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 1951 the donor informed the museum that she had a quilt made by her husband's great-great grandmother in 1792.
Description
In 1951 the donor informed the museum that she had a quilt made by her husband's great-great grandmother in 1792. A note attached to the quilt stated that it was made by Martha Babson Lane Soule of Freeport, Maine, and that "she spun and dyed the worsted and designed the pattern embroidered on it." The donor continued in her letter, "In going through some old correspondence we find that the mate to this quilt was donated to your Museum many years ago by my husband's great-aunt Mrs. Caroline Gordon." That quilt had been donated to the Museum in 1925, and more than twenty-five years later this quilt from the Soule family was also added to the Collection.
This quilt is both pieced and embroidered. The center panel, a 38-inch square, is embroidered in indigo-dyed wool, surrounded by a border pieced of 8-inch printed cotton squares and triangles, with a crewel embroidered outer border. Embroidery stitches include stem, cross, herringbone, seed, buttonhole, Roumanian, running, and couching. Considering the style of the quilt and the use of cotton 2-ply sewing and quilting threads in the construction indicate a date no earlier than the very-late-eighteenth century or probably early-nineteenth century.
The crewel embroidered pieces might have been from bed furniture of an earlier date. The center panel appears to be cut from a larger piece of embroidery; the top and side borders are also shortened; only the bottom border, with a large heart, is a complete design. The base fabrics for the embroidered sections and the lining are cotton and linen/cotton with a thin layer of carded cotton between them. The pieced inner border is composed of two fabrics; one resist-printed the other English copperplate printed ca 1775-1785. The chevron patterned quilting is done in a running stitch, 7 stitches per inch.
Martha Babson Lane was born December 22, 1772 in Freeport, Cumberland, Maine. The Lane family is listed among the settlers in that area of Maine as early as the 1650s. Martha married Moses Soule on May 25, 1793. Moses farmed in the Freeport, Maine area, and was a deacon in the church and a caulker by trade.
Martha and Moses Soule had eleven children, three of whom died within a few months of each other in 1807 at ages three, five and eight. Three other children, born later, were given their names; John/James Babson, Nancy and Jeannette.
One son, Gideon Lane Soule (1796-1879) was the first of his four brothers to attend Phillips Exeter Academy. He later became a professor at the Academy and for thirty-five years, from 1838 to 1873, served as a Principal. Under his able direction the Academy experienced increasing growth, prosperity and prestige.
The youngest son, John Babson Lane Soule (1815-1891), after attending the Academy, graduated from Bowdoin College. Although he completed law studies, he spent his life as a teacher, journalist and minister in Indiana, Wisconsin and Illinois. He is noted for possibly being the originator of the popular slogan: "Go West, young man!" used in an editorial he wrote in 1851 for the Terre Haute Express which was later used by Horace Greeley so effectively in an 1865 New York Tribune editorial. Martha Babson Lane Soule died on December 20, 1837 and is buried in the Lane Cemetery near Freeport, Maine.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1790-1795
quilter
Soule, Martha Babson Lane
ID Number
TE.T10932
catalog number
T10932
accession number
190856
Information included with this quilt when it was donated to the Smithsonian in 1925 indicated that it was made by the donor’s grandmother. Martha Babson Lane Soule of Freeport, Maine, was donor Caroline M. Gordon’s grandmother.
Description
Information included with this quilt when it was donated to the Smithsonian in 1925 indicated that it was made by the donor’s grandmother. Martha Babson Lane Soule of Freeport, Maine, was donor Caroline M. Gordon’s grandmother. Another quilt attributed to Martha Babson Lane Soule was donated by Martha’s great-great-grandson in 1951. Both quilts have crewel work embroidery that may date to the 1790s.
The quilt top, probably an unquilted counterpane, may date from 1790 or earlier. It is embroidered with indigo-dyed crewel (2-ply worsted) yarn in a pattern of scrolling vines with fanciful flowers and leaves, emanating from a central basket. The four corner motifs are alike, and two other flowers are repeated, while all other flowers and leaves are different in design. Embroidery stitches include stem, cross, herringbone, seed, buttonhole, Roumanian, running and couching.
