National Quilt Collection - Introduction
"Quilt": A cover or garment made by putting wool, cotton or other substance between two cloths and sewing them together. An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, LL.D., New York 1828.
The National Quilt Collection incorporates quilts from various ethnic groups and social classes, for quilts are not the domain of a specific race or class, but can be a part of anyone’s heritage and treasured as such. Whether of rich or humble fabrics, large in size or small, expertly crafted or not, well-worn or pristine, quilts in the National Quilt Collection provide a textile narrative that contributes to America’s complex and diverse history. The variety and scope of the collection provides a rich resource for researchers, artists, quilt-makers and others.
Part of the Division of Home and Community Life textiles collection, the National Quilt Collection had its beginnings in the 1890s. Three quilts were included in a larger collection of 18th- and 19th-century household and costume items donated by John Brenton Copp of Stonington, Connecticut. From this early beginning, the collection has grown to more than 500 quilts and quilt-related items, mainly of American origin, with examples from many states, including Alaska and Hawaii. Most of the contributions have come to the Museum as gifts, and many of those are from the quilt-makers’ families. The collection illustrates needlework techniques, materials, fabric designs and processes, styles and patterns used for quilt-making in the past 250 years. The collection also documents the work of specific quilt-makers and commemorates events in American history.
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"National Quilt Collection - Introduction" showing 13 items.
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1790 - 1799 Esther Wheat's Wool Quilt
- Description
- Esther Wheat's quilt is an example of a glazed wool fabric, not only used for bedding but also petticoats in the eighteenth century. The shiny surface of the quilt top was achieved by calendering, a process of applying heat and pressure with metal plates or rollers to a worsted fabric. In Esther's quilt the high sheen of the fabric enhanced the elaborate quilting of the large feathered heart and two pineapples surrounded by a scrolling vine with flowers. According to the donor, Esther Wheat Lee's great-great-granddaughter, the original plain weave yellow wool lining wore thin and was replaced by Esther's daughter, Olive Lee Doolittle. A thin layer of cotton fiber filling was added before the second lining of red twill weave cotton and wool was quilted to the original lining, but not through the quilt top.
- Esther Wheat made this quilted indigo-blue wool bed cover for her dower chest in the 1790s. Esther, a twin, was born in 1774 in Conway, Massachusetts. She married Benjamin Lee in 1799 and died at Canastota, New York in 1847. Esther's quilt was passed down through five generations of women before being donated to the Smithsonian in 1973.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1790-1799
- quilter
- Wheat, Esther
- ID Number
- TE*T16380
- catalog number
- T16380.000
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1851 - 1855 Ripley Family's "Friendship" Quilt
- 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
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1853 Yale Engine Company's Quilt
- 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
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1876 Mary W. Stow's "Centennial" Quilt
- Description
- “Mary W. Stow,” embroidered in red, is prominent on this patriotic quilt made of fabrics commemorating the 1876 Centennial in Philadelphia. The motifs were cut from bandannas that were printed as souvenirs of the event, and then appliquéd on white cotton. Most of the motifs are edged with a button-hole stitch using red cotton. Printed fabrics with patriotic motifs were popular in America before the 1876 Centennial, but the major exhibition in Philadelphia provided textile companies with an incentive to produce many new fabrics for the event. Several of these can be found on the quilt.
- The central motif depicts the Memorial Hall Art Gallery at the Centennial International Exhibition at Fairmont Park, Philadelphia. The Main Exhibition Building, Machinery Hall, Agricultural Hall, and the Horticultural Hall are circular motifs. These all originally appeared on one bandanna. There are flags of many nations, most likely cut from a printed textile. Cut-out portraits on printed fabric of George and Martha Washington, William Penn, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Ulysses Grant are among the motifs. Democratic candidates for president and vice-president, Samuel J. Tilden and Thomas A. Hendricks, and their Republican counterparts, Rutherford Hayes and William A. Wheeler, appear in separate motifs.
- Mary W. Stow lived in Wisconsin, and included on her quilt printed pictures of the capitol building at Madison, Wisconsin and Harrison Ludington (1812-1891), governor of Wisconsin from 1876 to 1878.
