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.

Achsah Goodwin Wilkins designed this appliquéd counterpane, which is similar to several that have been attributed to her skills. Written in ink in one corner of the lining is: “A. G. Wilkins 1820 / M. D. Davis 1890.” She gave many quilts and counterpanes to her daughters.
Description
Achsah Goodwin Wilkins designed this appliquéd counterpane, which is similar to several that have been attributed to her skills. Written in ink in one corner of the lining is: “A. G. Wilkins 1820 / M. D. Davis 1890.” She gave many quilts and counterpanes to her daughters. These were later inherited by descendents. “M. D. Davis” is most likely Mary Dorsey Davis (1845-1939), daughter of Hester Ann Wilkins Davis, and granddaughter of Achsah Goodwin Wilkins.
A bouquet of appliquéd water lilies and roses, cut from different chintz fabrics, is the focus of this counterpane. It is surrounded by two undulating wreaths. Eight floral sprays, cut from another chintz fabric, are between the two wreaths. The ground for the appliqué resembles quilting, but is a fancy weaving of a white cotton double cloth called Marseilles. A wide 7¾-inch roller-printed floral strip borders three sides of the counterpane. It is the only area that is lined.
Achsah Goodwin, daughter of a wealthy merchant, William Goodwin of Lyde, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1775. Achsah became a member of the Methodist Church at eighteen, although it caused difficulties with her Episcopal family. On August 5, 1794, she married William Wilkins Jr. (1767-1832), also a Methodist. In addition to rearing a family, she was active in mission work and the establishment of a Methodist church in Baltimore. Achsah died in 1854.
In William Rush Dunton’s Old Quilts, 1947, one of her granddaughters, Mary Dorsey Davis, provided notes from her mother, Hester Anne (Mrs. Allen Bowie Davis), detailing Achsah’s life. “My mother [Achsah] was a very superior woman, possessing strong sense, sound judgment, great dignity, remarkably self-possessed . . . . She suffered from cutaneous disease . . . most frequently [she] beguiled her weary hours of sickness by designing and laying out fancy spreads in which she displayed beautiful taste . . . . I, as well as many of her descendants, have choice specimens of her handiwork which we prize highly.” Achsah’s access to fine imported fabrics, attention to needlework details, and her design innovations are evident in this quilt, as well as others that are attributed to her. Her quilts are treasured additions to several quilt collections.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1820 - 1840
maker
Wilkins, Achsah Goodwin
ID Number
1995.0011.01
accession number
1995.0011
catalog number
1995.0011.01
An appliquéd and embroidered adaptation of the Great Seal of the United States centers this cotton quilt made by Susan Strong in the early second quarter of the nineteenth century. Susan probably made this quilt in Ohio, where her family moved prior to 1820.
Description
An appliquéd and embroidered adaptation of the Great Seal of the United States centers this cotton quilt made by Susan Strong in the early second quarter of the nineteenth century. Susan probably made this quilt in Ohio, where her family moved prior to 1820. The Great Seal has been in use since 1782 to authenticate documents issued by the United States government. Adaptations of this patriotic motif, a bald eagle with its wings spread, have been used on many quilts.
In Susan’s adaptation, the eagle holds vines in its talons and beak instead of the arrows, olive branch, and banner with E Pluribus Unum that are found on the traditional motif. The thirteen appliquéd 8-pointed stars above the eagle represent the thirteen colonies. The center panel is framed by three borders, each 7½-inches wide. They are appliquéd with the same design of flowering vines growing from corner vases. Two fabrics, a white cotton and roller-printed discharge white on blue cotton, are used alternately for the appliqué and the background. The shield and details on the eagle’s head are embroidered with silk thread in chain and satin stitches. Quilting is 6 stitches to the inch, in various patterns. This patriotic quilt is an example of an important design motif used to decorate many objects during the early part of the nineteenth century.
