National Quilt Collection - About
The National Quilt Collection (view a video tour) contains both quilts made for functional, utilitarian purposes as bedding, and others made mainly for decorative purposes. The parlor throws or crazy quilts of the latter part of the 19th century, as well as more recent art quilts, are examples of quilts as ornamental objects. The Collection includes quilts that were made to exhibit needlework skills and were entered in contests or shown at fairs where they won prizes.
Many quilts in the Collection have inscriptions, a practice particularly popular after the mid-19th century, and are a textile record that expresses the interests and feelings of the makers. Symbolic motifs found on quilts attest to patriotic views, honor fraternal organizations or relate to major historical events. Some quilts were made to memorialize events—several in the Collection commemorate the 1876 Centennial by using souvenir fabrics in the construction, and another incorporates World War II slogans.
There are quilts in the Collection that represent both domestic household production and the growth of quilting as a commercial venture. Some of the earlier quilts were made of fabrics that were woven and dyed at home. Across the Collection, quilts contain fabrics that represent changes in the textile industry such as in the fabric printing process. Hand-sewn and quilted examples can be compared and contrasted to machine-sewn quilts as the availability of home sewing machines expanded. Other quilt examples utilized commercial patterns or were made from kits that could be purchased, a quilt marketing phenomenon that began in earnest in the early 20th century.
While many of the quilts were made by women, the Collection also has examples, some as early as the mid-19th century, that were made by men. The 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 National Quilt Collection, part of the Division of Home and Community Life textiles collection at the National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center, 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. Quilt donations continue to be accepted in areas where the Collection has needs.
"National Quilt Collection - About" showing 6 items.
1830 - 1850 Mary Willcox Taylor's Fort Dearborn Quilt
- Description
- "There was exhibited at the late Mechanical Fair held at Chicago, Ill., by Mr. C. Taylor, of that place, a quilt composed of 9,800 pieces of silk, each of which was about an inch square and all sewed with exceeding beauty and neatness. Its chief charm, however, was the great skill evinced in the ingenious blending of colors, so as to produce a proper effect in the representation of various figures which ornamented it in every part. A brilliant sun shown in the centre, the moon and stars beamed out from one corner, while in another appeared a storm in the heavens, with lowering clouds and flashes of lightning.
- Around the border were various designs illustrative of the season and the rapid growth of the western country. At one place appeared a barren heath, with Indians and hunters roaming over it; next, a trading post, as the first entrance of civilization; next, a military station, with the glorious banner of our country streaming from the flagstaff; then a city, and steamboats and vessels gliding in and out of port." "Great Quilt," Scientific American, Volume 5, Number 12, December 8, 1849.
- The quilt described in the 1849 Scientific American, may well have been Mary Willcox Taylor's silk quilt made between 1830 and 1850 and brought to the Museum in 1953. Although the pieced and appliquéd quilt was made in Detroit, Michigan it was said that Mary at one time had lived at Fort Dearborn. In one corner of the quilt is depicted a military fort complete with a prominent U.S. flag on a pole. Fort Dearborn was completed in 1804, burned by Indians in 1812 and rebuilt in 1816. It was demolished in 1856 to accommodate the rapidly expanding city of Chicago. Today, a plaque located in the Chicago Loop recognizes the earlier Fort Dearborn.
- Mary used many shades of silk, even a few embellished with water-colors to depict the skies from dawn to dusk, sunny to stormy. Vignettes on the outer edges of the quilt are detailed and precise using many different fabrics and techniques. They portray scenes of the growth and changes in Chicago during the first half of the nineteenth century. All the diamond shaped pieces are quilted in an outline pattern. Now, unfortunately too fragile to exhibit, this example of a nineteenth-century pictorial quilt displays the skills and artistic ability of Mary Willcox Taylor.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1830-1850
- quilter
- Taylor, Mary Willcox
- ID Number
- TE*T11053
- accession number
- 197748
- catalog number
- T11053
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1850 - 1854 Mary C. Pickering's Applique Quilt
- Description
- In the mid-nineteenth century, Mary Carpenter Pickering made this appliquéd quilt while living in St. Clairsville, Ohio. According to family information, she began work on the quilt when a friend, John Bruce Bell, left St. Clairsville to accompany a wagon train to the Oregon Territory. He returned eight years later, and they were married. Her grandson, Robert S. Bell, wrote that Mary made the quilt “to make the time go more quickly” while John Bell was away in the Oregon Territory. The quilt is said to have won a blue ribbon at the Ohio State Fair in the early 1850s.