- Motifs also include inked drawings of the Hingham, Massachusetts, First Meeting House, the Bunker Hill Monument, the Liberty Bell, the Charter Oak, Trinity Church, and Independence Hall. Several motifs have the printed or inked date “1876.”
- The border makes use of patriotic colors. A 1½-inch inner band of blue striped cotton with white stars is framed by an outer 1¾-inch band of red cotton. Quilting, 9 stitches per inch, outlines the appliquéd motifs. The border is quilted with a feathered vine and 1-inch diamond quilting fills the background.
- The patriotic theme is carried to the lining of the quilt. In the center of the back is a bandanna with the printed text of the Declaration of Independence and facsimiles of the signatures of the signers. These are framed by the Liberty Bell and seals of the thirteen colonies, linked by names of the Revolutionary patriots.
- Mary Williams Loomis was born on April 8, 1820, in Brownville, Jefferson County, New York. The daughter of General Thomas Loomis, she married Marcellus Kent Stow (1806-1871) on October 5, 1837, in Buffalo, New York. They moved to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, in 1852 where Marcellus was a business man, practiced law, and was a county judge.
- Marcellus had followed his brother, Alexander, to Wisconsin from New York and together they had platted subdivisions that provided a plan for the city’s growth. Their father, Silas Stow, was a congressman from New York during the War of 1812. Mary and Marcellus reared five children, two girls and three boys.
- Mary was also active in the Fond du Lac community. She was a foundering member of the Fond du Lac Relief Society, established in 1873 following the great forest fires of 1872 that destroyed several areas in Wisconsin. The establishment and management of a “Home for the Friendless” or “The Home” was a result of the fund-raising labors of this organization. Operating well into the twentieth century “The Home” provided a refuge for those in need, particularly the elderly, who did not have other resources. Although widowed, Mary still lived in Fond du Lac at the time of the Philadelphia 1876 Centennial. She may have visited the Exhibition and made this quilt as a reminder of the event. Her son, James W. Stow (1853-1913), lived in Washington, D.C., and Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. It was in Washington, D.C., on June 13, 1898, that Mary died.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1876
- maker
- Stow, Mary W.
- ID Number
- TE*T15703
- accession number
- 297870
- catalog number
- T15703
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1876 - 1878 Esther Cooley's "1876 Centennial" Quilt
- Description
- Esther Rose Cooley fashioned this pieced quilt from printed cotton souvenirs that she collected when she visited the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. Printed fabrics with patriotic motifs were popular in America before the 1876 Centennial, but the major exhibition in Philadelphia provided textile companies with an incentive to produce many new fabrics for the event.
- The center printed square depicts the Memorial Hall Art Gallery as well as the Main Exhibition Building, Machinery Hall, Agricultural Hall, and Horticultural Hall. “CENTENNIAL INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION FAIRMOUNT PARK PHILADELPHIA 1776 1876” is prominently printed on the square. A banner in the eagle’s beak carries the legend “E PLURIBUS UNUM.”
- Four flag banners contribute to the overall design. Each has a large U.S. flag with 42 stars surrounded by foreign flags in their national colors. They represent countries that participated in the 1876 Centennial Exposition: “ITALY, SPAIN, PORTUGAL, TURKEY, SIAM, TUNIS, PERSIA, EGYPT, PERU, VENEZUELA, HONDURAS, GUATEMALA, ECUADOR, BOLIVIA, NICARAGUA, CHILI, ARGENTINE, IRELAND, CHINA, JAPAN, MOROCCO, SANDWICH, HAYTI, LIBERIA, MEXICO, FRANCE, GERMANY, BELGIUM, HOLLAND, SWITZERLAND, RUSSIA, AUSTRIA, DENMARK, [and] SWEDEN.”
- The flag banner design was patented Dec. 28, 1875. The center is probably plate-printed, the flag banners, roller-printed cotton. Two flag segments (36 stars and 7 stripes) are used to balance the quilt design. A strip of foreign flags, probably cut from a similar flag banner, border the quilt.
