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. 

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In 1897, the year this quilt was begun, women's fashion was for long skirts as seen in the corner block of Edna Force Davis’s elaborately embroidered parlor throw.
Description
In 1897, the year this quilt was begun, women's fashion was for long skirts as seen in the corner block of Edna Force Davis’s elaborately embroidered parlor throw. Over thirty years later in 1929, when Edna finished her project, the fashion had changed and skirts were now much shorter, as her embroidered figure on the opposite corner block indicates. In 1965 Hazel Davis, Edna’s daughter, donated her mother's wool parlor throw on which Hazel's own initials, “HLD,” appear.
Edna used wool for the many patches on this throw. She basted patches to an interlining of ticking; the edge of each patch was folded under, and joined with embroidery using wool yarns. The parlor throw was further embellished with many floral motifs. Other designs include birds, butterflies, sleeping babies, an anchor and chain, a rabbit, fans, and spider webs. Many of these were popular designs; others may have had meaning. Two motifs, an Odd Fellows symbol and a violin, were included---Edna’s husband played the violin and was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a benevolent fraternal organization.
Most of the embroidery is done with wool, mainly a soft 2-ply wool often referred to as “zephyr yarn.” Edna used satin, chain, stem, back, French knot, daisy, straight, weaving, seed, buttonhole, herringbone, and cross stitches to achieve her designs. “Edna Force Davis” is prominently embroidered in the border, completed in the 1920s, that frames the crazy-patch center. The lining is pink wool.
While many of the motifs and stitches are typical of fancy needlework of the period, Edna personalized her parlor throw with original designs, significant dates, and initials, as well as an embroidered verse. Phrases and short verses that had special meaning, such as the one below, are frequently inked or embroidered on needlework objects.
“There is so much good in the worst of us,
And so much bad in the best of us,
That it scarcely behooves any of us
To talk about the rest of us.”
This verse is often attributed to Edward W. Hoch (1849-1925), the seventeenth governor of Kansas, who merely printed it in the Record Marion, Kansas, of which he was editor. It appears in early 20th-century poetry books and anthologies and its origins are not known.
Edna Force was born July 27, 1871, in Hunterdon County, N. J. She married James Bennett Davis (1865-1935) of Fairfax County, Va., on February 15, 1893. They had two children, Hazel and Carl, and lived in Fairfax, Va. Edna died January 12, 1952, and is buried in the Pohick Cemetery, also in Fairfax. Her needlework skills and design sense make this crazy-patch parlor throw a unique addition to the Collection.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1897-1929
maker
Davis, Edna Force
ID Number
TE.T13779
accession number
263526
catalog number
T13779
This Hawaiian appliqué quilt, in the “Nightblooming Cereus” pattern, belonged to Frances Kaleipapipi Clinton Akana Char. It was donated in her memory by her daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Akana.
Description
This Hawaiian appliqué quilt, in the “Nightblooming Cereus” pattern, belonged to Frances Kaleipapipi Clinton Akana Char. It was donated in her memory by her daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Akana. The quilt was given to Frances as her Hawaiian name, Kaleipapipi, means the "corral to hold cattle." The night-blooming-cereus plant ( Hylocereus undatus ) may have come from Mexico (or South America) and grows over corral walls. When the flowers bloom in the evening between June and October, it appears as though the corral is a lei of cereus flowers around the cattle. Frances Kaleipapipi Char enjoyed this Hawaiian quilt for many years. According to the donor, it was always atop her bed.
This quilt is an example of the Hawaiian appliqué technique, achieved through folding the fabric into eighths and then cutting the design. The quilting outlines the flower appliqué and radiates outward in an echo pattern, quilted 7 stitches per inch. The design was inspired by the night-blooming-cereus. It is said that originally the lava rock wall of the Punahou School in Honolulu was planted with this type of cactus by a Mrs. Bingham about 1836. The beautiful white flowers attracted many admirers who then took cuttings, such that now the species is established throughout the Hawaiian Islands.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1900-1920
owner
Char, Frances Kaleipapipi Clinton
maker
unknown
ID Number
1995.0242.01
accession number
1995.0242
catalog number
1995.0242.01
According to her niece, Mrs. Vane Hoge, this “Log Cabin” or “Barn Raising” comforter was made by her aunt, Flossie B. Price.
Description
According to her niece, Mrs. Vane Hoge, this “Log Cabin” or “Barn Raising” comforter was made by her aunt, Flossie B. Price. Flossie stitched it together from fabrics saved from the family’s clothing.
The eighty blocks, each 8½-inches square, have dark red centers and are hand-pieced, but machine-joined to one another. Flossie used plain-weave, twilled, pattern-weave, crepe, striped, and plaid wools. She also used plain-weave, plaid, pattern-weave, and printed cotton flannel. Checked wool/cottons and plain-color silk/cottons were also used to achieve the dramatic light and dark effect. A lining of printed wool and an interlining of wool and cotton fabric provided the comforter with additional warmth. Ties made of red, pink, and aquamarine wool yarn at the corners and center of each block accent the overall design.