Susan Strong was born on July 4, 1809, in Frederick County, Maryland. She is listed among the pioneers in Richland County, Ohio, those who lived in the county prior to 1820. Charles, George, and John Strong of Maryland are among the 1818 listing of property owners in Jefferson Township. Susan married William Bell (1805-1847) on December 6, 1831. William was the son of Robert Bell, an early developer (1814) of the town of Bellville, Ohio. They had six children, two boys and four girls (all of whom taught school). In 1840 they moved to Hancock County, but Susan returned to Bellville after the death of William in 1847. She did not remarry and later lived with her daughter, Sarah (Mrs. Charles H. Dewey), in Omaha, Nebraska. Susan died in 1875, at age 66.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1825-1840
maker
Strong, Susan
ID Number
TE.T14833
catalog number
T14833
accession number
283467
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
This white-work child's quilt belonged to Ann Bender Snyder in the 1840s, whether it was intended for her own child is not known. Forty years later Ann Bender Snyder gave the quilt to her god daughter, Nina Knode, as a baptismal gift when she was six months old.
Description
This white-work child's quilt belonged to Ann Bender Snyder in the 1840s, whether it was intended for her own child is not known. Forty years later Ann Bender Snyder gave the quilt to her god daughter, Nina Knode, as a baptismal gift when she was six months old. Nina Knode Heft always felt that it was a "museum piece" and that "after she was gone nobody would be interested in taking care of [it] in the same manner as she had." William Heft, Nina Knode's husband, followed his wife's wishes and donated it in her name to the Museum in 1940.
The all white cotton quilt has a center medallion consisting of a basket of fruit above the quilted initials "A B S" enclosed in a feathered vine. This in turn is surrounded by an undulating vine bearing grapes, flowers, and pineapples. Stems and straight lines are stuffed with cotton roving. The border has a zigzag row of pointed oval leaves. Three sides of the quilt are edged with a 3-inch netted fringe.
Ann Bender was born in about 1830, and married Oliver H. Snyder on 15 September 1847. In 1848 they had a daughter, Alice, who died at age five in 1853. Both Ann and Oliver Snyder lived in Funkstown, Maryland. Both died in 1887 and are buried in the Funkstown Public Cemetery.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1841
quilter
Snyder, Ann Bender
ID Number
TE.T08434
accession number
157749
catalog number
T08434
The large center block of this album quilt is inscribed in ink: “Hester Willard To her Sister Mary Norriston April 12 1842.” Hester’s sister would have been Mary H. (?) Taylor.
Description
The large center block of this album quilt is inscribed in ink: “Hester Willard To her Sister Mary Norriston April 12 1842.” Hester’s sister would have been Mary H. (?) Taylor. Almost all of the other 68 pieced and appliquéd blocks contain an inked or stamped signature, and many are dated between 1841 and 1844. Additionally many are inscribed with verse from hymns or period literature expressing parting and remembrance. The signatures on the quilt blocks are those of relatives, neighbors, and friends. They lived either in Lower Dublin in Philadelphia County or in the city of Philadelphia, except for Mary’s sisters, Hester Willard and Emily Taylor, who lived in Norristown, Pa, a suburb of Philadelphia.
All of the 68 pieced and appliquéd blocks are different, creating the sampler effect. Both traditional motifs and delightful original designs are represented. These are arrayed around a 17 x 18 1/4-inch center square. An unfinished quilt top, evidence indicates that it was reassembled at some time. Four blocks have been enlarged with fabrics that appear to be of a later date (1875-1900). The fabrics are mainly roller-printed dress fabrics with some furnishing chintzes, there are no plain-colored cottons.
Mary was probably the daughter of Thomas and Susan Wright Taylor. Neither Thomas nor Susan is listed in the 1850 Census. Earlier, Susan is listed as head of household in the 1830 and 1840 Census for Lower Dublin, Philadelphia, Pa. Many of the Wright family members are buried in the cemetery at the Pennyback Baptist Church which was first named the Lower Dublin Baptist Church. It was the first Baptist Church in Philadelphia. We know no further information about Mary Taylor ---whether she had married, gone west, or died.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1841-1844
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.T14870
catalog number
T14870
accession number
282796
Nancy Ward Butler made this quilt to commemorate the death of her granddaughter in 1842. Named for her grandmother, Nancy Adelaide Butler was born May 22 1840. She was the daughter of Calvin Butler (1818-1857), the quilt maker's son, and Mary A.
