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.

The “Carolina Lily” pattern, popular in the mid-19th century, was chosen for this example of an album quilt. Roller-printed red and blue-green cotton fabrics make up the pieced and appliquéd pattern.
Description
The “Carolina Lily” pattern, popular in the mid-19th century, was chosen for this example of an album quilt. Roller-printed red and blue-green cotton fabrics make up the pieced and appliquéd pattern. The “Carolina Lily” blocks, quilted in diagonal lines, alternate with plain white blocks each quilted with a different floral design. There is a 1-7/8-inch sawtooth band inside the 7-inch plain white border. The border is quilted with a scrolling feathered vine. The quilting is finely done at 12 stitches/inch.
Twenty-one of the “Carolina Lily” blocks have a signature along the stem. Six of the surnames are Crumbaker and six are Stoutsenberger, all born in Lovettsville, Virginia. These families are buried in the New Jerusalem Church Cemetery, the Saint James Reformed Cemetery, or the Lovettsville Union Cemetery. It is not known why or for whom the quilt was made, but the many signatures indicate the place where it was most likely made and used.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1840-1860
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.T11176
accession number
205528
catalog number
T11176
According to family information, shortly after the quilt maker, Sophia Denty, married she moved into a house built in 1729 located in Fairfax, Northern Virginia.
Description
According to family information, shortly after the quilt maker, Sophia Denty, married she moved into a house built in 1729 located in Fairfax, Northern Virginia. The house at the time had an old English garden that Sophia had always admired and it was supposedly the inspiration for the patterns she chose for this quilt top.
Twenty-five 17¼-inch blocks were appliquéd with red and green flowers and leaves in sprays, wreaths, and vases. Embroidery enhances a few of the stems. Two blocks have appliquéd star designs and one has appliquéd pineapples. Plain-weave cottons in plain colors were used. The 8¼-inch border is appliquéd with a meandering vine bearing leaves and buds. The blocks were joined after 1840. The color scheme, red-and-green, and standard designs are typical for many mid-nineteenth-century quilts.
Sophia Barker was born on January 26, 1813, in Fairfax, Virginia. She married James Compton Denty on July 10, 1832. They lived in Northern Virginia with their eight children. Sophia died February 19, 1886 and is buried in the Pohick Church in Accotink, Fairfax, Virginia. Emeline Denty Talbott donated her grandmother’s quilt top to the Smithsonian in 1972.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1840-1860
maker
Denty, Sophia Barker
ID Number
TE.T15351
catalog number
T15351
accession number
293862
“This quilt was made in 1840 by Ann, a colored slave girl 16 yrs. old, who wove and spun and took care of all linen on the plantation of Capt. and Mrs. William Womack (Aunt Patsy and Uncle Billy) in Pittsylvania Co. Virginia.
Description
“This quilt was made in 1840 by Ann, a colored slave girl 16 yrs. old, who wove and spun and took care of all linen on the plantation of Capt. and Mrs. William Womack (Aunt Patsy and Uncle Billy) in Pittsylvania Co. Virginia. Grandma Adams made her home with Aunt Patsy after mother’s death and inherited her large estate.” So wrote Mrs. Womack’s great-niece, Florence Adams Dubois in a note included in the 1976 donation.
Little is known of the quiltmaker, Ann. She is probably mentioned in William Womack’s will November 1, 1849, “. . . to my beloved wife Martha Womack during her natural life the following Negro slaves to wit, Ann . . . “
Thirty 14-inch blocks appliquéd with a crossed tulip motif are set with a 2-inch tan sashing. A 5/8-inch orange cotton bias strip is seamed to the front, and whipped to the back along three sides. The fourth side has a 1 ½-inch straight strip of cotton seamed to the front, and whipped to the back. While the blocks may have been made in the 1840s, the bedcover was probably assembled some time later.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1840-1860
ID Number
TE.T18124
accession number
323485
catalog number
T18124
A date of “August 1853” inscribed on seventeen blocks provided a clue to the possible origins of this “Album Patch” quilt. Names and places inscribed on other blocks gave further information.
Description
A date of “August 1853” inscribed on seventeen blocks provided a clue to the possible origins of this “Album Patch” quilt. Names and places inscribed on other blocks gave further information. Probably Rachel Young Roseberry started this quilt when the family moved to Brentsville, Va., from Phillipsburg, N.J., in 1853. At the time she and her husband, Michael, had four young children: Emma (1838-1897), Annie (about 1840-?), John (1843-1915, and, Alice (about 1844-?). The names of friends and relatives appear to have been written by the same hand, maybe at different times, and many are further embellished by different floral drawings.
Thirty-six nine-inch “Album Patch” or “Friendship Chain” pieced blocks are composed of plain red and white or printed green and white cottons. The “Album” blocks are framed by a 1 ½-inch border of printed green and plain white triangles. All blocks are signed in ink denoting name, and sometimes a date and/or place. Ink drawings are added to several of the inscriptions. The same red and green cottons and thread were used throughout the quilt and nearly half are inscribed “1853.” The addition of dates of “1858,” “1859,” and “1871,” suggest signatures may have been added after the quilt was completed. Places included Washington, D.C., Youngsville ?, Newark, N. J., and Brentsville, Va.
Rachel Roseberry’s quilt represents a personalized textile document containing names of friends and family and associated dates that may represent visits, marriages, deaths or other significant events related to that name. Album quilts such as this were popular in the mid-19th century, as was the use of the red and green color combination.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1853
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.T11232
accession number
209501
catalog number
T11232
Anna (Mrs. Henry C. Slaymaker) and her two sisters, Mary (Mrs. William Boothe) and Lucy (Mrs. Thomas Speiden) worked on this slumber throw top that was never completed.