- Baskets of flowers are appliquéd on nine blocks. These motifs are raw-edged, held down by close buttonhole stitching. The blocks alternate with all-white blocks that feature stuffed motifs of fruit and flower baskets, grapes and leaves, sprays of leaves and flowers, and a wreath. An appliquéd flowering-vine border completes the overall design of the quilt.
- The background quilting patterns are parallel horizontal and diagonal lines about ¼-inch apart, 13 stitches to the inch. Roller-printed cottons are used for appliquéd motifs; the lining is plain white cotton. “Mary C. Pickering. St. Clairsville Ohio” is prominently back-stitched in black silk on one of the white blocks.
- Mary Carpenter Pickering was born in Belmont County, Ohio, in 1831. She married John Bruce Bell on September 3, 1861, at New Athens, Ohio. Shortly after their marriage, John Bell joined the Union Army in 1862 for service in the Civil War. He was honorably discharged from the army in 1863 with disabilities that lasted for the rest of his life. They moved to Keokuk County, Iowa, in 1864 and raised nine children, three still living in the 1890s. Mary died in 1900. Her prize-winning appliquéd quilt was handed down in her family for three generations before being donated to the Smithsonian in 1981.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1850-1854
- quilter
- Pickering, Mary Carpenter
- ID Number
- 1981.0334.01
- catalog number
- 1981.0334.01
- accession number
- 1981.0334
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1856 - 1857 Virginia Ivey's Russellville Fair Quilt
- Description
- Virginia Ivey designed this white-work quilt to capture the excitement and lively interest of a county fairground in the mid-nineteenth century. The center circle, 40 inches in diameter, is edged by a board fence complete with gate. Inside the fence is the quilted inscription: "1856 A REPRESENTATION OF THE FAIR GROUND NEAR RUSSELLVILLE KENTUCKY." The central judges' pavilion with the judges, encircled by horses and riders, fair buildings and workers, animals of all sorts, and of course the fairgoers themselves, all in a state of arrested motion, contribute to the unique design.
- Virginia Ivey's needlework and artistic skills resulted in a quilt that depicts the smallest details of fence rail, walking stick and saddle, or men shaking hands in greeting. The surface outline was quilted using two layers of fine white cotton with a thin cotton fiber filling, stitched through all three layers. The sculpted effect of the design was achieved with stuffed and corded quilting techniques and grounded with stippling, 12 stitches to the inch. The quilt is finished with a 4½-inch woven and knotted cotton fringe. Her needlework is often described as using needle and thread much like another artist might use pen or brush.
- Virginia Mason Ivey was born on October 26, 1828 in Tennessee. She was the daughter of Mourning Mason and Capt. David Ivey, a farmer and soldier in the War of 1812. According to family information her father named her after his native state. When Virginia was a young child the family moved to Keysburg, a small town in Logan County, Kentucky. Aunt Jennie, as she was known to the family, according to her niece Ida B. Lewis, "never had any lessons in art-just-her own talent and creative instinct. She loved beauty in many forms and had a most attractive personality and was quite a pretty woman." Virginia Ivey never married and when she died she left this quilt to her niece, Lillian Virginia Lewis.
- "I have a quilt which I value most highly. It was made by my aunt, Virginia M. Ivey. I cannot care for it much longer and I should like very much to know that it will have excellent care and that it will give pleasure to many people who will appreciate its remarkable workmanship and its great beauty". So wrote Lillian V. Lewis about the quilt she donated to the Museum in 1949. Now over 150 years old, this elaborate example of white-work quilting, "A REPRESENTATION OF THE FAIR GROUND NEAR RUSSELLVILLE KENTUCKY 1856," has been exhibited at fairs and museums and has won many prizes.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1856-1857
- quilter
- Ivey, Virginia Mason
- ID Number
- TE*T10269
- catalog number
- T10269
- accession number
- 183387
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1876 Bradbury Family's 1876 Centennial Quilt
- Description
- Harriet Bradbury Rich wrote in 1948 that she was "pleased and proud" to donate this "memento of the First Centennial Exhibition of the United States of America." Her father, John Henry Bradbury, had been a merchant in the dry goods wholesale trade in New York and his firm received samples from the manufacturers commemorating the first one hundred years of nationhood that was celebrated at the 1876 Centennial in Philadelphia. At the age of twelve Harriet Bradbury along with her mother, Emily Bradbury, and her grandmother, Maria Silsby, assembled the commemorative fabric samples to make this patriotic quilt. The quilt was made at the Bradbury home in Charleston, New Hampshire, the fourth settlement on the Connecticut River, dating back to the French and Indian Wars.