Description
Nancy Ward Butler made this quilt to commemorate the death of her granddaughter in 1842. Named for her grandmother, Nancy Adelaide Butler was born May 22 1840. She was the daughter of Calvin Butler (1818-1857), the quilt maker's son, and Mary A. Storey (1822-1909) whom he married in 1839. Nancy A. Butler died in February 1842 in Jamestown, N.Y. of scarlatina or scarlet fever, a serious and often fatal childhood disease at the time. In the nineteenth century, expressions of mourning were often part of the designs found on needlework and may have provided a way of working through grief as well as a memorial to a loved one.
"NANCY A. BUTLER. DIED. FEB. 3 * 1842 * AGED 20 mo" is appliquéd on this quilt with roller and discharge printed blue and white cotton. The two sawtooth borders are pieced. The ground and lining are white plain woven cotton and the filling is cotton. The center section is quilted in parallel diagonal lines ½ to ¾ inches apart, in the border is a flowering vine; both quilted 6 stitches to the inch. A similar quilt in the McClurg Museum Chautauqua County Historical Society was possibly also made by Nancy. It memorializes her youngest son, James Butler who died of typhus at the age of 20 in 1844 and a granddaughter, Cynthia Smith Sage, who died in 1845 of consumption at the age of 23. Both are buried in the Laona Cemetery.
Nancy Ward was born in 1779, daughter of Josiah Ward (1747/48-1825). Nancy Ward married James Butler (1780-1853) in 1802 in Buckland, Massachusetts. They settled in Chautauqua County, New York and raised their family, nine children, near Laona, New York. In 1855 Nancy Ward Butler was living in Jamestown, New York with her daughter Nancy Turner (1803-1889). They were both widowed. Nancy died in 1863.
Nancy A. Butler Werdell, the donor, writes; "I am the namesake of the child, 'Nancy A. Butler,' memorialized on the quilt made by my ancestor [great-great grandmother], Nancy Ward Butler."
She also commented about the quilt in Modern Maturity magazine in 1990; "Nancy was my great aunt! I inherited [the] quilt a number of years ago and donated it to the Smithsonian [1976]. I am so pleased that I have added to the folk history of our country in a small way. A quilt (or any prized treasure) preserved in the bottom of a trunk is a waste. Let's open our trunks and share our treasures." With the quilt, is a carefully printed, undated award; "Second Prize for the most Beautiful Quilt."
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1842
quilter
Butler, Nancy Ward
ID Number
TE.T18333
catalog number
T18333
accession number
1977.0125
Members of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, presented Hannah C. Nicholson with this album quilt made in 1843. She was 19 years old at the time and would shortly marry Howell Grave in 1845.
Description
Members of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, presented Hannah C. Nicholson with this album quilt made in 1843. She was 19 years old at the time and would shortly marry Howell Grave in 1845. A descendent wrote at the time of donation: “The quilt has been carefully tended since that time and regarded as an heirloom by our family.”
In the mid-nineteenth century, album quilts with inscriptions and signatures were often made to celebrate an important event, and provide a textile record of friends and family. The forty-one appliquéd blocks and one inked block on this quilt are inscribed with names, dates, and places. Names of Hannah’s paternal relatives, Nicholson, Miller, Biddle, and Parrish, predominate.
The quilt’s inscriptions indicate that some blocks were contributed by women in the name of relatives or young children, e.g. “for her brother” or “for her daughter.” When the block was for a son or daughter, the age was also added. The dates are given in the style of month, date and year with many of them just “8 Mo 1843.” Most of the places inked on the blocks are from the Philadelphia area, with a few from New Jersey (Woodbury, Bordentown, Pleasant Hill, and Salem). Although Hannah was born and lived in Indiana, her father was from New Jersey.
The quilt is composed of forty-nine pieced and appliquéd blocks. The blocks are made with glazed, unglazed, and roller-printed cottons. These were joined by a 2 ½-inch glazed printed-stripe sashing. The same printed cotton is used for the border, providing a cohesive grid-like framework for the blocks. The quilting pattern is an overall diagonal grid, quilted 8 or 9 stitches per inch.