The foundation fabrics of the counterpane are cotton and linen/cotton. The counterpane was probably made into a quilt in the early-nineteenth century with a thin filling of carded cotton and a lining of linen/cotton and cotton fabrics. It was quilted in a chevron pattern using 2-ply cotton in a running stitch, 5 to 6 stitches per inch.
Martha Babson Lane was born December 22, 1772, in Freeport, Cumberland County, Maine. The Lane family is listed among the settlers in that area of Maine as early as the 1650s. Martha married Moses Soule on May 25, 1793. Moses farmed in the Freeport area, and was a deacon in the church and a caulker by trade.
Martha and Moses Soule had eleven children, three of whom died within a few months of each other in 1807 at ages three, five, and eight. Three other children, born later, were given their names; John/James Babson, Nancy, and Jeannette.
One son, Gideon Lane Soule (1796-1879) was the first of his four brothers to attend Phillips Exeter Academy. He later became a professor at the Academy and for thirty-five years, from 1838 to 1873, served as its principal. Under his able direction the Academy experienced increasing growth, prosperity, and prestige.
The youngest son, John Babson Lane Soule (1815-1891), after attending the Academy, graduated from Bowdoin College. Although he completed law studies, he spent his life as a teacher, journalist, and minister in Indiana, Wisconsin, and Illinois. He is noted for possibly being the originator of the popular slogan; “Go West, young man!” used in an editorial he wrote in 1851 for the Terre Haute Express which was later adopted by Horace Greeley so effectively in an 1865 New York Tribune editorial. Martha Babson Lane Soule died on December 20, 1837, and is buried in the Lane Cemetery near Freeport, Maine.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1790-1795
quilter
Soule, Martha Babson Lane
ID Number
TE.T05251
accession number
88838
catalog number
T05251
Esther Wheat's quilt is an example of a glazed wool fabric, not only used for bedding but also petticoats in the eighteenth century.
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
accession number
308057
1973.308057
Eliza Bennis appliqued her initials “EB” and date “1795” in the center of the outer border of this counterpane. Although in fragile condition, this appliqued and embroidered textile is noteworthy.
Description
Eliza Bennis appliqued her initials “EB” and date “1795” in the center of the outer border of this counterpane. Although in fragile condition, this appliqued and embroidered textile is noteworthy. The center panel (21+” high x 28+” wide) is an early Irish printed fabric known as “Irish Volunteers” or “Volunteer Furniture.” The copper-plate design, probably drawn by Gabriel Beranger, is a representation of a Provincial Review in Phoenix Park (June 1782) near Dublin. It was printed by Thomas Harpur at Leixlip, Ireland. This particular fabric may have held significance for Eliza as her husband, in 1779, was instrumental in the formation of a Limerick corps of Irish Volunteers.
Elizabeth (Eliza) was born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1725, daughter of Isaac and Alice Patten. Eliza married Mitchell Bennis (1720-1788) in 1745. They had four children that reached adulthood. Eliza is significant in the history of Methodism and corresponded with John Wesley, among others. Journal of Elizabeth Bennis 1749-1779, begun in her 20s, is an accounting of her spiritual progress after she joined the Methodist Society. In her later years she emigrated from Limerick to Philadelphia and possibly brought the “Irish Volunteers” fabric or counterpane with her. She died in 1802. In 1809 her son, Thomas, published a book of her correspondence.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1795
maker
Bennis, Eliza
ID Number
1985.0034.01
catalog number
1985.0034.01
accession number
1985.0034
Under the center basket of this embroidered counterpane is the inscription “Bethiah D. Green” and on the basket at the top is “Begun October 2, 1796.” The date “1798” appears several times in the border.
Description
Under the center basket of this embroidered counterpane is the inscription “Bethiah D. Green” and on the basket at the top is “Begun October 2, 1796.” The date “1798” appears several times in the border. In addition to the many birds and floral motifs, other designs include the head of George Washington; his riderless horse; a milestone inscribed “12 miles to Boston;” and a pig. According to family tradition, this quilt was inspired by an event that Bethiah witnessed in 1789 when George Washington, passing through Weston, Massachusetts, was nearly thrown from his horse when a pig ran across the road.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1796-1805
1796-1798
maker
Green, Bethiah D.
ID Number
TE.E388872
accession number
182022
catalog number
E388872

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