Flossie B. Price lived from 1882 to 1960. Her home was in Marion, Ohio. Her early twentieth-century comforter is a dramatic variation of the “Log Cabin” pattern, utilizing a wide variety of fabrics.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1900-1925
maker
Price, Flossie
ID Number
TE.T15591
accession number
295255
catalog number
T15591
The maker of this Amish quilt, probably from Pennsylvania, effectively utilizes sixteen 8½-inch crazy-patched and embroidered blocks set diagonally to create this dramatic example.
Description
The maker of this Amish quilt, probably from Pennsylvania, effectively utilizes sixteen 8½-inch crazy-patched and embroidered blocks set diagonally to create this dramatic example. The crazy-patched blocks are contrasted with blue and framed within a 4½-inch light rose border with lavender corner squares and a 10-inch darker rose border. Pieces in the crazy-patch blocks are outlined with polychrome silk embroidery in herringbone, feather, buttonhole, thorn, cross, and double-cross stitches. The fabrics are wool and wool-and-cotton. The initials “AK” are embroidered on a corner of the lining. The controlled use of the crazy-patch aesthetic in this quilt gives it an ordered, focused appearance.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
First quarter 20th century
date made
1900-1925
quilter
unknown
ID Number
1985.0029.06
catalog number
1985.0029.06
accession number
1985.0029
Quilted in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in the early part of the twentieth century, this seemingly simple pattern of bars set in a contrasting color typifies Amish quilting.
Description
Quilted in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in the early part of the twentieth century, this seemingly simple pattern of bars set in a contrasting color typifies Amish quilting. The center is composed of eleven burgundy and blue strips of wool-and-cotton fabric, which vary in width from 6 inches to 7-inches, set in a frame of blue. The corners of the border are mitered. The blue bars and borders are quilted in a cable pattern, and the burgundy bars in a chevron pattern. The skillful quilting is done with rose and blue cotton thread. It is a classic rendering of a traditional Amish pattern.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1900-1925
quilter
unknown
ID Number
1985.0029.04
catalog number
1985.0029.04
accession number
1985.0029
Quilted in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in the early twentieth century, this is a beautiful example of Amish quilting utilizing a traditional pattern.
Description
Quilted in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in the early twentieth century, this is a beautiful example of Amish quilting utilizing a traditional pattern. The dark red 25½-inch center diamond with a 3¾-inch purple border is set diagonally into a 46¼-inch square also with a 3¾-inch border. Framed by an outer 11¾-inch border, the quilt is finished with a wide contrasting binding of dark blue. The fabrics are mainly wool, wool-and-cotton, and some rayon. An 8-pointed star, feathered circles, vines, and scallops are motifs quilted with black cotton to complete this quilt.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1900-1925
quilter
unknown
ID Number
1985.0029.05
catalog number
1985.0029.05
accession number
1985.0029
This redwork embroidered counterpane was most likely made as a fund raiser for the Clarksville Reformed Church. It is dedicated to “Rev. Boyce Pastor.
Description
This redwork embroidered counterpane was most likely made as a fund raiser for the Clarksville Reformed Church. It is dedicated to “Rev. Boyce Pastor. Peggy His wife, Rex Their dog.” According to further inscriptions on the quilt, the occasion was the “Clarksville Reformed Church Fair Dec. 8th 1922.”
A twelve-petal daisy is the motif of the forty-eight blocks, the petals providing spaces for over 500 embroidered names. First, the names were written in pencil, and then embroidered with red cotton. In a few instances, a different name is embroidered over the original penciled name. One block utilized the spaces for advertising: “Priced / Lowest / The / Transportation / Economical / Motor Cars / Chevrolet / Wright / Gardner / Automobile / Equipped / Fully.” Presumably a small donation, maybe ten or twenty-five cents, assured one’s name embroidered on the counterpane. Further funds may have been secured by a raffle at the December fair. Or it may have been given to Pastor Boyce as a token of appreciation. Quilts or counterpanes such as this are still used, as they have been for more than 150 years, to raise funds for worthy causes.
The Clarksville Reformed Church was established in 1853, when a building was erected to serve the congregation. Sadly, this church was destroyed by fire on a cold February Sunday in 1912. The congregation rallied to rebuild and less then a year later, in January 1913, they were able to hold services in a new church. Clarksville in the 1920s, when this counterpane was made, was a small village in Albany County, New York. Reverend Boyce was the pastor for the Clarksville Reformed Church from 1919 to 1926 and also the Reformed Church in Westerlo, New York. In the 1950s Clarksville was still a small village and it became increasingly difficult to support the church. Another church in Clarksville, the Methodist Episcopal Church, also faced similar problems, and the solution was to merge the two. By the mid-1960s, a new church was dedicated whose sign incorporates the two bells from the older churches, symbolizing the origins of the new Clarksville Community Church.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1922
maker
unknown
ID Number
1995.0011.02
accession number
1995.0011
catalog number
1995.0011.02
This bedcovering and two matching pillowcases were made in China in the 1920s. Rev. Alexander Cunningham, a Presbyterian minister in China at the time, sent them to the United States on the birth of his nephew, James Cunningham, in 1926.