Hannah C. Nicholson was born in Indiana on November 19, 1824, to John and Esther Nicholson. On August 14, 1845 Hannah married Howell Grave (1818-1894) in Wayne County, Indiana. Howell’s ancestors were among the earliest settlers of Indiana. His parents and grandparents arrived in the same year Indiana achieved statehood, 1816, and he was born there in 1818.
Howell and Hannah farmed in Wayne County and raised four children, three girls (Esther, Emma, and Josephine) and a son (Vernon). In the early 1860s they moved to Richmond, Indiana, where for twenty years Howell was one of the principal iron merchants in the city. By the mid-1880s he was in the insurance and real estate businesses. Two of their daughters are listed as teachers on the 1870 census, while Vernon continued to farm. After Hannah was widowed in 1894, she lived with her daughter and son-in-law in Wayne, Indiana. She died there on February 13, 1912, and is buried in the Earlham Cemetery Richmond, Indiana.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1843
maker
unknown
ID Number
1986.0657.01
catalog number
1986.0657.01
accession number
1986.0657
This silk quilt, delicately appliquéd and embroidered with baskets and sprays of fruit and flowers, was made by Mary Jane Green Moran when she was a young bride in Baltimore, Maryland.
Description
This silk quilt, delicately appliquéd and embroidered with baskets and sprays of fruit and flowers, was made by Mary Jane Green Moran when she was a young bride in Baltimore, Maryland. The blocks are set diagonally and separated by a white silk sashing appliquéd and embroidered with bud-and-leaf vines, echoed by the undulating leafy vine in the border. The silk top is closely quilted, 12 to 15 stitches per inch, to a muslin backing. It was said that 1,001 skeins of silk thread were used in the quilting. A woven and knotted golden-colored silk fringe is stitched to three sides of this example of mid-nineteenth- century needlework.
Mary Jane (Mrs. Dr. Moran) exhibited her needlework at various fairs and exhibitions. Her entries won awards. It was noted in one Maryland Exhibition in 1851 that the silk quilt with scarlet lining she made and exhibited "is entitled to notice for the labor and industry evinced." This quilt in the Collection is a fine example of her work.
At the time of Mary Jane Green’s marriage in 1846 to Dr. Jonathan J. Moran, he was a resident physician at Washington University College Hospital in Baltimore. It was in that capacity that he attended the dying Edgar Allan Poe in October 1849. Dr. Moran in later years wrote several versions of those last hours that he spent with Edgar Allan Poe, and lectured on the topic as well. From the accounts, it appears that Mary Moran also nursed the dying Poe, reading to him as well as preparing his shroud.
After the closing of the hospital in 1851, the Morans moved to Falls Church, Virginia, where they were both active in the community and the Dulin Methodist Episcopal Church. Dr. Jonathan Moran became the first mayor of Falls Church in 1875 and served until 1877. He died in 1888, and Mary Jane died the following year.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1845
quilter
Moran, Mary Jane Green
ID Number
TE.T07140
accession number
123393
catalog number
T07140
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
Mary C. Nelson of Saratoga County, New York, appliquéd her patriotic quilt with an American eagle and 28 stars representing the number of states in 1846. Texas had become a state in December 1845.
Description
Mary C. Nelson of Saratoga County, New York, appliquéd her patriotic quilt with an American eagle and 28 stars representing the number of states in 1846. Texas had become a state in December 1845. The eagle motif has been symbolic of the United States since 1782, when an image of the bird was adopted for official purposes.
The appliquéd stars and eagle are made of discharge- and roller-printed cottons. The blue, brown, and white printed cotton used for the eagle has an effect of feathers. The 8-inch border is composed of six stripes, two each of a red ground print, a blue-and-white, and a plain white cotton contributing to the patriotic theme. Both the eagle and stars are outlined with a row of quilting very close to the appliquéd edge. Shell-pattern quilting enhances the eagle. The ground is quilted in a diagonal grid pattern of 8 stitches per inch. Mary’s name is cross-stitched in red below the eagle “MARY C. NELSON 22 1846.” The “22” possibly refers to her age.