- Printed fabrics with patriotic motifs were popular in America before the 1876 Centennial but the major exposition in Philadelphia provided the textile companies with an incentive to produce many new fabrics. The utilization in this quilt of the small sample pieces that Mr. Bradbury brought back to his family provides an index of fabrics for that period. There are twenty-six roller-printed cottons and five plate or roller-printed bandannas or banners in the quilt. Many of these are printed with the dates 1876 or 1776-1876 or the word centennial. Patriotic motifs of eagles, flags, liberty caps, muskets, stars, cannonballs, liberty bells as well as portraits of George and Martha Washington and Lafayette are found in the various fabric designs. One particular striped design honors Martha Washington as it was copied from the fabric of a favorite gown of hers, the bodice of which is still at Mount Vernon, Virginia. The center of the back of the quilt contains a cotton kerchief that contains the text of the Declaration of Independence surrounded by the Liberty Bell and the seals of thirteen colonies linked by the names of the patriots of the Revolutionary cause.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1876
- depicted
- Washington, George
- Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier Marquis de Lafayette
- quilters
- Bradbury family
- quilter
- Bradbury, Emily
- Silsby, Maria
- Rich, Harriet Bradbury
- ID Number
- TE*T10090
- accession number
- 180031
- catalog number
- T10090
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1877 - 1878 Caroline Granger's Prize-winning Child's Quilt
- Description
- Agricultural fairs flourished in the mid-nineteenth century and exhibitions of women's needlework skills drew large audiences as they competed for prizes and recognition. A bronze medal, designed by William Barber, was inscribed, “Awarded to Mrs. Joseph Granger for the best Crib Quilt – Worcester, Mass. 1878” by the New England Agricultural Society. A certificate from the office of the New England Agricultural Society states that: “Mrs. Joseph Granger Worcester, Mass. received a Bronze medal awarded at the New England and Worcester Agricultural Fairs, held in the City of Worcester, Mass. September, 1878, for the best Crib Quilt.” Mrs. Joseph (Caroline) Granger’s granddaughter, Claire L. Meyer, donated the quilt, medal, and certificate to the Smithsonian in 1972.
- A note with the quilt, written by one of Caroline Granger’s children, states: “Mother’s quilt all hand quilted she made her own designs with a pin. She got first prize at the Sturbridge fair and every time she showed it at the New England fair – there was even questioning that it was machine made so every body had to examine it closely.” Another note, in different hand, that was with the quilt states: “Couverture de berceau piquee a la main por Mmes Joseph Granger qui importa le primier prix – (Medaille d’or) ‘New England Fair’ de 1878.”
- The all-white child’s quilt, according to the note referred to in French as a “cradle cover,” is made of cotton. The stylized floral center medallion on a diagonal grid background is finely quilted, 12 stitches per inch. The 9-inch border is quilted with an undulating vine and flowers on a background of parallel diagonal lines. Caroline Granger’s design and precise hand quilting are definitely of prize-winning quality.
- Marie Caroline Lamoureux was born on March 3, 1850 in St-Ours, Richelieu, Quebec, Canada. She was the daughter of Antoine Lamoureux and Marie Elizabeth Moge. On January 30, 1873, she married Joseph H. Granger in N. Grosvenordale, Connecticut. They lived in Worcester, Massachusetts, and had twelve children. Two children, born in 1873 and 1875, died before their first birthdays. A daughter, Marie Ida, was about two when Caroline’s quilt won a prize in 1878 and another daughter, Alam Victoria, was born in late 1878. Caroline died on June 9, 1936.