- Esther Rose was born in Granville, Massachusetts, in 1824. She married Simon Foster Cooley. The Cooley family was long established in Massachusetts, an early ancestor having received a grant of land in Amherst from King George III. Esther Cooley lived in North Hadley, Massachusetts, and according to family information, “She was a great traveler for those days. She went annually to Chautauqua in N.Y.” Esther died in 1918, but the quilt she crafted from souvenirs of her visit to the 1876 Centennial in Philadelphia serves as a reminder of the importance of that event.
- In 1977 one of Esther’s great-granddaughters, Cloyce C. Reed, wrote about the donation of the “1876 Centennial” quilt to the Smithsonian. “My Quilt Goes to Washington,” Yankee Magazine, April 1977. “In a 1972 issue [ Yankee Magazine ] there was an article on quilts which prompted me to write to you about the quilt fashioned by my great-grandmother out of souvenir squares she bought at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia . . . you published my letter in . . . February 1973. . . . Then one day I received a telephone call from the Smithsonian! They had heard of the famous quilt . . . ask[ed] if I would loan it for their upcoming . . . exhibit.” It was on exhibit for the 1976 Bicentennial Exhibit and became part of the permanent collection through the generosity of the Cooley family. “It was truly wonderful to see this old quilt which has been in the family so long, in its final home, well cared for and enjoyed by so many fellow countrymen. We felt we had personally participated in the Bicentennial celebration.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1876-1878
- maker
- Cooley, Esther Elizabeth Rose
- ID Number
- TE*T17186
- accession number
- 314088
- catalog number
- T17186
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1877 - 1878 Caroline Granger's Prize-winning Child's Quilt
- Description
- Agricultural fairs flourished in the mid-nineteenth century and exhibitions of women's needlework skills drew large audiences as they competed for prizes and recognition. A bronze medal, designed by William Barber, was inscribed, “Awarded to Mrs. Joseph Granger for the best Crib Quilt – Worcester, Mass. 1878” by the New England Agricultural Society. A certificate from the office of the New England Agricultural Society states that: “Mrs. Joseph Granger Worcester, Mass. received a Bronze medal awarded at the New England and Worcester Agricultural Fairs, held in the City of Worcester, Mass. September, 1878, for the best Crib Quilt.” Mrs. Joseph (Caroline) Granger’s granddaughter, Claire L. Meyer, donated the quilt, medal, and certificate to the Smithsonian in 1972.
- A note with the quilt, written by one of Caroline Granger’s children, states: “Mother’s quilt all hand quilted she made her own designs with a pin. She got first prize at the Sturbridge fair and every time she showed it at the New England fair – there was even questioning that it was machine made so every body had to examine it closely.” Another note, in different hand, that was with the quilt states: “Couverture de berceau piquee a la main por Mmes Joseph Granger qui importa le primier prix – (Medaille d’or) ‘New England Fair’ de 1878.”
- The all-white child’s quilt, according to the note referred to in French as a “cradle cover,” is made of cotton. The stylized floral center medallion on a diagonal grid background is finely quilted, 12 stitches per inch. The 9-inch border is quilted with an undulating vine and flowers on a background of parallel diagonal lines. Caroline Granger’s design and precise hand quilting are definitely of prize-winning quality.
- Marie Caroline Lamoureux was born on March 3, 1850 in St-Ours, Richelieu, Quebec, Canada. She was the daughter of Antoine Lamoureux and Marie Elizabeth Moge. On January 30, 1873, she married Joseph H. Granger in N. Grosvenordale, Connecticut. They lived in Worcester, Massachusetts, and had twelve children. Two children, born in 1873 and 1875, died before their first birthdays. A daughter, Marie Ida, was about two when Caroline’s quilt won a prize in 1878 and another daughter, Alam Victoria, was born in late 1878. Caroline died on June 9, 1936.