Mary Caroline Nelson was born March 22, 1824, in Saratoga Springs, Dutchess County, New York. She was the youngest of six children. Her father, Gilbert Nelson, had served in the War of 1812. On June 9, 1847 Mary married Platt Sutherland Pine (1816-1884) and moved to Sandy Plains, N.Y. They had five children. According to the 1884 Beers’ History of Greene County, in 1853 Platt S. Pine purchased the homestead property of his father and made many improvements. He was among the most prosperous and successful farmers in the area. Later in 1861 he built a boarding house in South Cairo, N.Y., near the railroad station, with magnificent views of the mountains and surrounding country. Mary died in January 1894 and is buried in the Catskill Rural Cemetery.
Annie Pine, Mary’s granddaughter, visited the Smithsonian in 1937, and afterward wrote: “I . . . enjoyed viewing the quilts and saw you had none like this one and was told by the lady I could send it [Mary’s “Eagle” Quilt] there and it would be put with the others.” The quilt was donated in 1937 and has been featured in several exhibits.
In the 1960s, over 100 years after it was made, Mary’s “Eagle” Quilt was faithfully reproduced by a quilting cooperative in Kentucky. Nancy Cole (Breathitt County), Mary Dunn (Wolfe County), Maude Rose, Media Barnett (Owsley County), among others, were instrumental in organizing training programs and building the cooperative. A VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) project, the Grassroots Quilting Co-op, enabled the quilt makers to obtain wholesale or donated fabrics, expand their market, and increase their earnings.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1846
maker
Nelson, Mary C.
ID Number
TE.T07957
accession number
143844
catalog number
T07957
“I have in my possession a quilt that was presented to my great-grandfather, Bernard Nadal, by the female members of his congregation when he was a minister . . . . It seems to me that it should be in a museum as the workmanship is exquisite . . .
Description
“I have in my possession a quilt that was presented to my great-grandfather, Bernard Nadal, by the female members of his congregation when he was a minister . . . . It seems to me that it should be in a museum as the workmanship is exquisite . . . .” wrote Miss Constance Dawson in 1983 when the quilt top was donated to the Smithsonian.
The Ladies of the Columbia Street Methodist Church congregation presented this “Baltimore Album” quilt top to Rev. Bernard H. Nadal in 1847. He had been a pastor at the church in Baltimore between 1845 and 1846 and left to attend Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1848.
“Album” or “friendship” quilts were popular in the mid-nineteenth century. The complex appliquéd blocks, typical of the Baltimore style, as well as signatures, poems, and drawings that grace this quilt top express the high regard the women must have had for Reverend Nadal.
Variations of baskets, wreaths, vases, and floral designs are appliquéd on 17-inch blocks. An appliquéd flowering vine on the 9-inch border frames the twenty-five blocks on this quilt top which has neither filling nor lining. All of the blocks have embroidered or inked details and a name with often an additional poem and drawing. Almost all of the drawings, seemingly done by the same hand, are of a bird, generally a dove, with a ribbon or book sometimes on a monument or urn. These are motifs frequently found on “album” or “friendship” quilts in the mid-nineteenth century. A red Bible dated “1847” in the quilt’s center is inscribed: “To Rev. Bernard H. Nadal. Baltimore.” An inked drawing of a dove with a ribbon containing the name “Susan M. Shillingburg” is above the Bible and the inscription:
“Accept my gift affection brings
Though poor the offering be
It flows from Friendship purest spring
A tribute let it be.”
Probably presented as a farewell gift, the inscriptions on this quilt top express friendship, good fortune in the future, and the wish to “forget me not.”
Bernard H. Nadal was born in Talbot County, Maryland, in 1812. His father, from Bayonne, France, was said to have freed all his slaves and possibly influenced Bernard, who later had a reputation as a strong antislavery advocate and was an admirer of Lincoln.
