National Quilt Collection

"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. 

Learn more about the quilt collection and step behind the scenes with a video tour.

This indigo wool quilt is one of three late-eighteenth-and-early nineteenth-century quilts that were donated in the 1890s by John Brenton Copp of Stonington, Connecticut.
Description
This indigo wool quilt is one of three late-eighteenth-and-early nineteenth-century quilts that were donated in the 1890s by John Brenton Copp of Stonington, Connecticut. All are part of an extensive gift of household textiles, costume items, furniture, and other objects that belonged to his family from 1750 to 1850. The Copp Collection continues to provide insights into New England family life of that period.
Whole cloth quilts were most popular between 1775 and 1840, although before 1800 they were relatively rare and expensive. This eighteenth-century example from the Copp family is a glazed indigo wool quilt. The fabric 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 surface. The lining, a butternut-colored wool, apparently was made from two different blankets.
It is quilted with a popular motif of the period, a large pineapple, using blue wool thread, 7 stitches per inch. A quilted flowering vine extends from a basket at the bottom edge of the quilt and frames the pineapple. A family member, John Brown Copp (b. 1779), was known to have drawn designs for white counterpanes for the young ladies in the Stonington area. The quilting pattern on this indigo wool quilt is similar to the embroidery pattern of a white counterpane, from about 1800, which also belonged to the Copp family.
An analysis of the household textile collection donated by John Brenton Copp can be found in the Copp Family Textiles by Grace Rogers Cooper (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1971). In the book the author summarizes the family background. “The first Copp to reach America was William, a 26-year-old London shoemaker who in 1635 set out for the Massachusetts Colony on the good ship Blessing. He landed east of Boston and became the first owner of Copp’s Hill in north Boston . . . . William’s son Jonathan established the Connecticut branch of the family around Stonington later in the seventeenth century. Many of his male descendents gained comfortable prosperity as merchants and businessmen, while their wives and daughters led full lives as mothers of the large families in which education and refinement were encouraged . . . . The long succession of Jonathans, Samuels, Catherines, Esters, Marys, and Sarahs makes it rather difficult to set in order the generations and their contributions to the collection.” The exact maker of this indigo wool quilt is unidentified, but it was probably made by one or more members of the Copp household.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1750-1800
maker
Copp Family
ID Number
TE.H006643
accession number
28810
catalog number
H006643
This quilt is one of three late-eighteenth-and-early-nineteenth-century quilts that were donated in the 1890s by John Brenton Copp of Stonington, Connecticut.
Description
This quilt is one of three late-eighteenth-and-early-nineteenth-century quilts that were donated in the 1890s by John Brenton Copp of Stonington, Connecticut. All are a part of an extensive gift of household textiles, costume items, furniture, and other objects that belonged to his family from 1750 to 1850. The Copp Collection continues to provide insights into New England family life of that period.
The pieced blocks on this quilt, a variation of the “Nine-patch” pattern, are each made of one of nine different block-printed cottons. These are symmetrically arranged according to the particular print, and alternate with plain white blocks. The quilting pattern consists of parallel diagonal lines on the pieced blocks contrasting with 1½-inch shells on the white blocks, all quilted at 7 stitches per inch.
An analysis of the household textile collection donated by John Brenton Copp can be found in the Copp Family Textiles by Grace Rogers Cooper (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1971). In the book the author summarizes the family background. “The first Copp to reach America was William, a 26-year-old London shoemaker who in 1635 set out for the Massachusetts Colony on the good ship Blessing. He landed east of Boston and became the first owner of Copp’s Hill in north Boston . . . . William’s son Jonathan established the Connecticut branch of the family around Stonington later in the seventeenth century. Many of his male descendents gained comfortable prosperity as merchants and businessmen, while their wives and daughters led full lives as mothers of the large families in which education and refinement were encouraged . . . . The long succession of Jonathans, Samuels, Catherines, Esters, Marys, and Sarahs makes it rather difficult to set in order the generations and their contributions to the collection.” The exact maker of this “Nine-patch” quilt is unidentified, but it was probably made by one or more members of the Copp household.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1790-1810
maker
Copp Family
ID Number
TE.H006679
accession number
28810
catalog number
H006679
This pieced-work example is one of three late-eighteenth-and-early nineteenth-century quilts that were donated in the 1890s by John Brenton Copp of Stonington, Connecticut.