- Claire L. Meyer, the Granger’s granddaughter, wrote; “Many thanks for your letter of July 7, 1972 regarding a crib quilt made by my grandmother a hundred years ago. I am also enclosing for your consideration a quilt machine stitched by my grandfather! . . . I hope it will be worthy of the national collection.” The two quilts are worthy, and provide an interesting contrast between the precise handwork of Mrs. Caroline Granger and the equally precise machine stitching of Mr. Joseph Granger.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1877-1878
- maker
- Granger, Caroline
- ID Number
- TE*T16317.00A
- accession number
- 302043
- catalog number
- T16317A
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1877 - 1878 Joseph Granger's Child's Quilt
- Description
- Joseph Granger’s granddaughter donated both her grandmother’s (Caroline Granger’s) prize-winning child’s quilt and the quilt that her grandfather made. According to a family note with the quilt, “Pa quilted the other all himself by machine.”
- Joseph Granger chose to machine-quilt in a triple diagonal grid pattern, similar to the background of his wife’s hand-quilted child’s quilt that won a medal at the New England Agricultural Fair in 1878. It is not known whether Joseph made the quilt as a personal challenge to equal his wife’s accomplishment, or if it was made to prove the point that what could be done by hand could also be done with a machine. After several decades of improvements, sewing machines, by the 1870s, had become popular consumer products to have in the home. Possibly the idea of mechanical sewing was intriguing to Joseph and he wished to try his proficiency with it.
- Joseph H. Granger was born on October 21, 1842, in L’Acadie, Quebec, Canada. He married Marie Caroline Lamoureux (1850-1936) in N. Grosvenordale, Connecticut, on January 30, 1873. They had twelve children and lived in Worcester, Masssachusetts. Joseph died on June 16, 1934.
- Claire L. Meyer, the Granger’s granddaughter wrote: “Many thanks for your letter of July 7, 1972, regarding a crib quilt made by my grandmother a hundred years ago. I am also enclosing for your consideration a quilt machine stitched by my grandfather! . . . I hope it will be worthy of the national collection.” The two quilts are worthy, and provide an interesting contrast between the precise handwork of Mrs. Caroline Granger and the equally precise machine stitching of Mr. Joseph Granger.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1877-1878
- maker
- Granger, Joseph H.
- ID Number
- TE*T16318
- accession number
- 302043
- catalog number
- T16318
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1878 Caroline Granger's Prize Quilt Medal
- Description
- The New England Agricultural Society medal was awarded to Mrs. Joseph (Caroline) Granger at the 1878 New England and Worcester Agricultural Fairs. One side of the bronze medal has animals with "New England Agricultural Society" around the edge. The other side has; "AWARDED TO [inscribed] Mrs. Joseph Granger for the best Crib Quilt" also "WORCESTER MASS 1878". A certificate with the medal from the office of New England Agricultural Society, dated "Boston, November 1st, 1878" states: "This is to Certify, That Mrs. Joseph Granger Worcester Mass received a Bronze medal awarded at the New England and Worcester Agricultural Fairs, held in the City of Worcester, Mass. September, 1878, for the best Crib Quilt." Signed Daniel Needham, Secretary.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1878
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- TE*T16317.00B
- catalog number
- T16317.00B
- accession number
- 302043
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1883 Vickery Sisters' Crazy-patch Parlor Throw
- Description
- This crazy-patched parlor throw was made by two sisters who lived in Fall River, Mass. The only information known about them is their last name, Vickery, and that neither sister married. A date of 1883 is embroidered on one silk patch.
- Their needlework is an example of the crazy-patch work that was very popular in the United States from 1870 to 1900.
- This type of quilt was not necessarily made for bedding, and more often was a project designed to be displayed over a chair or sofa in the parlor. The crazy-patchwork throws were constructed of pieces of silk, satin, velvets, and ribbon, and enhanced with fancy embroidery stitches. A wide range of appliquéd, embroidered, or painted motifs provided additional interest.