Bernard Nadal apprenticed as a saddler for four years but joined the ministry in 1835 at age 23. It was noted that he rode his circuit using a saddle he had made. He served churches in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1841. In 1855 he became a professor of ethics and English literature at Indiana Asbury University (now DePauw University) and remained there for three years before returning to pastorates in Washington, New Haven and Brooklyn.
In 1867 Nadal became Professor of Historical Theology at Drew Theological Seminary in Madison, New Jersey. He married Sarah Jane Mays and they had nine children. His career was cut short in 1870, when he died after a short illness at his home in Madison, New Jersey. In addition to many lectures, addresses, sermons, and newspaper editorials that were “continually pouring from his tireless pen,” he wrote The New Life Dawning, and other Discourses of Bernard H. Nadal published in 1873. He was described by colleagues as a person who “enjoyed that peculiar popularity among his students which belongs only to the teacher who possesses the heart to enter deeply into sympathy with young men, and also the power to inspire them with his own devotion to earnest work.” He must have made a similar impression on the women whose album quilt top indicates their high esteem for his work.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1847
referenced
Nadal, Bernard H.
quilter
unknown
ID Number
1983.0866.01
catalog number
1983.0866.01
accession number
1983.0866
Emily Holbert put not only her name, date, and location on this quilt, but also two maxims that held significance for her. Boldly and precisely appliquéd in the border: “INDUSTRY, AND PROPER IMPROVEMENT OF TIME 1847 VANITY OF VANITIES, ALL IS VANITY.
Description
Emily Holbert put not only her name, date, and location on this quilt, but also two maxims that held significance for her. Boldly and precisely appliquéd in the border: “INDUSTRY, AND PROPER IMPROVEMENT OF TIME 1847 VANITY OF VANITIES, ALL IS VANITY. EMILY HOLBERT’S QUILT; WORKED JANUARY, A.D. 1847. CHESTER, ORANGE COUNTY, NEW YORK.” “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” is from Ecclesiastes I:2. “Industry, and proper improvement of time are the duties of the young” was an expression that could be found in mid-nineteenth-century school books. Similar religious and moralistic sayings are found on samplers, embroidered pictures, and other needlework items, that were made by young women in the eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries.
This quilt consists of twenty 14-inch blocks, each appliquéd with a medallion surrounded by three-lobed leaves, iris, and tulip motifs. The blocks are set with a 2-inch printed green sashing. The 9¾-inch-wide border contains the appliquéd inscriptions on all four sides of the quilt, sandwiched between a band of appliquéd leaf, tulip, and cherry motifs and a pieced sawtooth edge. Roller-printed fabrics are used for the appliqué work; the lining is white cotton with a cotton filling. All the appliquéd motifs, letters, and numbers are outline-quilted, and the leaves have quilted veins. Open spaces are filled with quilted motifs of scrolls, botehs, oak leaves, and hearts; 8 stitches per inch.
Emily Holbert, born October 15, 1820, was the daughter of James Holbert (1788-1871) and Susan Drake Holbert (1791-1851 or 1854). Emily was born and lived in Chester, Orange County, New York. On October 30, 1851 she married Theodore Finch, son of John and Catherine Anne Woodward Finch. Theodore was born about 1827 and died in January 1852 at the age of 24, a few months after his marriage to Emily.
There is no record that Emily remarried, and she died in 1858, only six years after Theodore. In 1988, the quilt she so proudly put her name to was donated to the Smithsonian by Mr. and Mrs. John Beard Ecker. Emily Holbert was Mrs. Theodora Ecker’s great-aunt. At the same time another quilt from the same family, Susan Holbert’s “Little Sister’s" quilt, was also presented to the Museum.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1847
quilter
Holbert, Emily
ID Number
1988.0245.01
catalog number
1988.0245.01
accession number
1988.0245
The large central square contains the inscription: “Presented to Mrs. Mary B. Hill as an expression of esteem by the Ladies of Maltaville.” Mary B. Hill was the wife of Reverend William Hill (1814-1851) of the Presbyterian-Congregational Church of Maltaville, New York.