Description
Anna (Mrs. Henry C. Slaymaker) and her two sisters, Mary (Mrs. William Boothe) and Lucy (Mrs. Thomas Speiden) worked on this slumber throw top that was never completed. Anna’s needlework is also represented by two samplers, embroidered when she was 9 and 10, that are in the Textile Collection.
Twenty blocks, 12 or 13 inches each, are pieced using silks, satins and velvets. Except for two blocks with simple embroidery, they are undecorated. The combination of geometric and crazy-patch piecing gives interest to this unfinished top.
Anna was born on October 2, 1842, to John and Mary P. Stabler Leadbeater in Alexandria, Virginia. John, her father, was the owner of the Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary in Alexandria. Anna married Henry C. Slaymaker, a Confederate Civil War veteran, on November 6, 1866, and they had three children (Isabel, Henry C. Jr., and Frank).
The donor, Mrs. Clarence Milton Yohn, included a note about Anna's grandfather, Lt. Henry C. Slaymaker. “[He] was only 16 when he served as a civilian informer in 1861 and 1862, carrying messages from Alexandria and Washington, D.C., quilted in his waistcoat and pretending hunting excursions in the woods in order to get to his cousin, Gen. Robert E. Lee. He was about to be hanged in 1862, when he escaped to join the Confederate Army under age.” After the Civil War, Henry Sr. established a dry goods business, but died at 36 of consumption on February 28, 1880. Anna died on February 15, 1906.
Anna’s sister Mary was born in 1839 and married Capt. William Boothe (1818-1894). She died in 1914. Lucy, the third sister, was born about 1838 and married Thomas Speiden. The three sisters were from the family who founded the Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Shop, which was operated by family members from 1796 to 1933, when it became a pharmacy museum. The buildings, which date to the early 1800s, have withstood four wars and a major city fire, and currently house the Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum in Alexandria, Virginia.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1885-1900
maker
Leadbeater, Mary Grace
Leadbeater, Lucy
Leadbeater, Anna
ID Number
TE.T12613
accession number
235642
catalog number
T12613
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
Mary Winfield crafted this small quilt for her granddaughter, Julia A. Poole, of Dinwiddie Co., Virginia. Possibly it was intended as a doll quilt. The quilt is composed of 3-inch blocks, some pieced in the “Nine-patch” pattern, some plain.
Description
Mary Winfield crafted this small quilt for her granddaughter, Julia A. Poole, of Dinwiddie Co., Virginia. Possibly it was intended as a doll quilt. The quilt is composed of 3-inch blocks, some pieced in the “Nine-patch” pattern, some plain. Each plain block is quilted with a single flower or bird.
Mary W. Tucker was born about 1764 in Virginia. She married William Winfield III (1762-1837) on January 6th in either 1783 or 1787. She made another small quilt, also in the Collection, for the same granddaughter.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1835-1850
maker
Winfield, Mary
ID Number
TE.T02139.00A
accession number
57609
catalog number
T02139A
Mary Winfield crafted this small pieced quilt of diamond-shaped blocks for her granddaughter, Julia A. Poole, of Dinwiddie Co., Virginia. Possibly it was intended as a doll quilt.
Description
Mary Winfield crafted this small pieced quilt of diamond-shaped blocks for her granddaughter, Julia A. Poole, of Dinwiddie Co., Virginia. Possibly it was intended as a doll quilt. Some of the diamond-shaped blocks are pieced in the “Nine-patch” pattern, others are plain white cotton.
Mary W. Tucker was born about 1764 in Virginia. She married William Winfield III (1762-1837) on January 6th in either 1783 or 1787. She made another small quilt, also in the Collection, for the same granddaughter.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1840-1850
maker
Winfield, Mary
ID Number
TE.T02139.00B
accession number
57609
catalog number
T02139B
This patriotic quilt in red and green was the inspiration for Edith Magnette’s watercolor (Plate 227) that was part of the Index of American Design project (1935-1942).
Description
This patriotic quilt in red and green was the inspiration for Edith Magnette’s watercolor (Plate 227) that was part of the Index of American Design project (1935-1942). Edith Magnette rendered over 50 items for the Index , many of them textile-related.
The quilt was originally owned by Mrs. Charles Gramm and made by her grandmother. It was lent to the project by Louise Zotti, and donated by her to the National Museum of American History.
The central eagle motif, surrounded by 8-pointed stars, is typical of patriotic symbols of the mid-19th century. The blocks on the border are in the “Oak Leaf and Reel” pattern, also typical of the period.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1853
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.T16386
accession number
303433
catalog number
T16386
Lena T. Leigh, a seamstress in Warrenton, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., assembled this quilt top in the early part of the 20th century.
Description
Lena T. Leigh, a seamstress in Warrenton, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., assembled this quilt top in the early part of the 20th century. One-inch hexagons of a wide variety of print and solid cottons were pieced into 5½-inch rosettes, each separated by a single row of red cotton hexagons. Perhaps the many examples of period cottons were scraps from her dressmaking business.
Lena Malorn was born in Fauquier County, Virginia in 1878. In 1900, she married Thomas Leigh, born in England in 1876. She died March 26, 1946 and is buried in Arlington Cemetery, Virginia.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1900-1910
maker
Leigh, Lena T.
ID Number
TE.T16933
accession number
307851
catalog number
T16933

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