- This parlor throw consists of many crazy-patched and embroidered parallelograms that were assembled into ten 4 ½-inch vertical strips. The strips were joined and framed by a 2 ½-inch black velvet ribbon border with 1 ¾-inch gold satin ribbon tabs, imposing order on disorderly crazy-patches. Felted appliquéd motifs of flowers and birds adorn several patches. Other patches contain motifs such as fans, butterflies, horseshoes, or spider webs, all frequently found on crazy-patchwork. “Kate Greenaway” figures, another popular motif of the era, are embroidered on several patches. Kate Greenaway (1846-1901) was a popular writer and illustrator of children’s books. Her distinctive style for drawing children was widely copied and appears on various decorative arts of the time.
- Commemorative ribbons were often saved and then used for crazy-patchwork. A silk ribbon souvenir bookmark with an image of Lincoln and the inscription: “THE LATE LAMENTED PRESIDENT LINCOLN” (“T. Stevens Coventry” on the back) is prominent on this parlor throw. It is a modified version of a ribbon the Thomas Stevens Company of Coventry, U.K., made for Lincoln’s second inauguration in 1865.
- Thomas Stevens revitalized silk ribbon weaving in Coventry by adapting the jacquard weaving process to produce woven pictures. Custom-designed ribbons, badges, bookmarks, etc., might have portraits, text, or local scenes incorporated in the weave. The term “Stevengraph” is often used to describe the products. These were marketed at the time as “Stevens’ Patent Illuminated Book Markers.” Although only part of the ribbon is visible on this throw, similar ribbons are further inscribed: “ASSASSINATED AT WASHINGTON / 14 APRIL 1865 I HAVE SAID NOTHING BUT WHAT I AM WILLING TO LIVE BY, AND IF IT BE THE PLEASURE OF ALMIGHTY GOD, TO DIE BY. (A. LINCOLN)”
- While there is little information about the Vickery sisters at this time, their needlework project contains many items of interest. It is a worthwhile contribution to the Collection.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1883
- maker
- Vickery Sisters
- ID Number
- TE*T14434
- catalog number
- T14434
- accession number
- 274324
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1888 Stevens Family Silk Crazy Quilt
- Description
- In 1945, when Gertrude O. S. (Cleveland) White donated this parlor throw, she wrote: “The silk crazy quilt [parlor throw] was made here at Intervale Manor [Quinebaug, Conn. / Dudley, Mass.] just previous to the year 1888. My initials and the year are on one corner of the lining. My mother, my sister and myself made it.” Eben Stevens, the donor’s father, was a founder of Intervale Textile Mills in Quinebaug.
- Intervale Manor was a large private home in the late 19th century when the two sisters and their mother made this parlor throw. In the 1940s Intervale Manor became a tearoom, operated by a family member and known for its hospitality, exceptionally fine food, spacious grounds, and comfortable accommodations. Presently, what remains of the Intervale Manor estate has been converted to small apartments.
- Twelve 14 ½-inch heavily embroidered blocks are framed by a 7 ½-inch border. Set off by a gold silk cord and dark red velvet sashing, each of the crazy-patched blocks is given focus and order. Among the embroidered motifs are birds, dragonflies, cats, a ladder, a shooting star, anchors, butterflies, flowers, and geometric motifs. Various initials are embroidered, including “G.O.S. 1888” on the lining and “C.S.” for the two sisters, Gertrude and Celia. An embroidered “A Merry Xmas” may have indicated the deadline for finishing the parlor throw. The crazy patch blocks are embellished with cross, feather, buttonhole, chain, herringbone, outline, running, satin, and couching stitches. The lining is tan glazed cotton.
- Gertrude Olney was born May 1850 and married Eben S. Stevens in 1873. They lived in Dudley, Worchester County, Mass. One daughter, also Gertrude, was born in November 1873. She married Clarence Cleveland in 1894. Another daughter, Celia, who also worked on the parlor throw was born in 1874. In 1887 and 1888 the two teenagers and their mother created a neat and orderly version of the crazy-patchwork that was quite popular at the time.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1888
- maker
- Stevens, Gertrude Olney
- Stevens, Celia
- ID Number
- TE*T09127
- accession number
- 169638
- catalog number
- T09127
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center