Description
The large central square contains the inscription: “Presented to Mrs. Mary B. Hill as an expression of esteem by the Ladies of Maltaville.” Mary B. Hill was the wife of Reverend William Hill (1814-1851) of the Presbyterian-Congregational Church of Maltaville, New York. She was born November 13, 1816, to Benton (1786-?) and Elizabeth Barnard in Litchfield, Connecticut. She married on July 13, 1836 and they had one son, Roland. Mary died May 5, 1862, in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1847, women in the church made, joined, lined, and quilted sixty blocks, in addition to the dedicatory center block, to create this example of an album quilt.
Album quilt blocks often contain name, date, or place, and sometimes a poem or verse of special meaning. Almira E. Olmstead added this to her block:
The Tulip and the Butterfly
Appear in gayer coats than I
Let me be dressed fine as I will
Flies, worms, and flowers, exceed me still.
The lines are from “Against Pride in Clothes,” published in 1720 by Isaac Watts (1674–1748), a well-known English hymn writer whose verse is often found on quilts of the period.
The appliquéd blocks are embellished with embroidered details in addition to the inked inscriptions. Flowers, leaves, hearts, stars, crescents, double ovals around the signatures, and other motifs are found in the quilting. As a token of appreciation, this quilt displays the fine quilting skills of the “Ladies of Maltaville.”
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1847
quilter
Ladies of the Presbyterian Church
ID Number
TE.T06717
catalog number
T06717.000
accession number
109459
A quilted and stuffed block on this mid-nineteenth-century quilt bears the inscription “JANE BARR JULY 1849.” Although a gift to the Smithsonian from her niece, Nancy Angelina Ross of Mars, Pennsylvania, in 1954, little more is known about Jane or the significance of the date.The
Description
A quilted and stuffed block on this mid-nineteenth-century quilt bears the inscription “JANE BARR JULY 1849.” Although a gift to the Smithsonian from her niece, Nancy Angelina Ross of Mars, Pennsylvania, in 1954, little more is known about Jane or the significance of the date.
The quilt is composed of 12-inch blocks appliquéd with crossed flowers. Red-, green- and yellow-ground roller-printed fabrics were used for the design. The pattern has characteristics of both “Meadow Daisy” and “Mexican Rose” motifs. Intervening white blocks are elaborately quilted in different geometric and floral motifs, 9 stitches per inch. A flowering vine delineates the border of this beautifully crafted quilt from Pennsylvania.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1849
maker
Barr, Jane
ID Number
TE.T11101
accession number
201232
catalog number
T11101
Elspeth Duigan crafted this fine example of a white-work quilt in 1849. She divided the center into 8 large and 4 small squares each enclosing stuffed floral motifs.
Description
Elspeth Duigan crafted this fine example of a white-work quilt in 1849. She divided the center into 8 large and 4 small squares each enclosing stuffed floral motifs. According to family information, she quilted the initials “E.D.” in one of the corner squares and it incorporates the date “1849” with the edge of the square a “1”, the “E” is also an “8,” the “4” is represented by the “D” (the fourth letter of the alphabet), and “9” is the top part of the “D”. The lining is a very thin cotton layer, and the motif stuffing is cotton and cotton cord. All the motifs are outlined in quilting. The background is quilted with parallel diagonal lines 3/16-inch apart, 13-14 stitches per inch.
Elspeth Duigan was born in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1831. She married Mr. Thompson in Jamestown and later they moved to Lexington, Kentucky. During the Civil War they moved further West to Lexington, Missouri. Elspeth died in 1894.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1849
maker
Duigan, Elspeth
ID Number
1981.0682.01
catalog number
1981.0682.01
accession number
1981.0682
This cotton quilt top was found at a fair in Montgomery County, Maryland. The appliquéd designs of the blocks are similar to many found on Maryland album quilts of the mid-19th century.
Description
This cotton quilt top was found at a fair in Montgomery County, Maryland. The appliquéd designs of the blocks are similar to many found on Maryland album quilts of the mid-19th century. One block is signed in ink, “Rebecca Diggs.”