Description
This bedcovering and two matching pillowcases were made in China in the 1920s. Rev. Alexander Cunningham, a Presbyterian minister in China at the time, sent them to the United States on the birth of his nephew, James Cunningham, in 1926. Twenty 7¾-inch square blocks of white and blue cottons are framed by a white border. The white squares have appliquéd figures depicting various childhood activities such as fishing, juggling, leaping, and ball play. The animated appliquéd figures are made of overlapping blue circles, and all wear hats.
Alexander Cunningham was born March 13, 1861, in Murrayville, Illinois. He graduated from Illinois State Normal University in 1887 and McCormick Theological Seminary in 1890. In that same year he married Mary E. Neely, and they left for China to become missionaries. Assigned to the Presbyterian North China Mission, they were active missionaries in China from 1890 to 1933, and after retirement continued to live in China until 1940. After fifty years as missionaries, they returned to California on the eve of World War II. Alexander Cunningham died in Los Angeles, California, on September 20, 1943. This appliquéd bedcovering with matching pillowcases may be the product of a mission where Rev. Alexander Cunningham served.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1926
quilter
unknown
ID Number
1986.0676.01
catalog number
1986.0676.01
accession number
1986.0676
This is one of two matching appliqued pillowcases and a bedcover that were made in China in the 1920s. Rev. Alexander Cunningham, a Presbyterian minister in China at the time, sent them to the United States on the birth of his nephew, James Cunningham, in 1926.
Description
This is one of two matching appliqued pillowcases and a bedcover that were made in China in the 1920s. Rev. Alexander Cunningham, a Presbyterian minister in China at the time, sent them to the United States on the birth of his nephew, James Cunningham, in 1926. Both pillowcases are white with a single blue square at each end. On either side of each blue square is a figure of a boy with a ball, a bird, a cat, and a dog; all are made of overlapping blue circles.
Alexander Cunningham was born March 13, 1861, in Murrayville, Illinois. He graduated from Illinois State Normal University in 1887 and McCormick Theological Seminary in 1890. In that same year he married Mary E. Neely, and they left for China to become missionaries. Assigned to the Presbyterian North China Mission, they were active missionaries in China from 1890 to 1933, and after retirement continued to live in China until 1940. After fifty years as missionaries, they returned to California on the eve of World War II. Alexander Cunningham died in Los Angeles, California, on September 20, 1943. This appliquéd pillowcase with the matching bedcover may be the product of a mission where Rev. Alexander Cunningham served.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1926
quilter
unknown
ID Number
1986.0676.02
catalog number
1986.0676.02
accession number
1986.0676
Mary Pleasants Younghusband Brooke made this pieced and appliquéd quilt top at her home in Brooke Grove, Maryland, about 1835-1840.
Description
Mary Pleasants Younghusband Brooke made this pieced and appliquéd quilt top at her home in Brooke Grove, Maryland, about 1835-1840. In 1910-1920, the donor (Mary Farquhar Green), her mother (Edith Brooke Green), and grandmother (Anna Farquhar Brooke) added the embroidery, lined the top, and hemmed the edges. Although family tradition held that the piecework and appliqué were done in 1797, the roller-printed cottons that were used for the piecework indicate a later date.
Mary Younghusband was born in Virginia and married Roger Brooke V in 1804. It is said that her father, Isaac Younghusband, left her a shilling to buy a piece of rope to hang herself for marrying a Quaker. Mary and Roger had five children. Mary died in 1840.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1835-1920
maker
Brooke, Edith
Farquahar, Anna
Younghusband, Mary Pleasants
ID Number
TE.T12884
accession number
245319
catalog number
T12884
Members and friends of a Methodist Church, possibly in Elyria or Wooster, Ohio, each contributed twenty-five cents to have a name inscribed on this red and white, fund-raising quilt. It was later presented to the minister, Charles Hendrickson Stocking (1842-1926).
Description
Members and friends of a Methodist Church, possibly in Elyria or Wooster, Ohio, each contributed twenty-five cents to have a name inscribed on this red and white, fund-raising quilt. It was later presented to the minister, Charles Hendrickson Stocking (1842-1926). Charles Stocking served in the Civil War and was ordained a minister in 1869. For more than 50 years he served at various churches in the Midwest and was recognized as a successful fund raiser, having a talent for easing debts and constructing churches.
Fifty-four wheels-with-spokes or flowers-with-petals were each appliqued on 9 1/4-inch blocks. The names, all inscribed in ink by the same hand, appear on the centers and spokes or petals of the motifs and a few on the sashing between blocks. More than 1000 names appear on the quilt. All of the motifs are outlined in quilting. The blocks are framed by a 4-inch border. A matching pillow with one motif and inscriptions was included in the donation. This quilt is a fitting tribute to a minister who was known for his skills at fund raising.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1900-1925
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.T13892.00A
accession number
260902
catalog number
T13892A

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