Description
This pieced-work example is one of three late-eighteenth-and-early nineteenth-century quilts that were donated in the 1890s by John Brenton Copp of Stonington, Connecticut. All are a part of an extensive gift of household textiles, costume items, furniture and other objects that belonged to his family from 1750 to 1850. The Copp Collection continues to provide insights into New England family life of that period.
The arrangement of the pattern of this quilt is one found frequently in eighteenth-century and early-nineteenth-century quilts, a succession of borders framing a center panel of pieced work. A view of the pieced center of this quilt seen from the right side, suggests the shape of a tree, and the printed fabrics repeat in mirror fashion in each row about ninety percent of the time. Perhaps the center was erroneously placed in this direction, or it was meant to be viewed from the bedside. The lining is pieced of much-mended linen and cotton fabrics that originally were probably sheets. On one piece, the initials “HV” are cross-stitched in tan silk thread. It is quilted in an overall herringbone pattern, 5 or 6 stitches per inch.
The clothing and furnishing fabrics used in the quilt top span a period of about forty years. This, and the fact that the Copp family was in the dry goods business, may explain why the quilt includes more than one hundred and fifty different printed, woven-patterned, and plain fabrics of cotton, linen and silk. Although the array of fabrics is extravagant, economy is evident in the use of even the smallest scraps. Many blocks in the quilt pattern are composed of several smaller, irregularly shaped pieces. Two dresses, in the Copp Collection, one from about 1800 and the other from about 1815, are made of fabrics that appear in the quilt.
An analysis of the household textile collection donated by John Brenton Copp can be found in the Copp Family Textiles by Grace Rogers Cooper (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1971). In the book the author summarizes the family background. “The first Copp to reach America was William, a 26-year-old London shoemaker who in 1635 set out for the Massachusetts Colony on the good ship Blessing. He landed east of Boston and became the first owner of Copp’s Hill in north Boston . . . . William’s son Jonathan established the Connecticut branch of the family around Stonington later in the seventeenth century. Many of his male descendents gained comfortable prosperity as merchants and businessmen, while their wives and daughters led full lives as mothers of the large families in which education and refinement were encouraged . . . . The long succession of Jonathans, Samuels, Catherines, Esters, Marys, and Sarahs makes it rather difficult to set in order the generations and their contributions to the collection.” The exact maker of this quilt is unidentified, but it was probably made by one or more members of the Copp household.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1790-1810
maker
Copp Family
ID Number
TE.H006680
accession number
28810
catalog number
H006680
According to information given with the donation in 1945, this quilt originally belonged to Abbie Corey Brackett. Abbie Corey [Corah] married Ichabod Brackett, a hired man on the Corey family farm in Plainfield, Conn., in 1816.
Description
According to information given with the donation in 1945, this quilt originally belonged to Abbie Corey Brackett. Abbie Corey [Corah] married Ichabod Brackett, a hired man on the Corey family farm in Plainfield, Conn., in 1816. “All her father, Squire Joshiah Corey would allow her to take from home, were the two quilts, which she made. He allowed her nothing more. The Coreys were Scotch.” While this may have explained the other “quilt,” a woven coverlet, this particular quilt dates from about 1825-1835.
The quilt top consists of lengths of a single glazed, roller-printed cotton. The “Pillar Print” design is in red and brown, with an olive drab color added by surface roller. The combination of architectural and floral elements was particularly popular from 1825 to 1835 in American household furnishing fabrics. The quilt has a plain-weave white cotton lining and cotton fiber filling. Concentric diamonds and a quilting pattern variously known as “Rob Peter and Pay Paul,” or “Lafayette Orange Peel” or “Dolly Madison’s Workbox,” quilted at six stitches per inch, complete the quilt.
Records indicate that Abigail Corey was born about 1789. She married Ichabod Brackett (about 1790-1862) 3 February 1816. Sadly, after his death, Abigail is listed on the 1870 census as “Nabby Brackett” born about 1787 and living in Dudley, Worcester, Mass., as a pauper. On the 1880 census she is listed as Abigail Brackett and an “inmate” in Dudley. The donor received this quilt and a woven coverlet from a friend of her mother’s, Mrs. Hattie Vinton Wright, who was the great-granddaughter of Abbie Corey Brackett. When the items arrived at the Museum in 1945, they were deemed “excellent examples representing types not duplicated in the collections.”