A log cabin with a barrel marked “Hard Cider” and a raccoon on the roof appears on another block. Variations of this motif were popular at the time and commemorated William Henry Harrison’s “log cabin and cider” presidential campaign of 1840. The symbols were originated by the opposition party, but Harrison turned the tables and utilized them to identify himself with the common man. He won the election only to die of pneumonia a month after his inauguration.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1840-1845
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.T08755
accession number
163105
catalog number
T08755
This fine example of a framed center quilt belonged to the Alston family and came from the Fairfield-on-the-Waccamaw plantation near Georgetown County, South Carolina.The center is composed of three block-printed squares.
Description
This fine example of a framed center quilt belonged to the Alston family and came from the Fairfield-on-the-Waccamaw plantation near Georgetown County, South Carolina.
The center is composed of three block-printed squares. These were specifically designed and produced in the first half of the 19th century to be used as quilt centers or for cushion covers. The center of the quilt is framed by five borders cut from printed floral stripe cottons, each with a tiny geometric band. A sixth border is appliquéd with flowers and birds cut from various glazed chintzes.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1820-1840
quilter
unknown
ID Number
TE.T11666
accession number
225700
catalog number
T11666
Deep red and blue 11-inch squares were set diagonally, checkerboard fashion, to create this example of an early 19th century wool quilt. Each square is quilted with a floral or geometric motif.
Description
Deep red and blue 11-inch squares were set diagonally, checkerboard fashion, to create this example of an early 19th century wool quilt. Each square is quilted with a floral or geometric motif. In total twenty-two different patterns, quilted 6 stitches per inch, were used.
Lucy Addison was born in New Hampshire about 1808 or 1809 and married John Shepherd (or Shepard) in 1833. The quilt may have been made in New Hampshire, but according to censuses, after they were married they lived in Phillipston, Worcester County, Massachusetts, the rest of their lives. They had one son, Timothy Addison Shepherd, born in 1836, and it was his descendent, a great-grandson of Lucy and John, who donated the quilt in 1964.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1800-1840
maker
Shepherd, Lucy Addison
ID Number
TE.T13511
accession number
257167
catalog number
T13511
This album style quilt top belonged to Susan and Henry Underwood of Baltimore, Maryland. The quilt top is composed of twenty-five 17½-inch blocks. Seventeen are signed or initialed by Underwood family members and friends associated with the Methodist Church.
Description
This album style quilt top belonged to Susan and Henry Underwood of Baltimore, Maryland. The quilt top is composed of twenty-five 17½-inch blocks. Seventeen are signed or initialed by Underwood family members and friends associated with the Methodist Church. Susan and Henry were married in the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore on August 5, 1830.
Album quilts, so popular in the mid-19th century, were frequently made by groups of women for presentation to a friend or relative upon a special occasion or as a token to honor a highly regarded member of the community. The blocks on this quilt top include traditional pieced and appliqued patterns, and original designs. One block is dated and inscribed: “I love to see the falling leaf/ To watch the waning moon/ I love to cherish the belief/ That all will change so soon/ Henry Johnson/Baltimore March 9th/ 1844."
The blocks or assembled quilt top were given to Susan and Henry, with Susan expected to finish the quilt. The top, never lined or quilted, was passed down through the family to the donor, Susan Underwood's great-granddaughter.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1844
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.T15321
catalog number
T15321
accession number
293236
This album quilt from the mid-19th century is constructed of 49 blocks; the majority of them are signed in ink or cross-stitch. On some of the blocks Maryland towns of Westminster, Emmitsburg, and Taney Town are named and ten blocks state dates of 1843, 1844 or 1845.
Description
This album quilt from the mid-19th century is constructed of 49 blocks; the majority of them are signed in ink or cross-stitch. On some of the blocks Maryland towns of Westminster, Emmitsburg, and Taney Town are named and ten blocks state dates of 1843, 1844 or 1845. According to donation information the quilt belonged to Pink Phillips, mother of the donor, Marion Taylor. Pink may have been a family name.
The “Lily” motif, popular in the 19th century, is also known as “Peony,” “Cactus Flower,” or “Tulip” pattern. The red and green roller-printed cottons used for the motif are also typical of the period. The blocks are framed by a green and white saw-tooth border.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1843-1845
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.T16834
accession number
1978.2412
catalog number
T16834

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