center is surrounded by 14 yellow triangles and 14 green diamonds. Additional piecing in blue provides contrast to the colorful sunburst. The resulting 57-inch square is framed by a border of 9 ½-inches on three sides and 17-inches on the bottom. The quilting accents the design with concentric circles ¾-inch apart in the center, echo quilting on the diamonds and triangles, clamshell quilting on the wedges between diamonds, and further concentric circles around the sunburst. The border is quilted with a diagonal grid pattern, all done at 7 stitches per inch.
- In an article in the Hays Daily News from 1979 about the “Sunburst” quilt, Lucy Meade says: “It’s been in the family for as long as I can remember. We’re even so worried about it wearing out that we don’t use it anymore, except for display purposes.” Her granddaughter, Janet Meade Komoroske agreed, and felt that the quilt belonged in a museum collection where it can be admired and studied by a wider audience.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1850-1880
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1984.0211.01
- catalog number
- 1984.0211.01
- accession number
- 1984.0211
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1900 - 1915 Amish "Garden of Eden" Quilt
- Description
- Quilted in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania in the early twentieth century, this is an example of the “Garden of Eden” or “Economy Block” quilt pattern. A center of twenty pieced and plain 20-inch square blocks is framed by a “Chain Square” and two plain borders. Plain-colored cotton and wool fabrics and black quilting thread contribute to its quiet elegance.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1900-1915
- quilter
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1985.0029.01
- catalog number
- 1985.0029.01
- accession number
- 1985.0029
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center