- Claire L. Meyer, the Granger’s granddaughter, wrote; “Many thanks for your letter of July 7, 1972 regarding a crib quilt made by my grandmother a hundred years ago. I am also enclosing for your consideration a quilt machine stitched by my grandfather! . . . I hope it will be worthy of the national collection.” The two quilts are worthy, and provide an interesting contrast between the precise handwork of Mrs. Caroline Granger and the equally precise machine stitching of Mr. Joseph Granger.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1877-1878
- maker
- Granger, Caroline
- ID Number
- TE*T16317.00A
- accession number
- 302043
- catalog number
- T16317A
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1905 Hulda and Ellen Larson's Pan-American Exposition Quilt
- Description
- Hulda Larson and her daughter Ellen made this quilt to commemorate the 1901 Pan-American Exposition held in Buffalo, N. Y. Souvenir stamped muslin squares were sold at the Exposition and later in stores to be embroidered and assembled for a quilt. Referred to as “penny squares” because they were often sold in packets of 50 for 50 cents, they became popular reminders of events and sights at the Exposition. Dated “May 1, 1905” this quilt incorporates many of those souvenir blocks.
- Fifty-six 7 ½-inch white blocks were outline-embroidered in red, many depicting buildings of the 1901 Pan-American Exposition. Hulda and Ellen used over 30 of these motifs for their quilt. A block labeled, “Wm McKinley Our Martyred President,” was designed after his assassination at the Exposition on September 6, 1901.
- The blocks also included embroidered portraits of Mrs. McKinley, , President Theodore Roosevelt, his daughter, Alice, and Mrs. Roosevelt, Edith Caro, who married the widowed president in 1886.
- In the center is the official logo of the Exposition. Blocks with an American eagle, flag, and shield add a patriotic element. Two blocks with buffalo motifs, “Put Me Off at Buffalo” and “I Am A,” and other animal and floral motif blocks were used to complete the quilt. When the fair ended its buildings were demolished, except for the New York State building that later became the Buffalo and Erie Canal Historical Society.
- Using a grid system of the numbers 1 to 7 across the top and A thru G along the left side the following blocks were connected to the Pan-American Exposition. The inscriptions on each block are embroidered in red.
- A2 – “Indian Congress and Village”; A5 – “Stadium”; A6 – “Ohio Building”
- B1 – “Trained Wild Animals”; B2 – “Ethnology Building”; B6 – “Service Building”; B7 – “Infant Incubator”
- C1 – “Fair Japan”; C3 – “Johnstown Flood”; C5 – “Darkness & Dawn - Fall of Babylon”; C7 – “Government Building”
- D1 – “Agriculture Building”; D2 – “Mrs. McKinley”; D3 – “President Roosevelt”; D4 (seal) “Pan-American Exposition. 1901. Buffalo. N.Y. U.S.A.” D5 – “Mrs. Roosevelt”; D6 – “Wm. McKinley-Our Martyred President” D7 – “Alaskan Building”
- E2 – “Electric Tower”; E3 – “New England Building”; E5 – “Old Plantation”; E6 – “Temple of Music Where President McKinley was shot”; E7 – “Cleopatra's Temple”
- F1 – “Horticulture Building”; F2 – “Aerio Cycle”; F3 – “Machinery and Transportation Building”; F4 – “Panopticon”; F5 - “Phillipine Village”; F6 – “Triumphal Bridge”; F7 – “Beautiful Orient”
- G2 – “Louisiana Purchase Building”; G3 – “House Upside Down”; G4 – “Hawaiian Village & Kileaua Volcano”; G5 – “A Trip to the Moon”; G6 – “Wisconsin Building”; G7 – “Darkest Africa”
- This machine-quilted example of redwork has a 3-inch white ruffle, edged with red embroidery. It has a white cotton lining and cotton filling. The blocks are machine-joined, and the lining is machine-stitched. Stem and feather stitches were used for the embroidery.
- Hulda Fredricka ParsDotter was born April 21, 1858, in Vimmerby, Sweden, and married Anders James Larson on June 23, 1877. In 1882 they came to Jamestown, N. Y. Their daughter Ellen Sophia Cecilia was born in Vimmerby, Sweden, on August 11, 1879. Other daughters born in the United States were Dora (about 1889), Della (about 1891) and Arlene (about 1896). Ellen married C. Emil Swanson in 1903 in Jamestown. Ellen died on January 1, 1925. Hulda died October 4, 1949, at the age of 91. Daughter Dora married Arthur Anderson and their daughter, Alberta,married Russell Weise. It was their daughter, Judith Anderson Weise, who donated her great-grandmother and great-aunt’s Pan-American Exposition Commemorative quilt to the Museum in 1985.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1905
- maker
- Larson, Hulda Fredricka
- Larson, Ellen Sophia Cecilia
- ID Number
- 1986.0032.01
- catalog number
- 1986.0032.01
- accession number
- 1986.0032
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center