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1825-1835
maker
Brackett, Abbie Corey
ID Number
TE.T09126
accession number
169638
catalog number
T09126
In 1883,Fidelia Dickinson created this parlor throw, a veritable textile sampler of silk fabrics from 1783 to 1883. She made it as a wedding present for her daughter Anna, who married Isaac Newton Knapp on December 5,1883.
Description
In 1883,Fidelia Dickinson created this parlor throw, a veritable textile sampler of silk fabrics from 1783 to 1883. She made it as a wedding present for her daughter Anna, who married Isaac Newton Knapp on December 5,1883. Not only did Fidelia collect all the fabrics, but she made a key to the origins of each.
In 1931 her grandson, Arthur, wrote: “I have recently inherited a patchwork quilt made in 1883. I believe that it is an exceptional example of the quilt work of the time. It is in a perfect state of preservation and the exact history has been preserved of some forty pieces in it. The oldest piece is dated 1783. . . . I would be pleased to give this quilt to the National Museum for preservation, if you are interested.”
Twenty-eight 8 ½-inch crazy-patched blocks are set off by a 5 ½-inch red velvet strip at the top and bottom. Four corner blocks are pieced in fan patterns, a motif often found on throws of the period. In addition there are embroidered motifs of a butterfly, spider web, and flowers. One badge or ribbon was worn by John Northend, Fidelia's son-in-law, on Connecticut’s “Battle Flag Day” in 1879. “Lovers Delight” is stamped on another patch.The throw is lined with a machine-quilted dark red silk and tied every 4 ½ inches with small silk ribbon bows.
The distinguishing feature of this parlor throw is an embroidered number found on various patches. These numbers correspond to a detailed explanation of their source that was included with the donation. Thirty-six of the forty numbered pieces are from items worn on the occasion of their own weddings by relatives and friends of the bride or groom. Some examples are: “Wedding dress of Fidelia S. Hall (who made this quilt). Married Abner Wolcott Dickinson. February 28, 1844.” “Wedding vest of Abner Wolcott Dickinson.” “Wedding dress of Mary Elizabeth Dickinson. Married John Northend, May 6 [22], 1877. A sister.”
The oldest piece was from a “Wedding dress of Eunice Hills. Married Timothy Hall, M.D. April 3 1783 in East Hartford, Connecticut.” There was even a piece of Anna’s gown described as “Wedding dress of Anna Dickinson. Married Isaac Newton Knapp. December 5, 1883. Afterwards part of the wedding trousseau of Bessie Knapp Pierce [their daughter] in 1909.” Items from parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, cousins, and friends are included. The wedding present that Fidelia crafted for her daughter is a textile version of a family tree.
Fidelia S. Hall was born July 12, 1824, in East Glastonbury, Hartford, Conn. She was the daughter of Betsy Wells (1802-) and Austin Hall (1798-1851). Fidelia married Abner Wolcott Dickinson (1820-1903) on February 28, 1844. They lived in Connecticut and raised nine children. Daughter Sarah Anna (referred to as Anna), was born February 18, 1854. Anna taught school before her marriage to Isaac Newton Dickinson (1851-1930) in 1883. They had five children and lived in Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. Fidelia died March 20, 1909, and is buried in the Wassuc Cemetery, New Britain, Hartford, Conn. Anna died August 15, 1931, in Paris, France, and is buried in Washington, D.C.
Fidelia fashioned her wedding present to her daughter not only as a lovely item for Anna's home, but also as a very personal textile document connecting Anna to her family and friends.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1883
maker
Dickinson, Fidelia S. Hall
ID Number
TE.T06963
accession number
116760
catalog number
T06963
This early 19th-century quilt was found in Connecticut. The faded areas of the block-printed, blue resist top suggest the probable use of recycled fabrics.
Description
This early 19th-century quilt was found in Connecticut. The faded areas of the block-printed, blue resist top suggest the probable use of recycled fabrics. The fabric may have been from worn or out-of-fashion curtains, or other bed furnishings of an earlier period.
In order to obtain the pattern on the cotton fabric used for the top, a dye-resistant substance was applied to specific areas. The fabric was then dipped in an indigo dye. The resist was then removed, leaving the background without dye. The quilt is lined with a plain white fabric, and quilted in a diamond grid pattern.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1800-1825
maker
unknown
ID Number
1991.0288.02
accession number
1991.0288
catalog number
1991.0288.02

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