Textiles

The 50,000 objects in the textile collections fall into two main categories: raw fibers, yarns, and fabrics, and machines, tools, and other textile technology. Shawls, coverlets, samplers, laces, linens, synthetics, and other fabrics are part of the first group, along with the 400 quilts in the National Quilt Collection. Some of the Museum's most popular artifacts, such as the Star-Spangled Banner and the gowns of the first ladies, have an obvious textile connection.

The machinery and tools include spinning wheels, sewing machines, thimbles, needlework tools, looms, and an invention that changed the course of American agriculture and society. A model of Eli Whitney's cotton gin, made by the inventor in the early 1800s, shows the workings of a machine that helped make cotton plantations profitable in the South and encouraged the spread of slavery.

"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.
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
Vera Crosier Bartok, made this child's quilt for her daughter. Twenty-four 5 ½” blocks (6 rows of 4 each) are framed by a 4 ½” border, all pink cotton.
Description
Vera Crosier Bartok, made this child's quilt for her daughter. Twenty-four 5 ½” blocks (6 rows of 4 each) are framed by a 4 ½” border, all pink cotton. Each block has a white sitting rabbit appliqued with a buttonhole stitch in white thread; each bunny has an embroidered eye and other markings in pink thread. Joseph F. Bartak made cardboard bunny patterns for the white standing rabbit and the running rabbit template for the quilting in the border.
Named the “Bunny Carriage Quilt,” it was made for the donor (Patricia Bartak Armato) before she was born and was used by her for kindergarten nap time.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1943-1944
maker
Bartak, Vera Crosier
ID Number
2016.0051.01
accession number
2016.0051
catalog number
2016.0051.01
At the turn of the twentieth century, the American textile industry was the most technologically advanced in the world. However, it was still dependent on Europe, especially France, for art and design.
Description
At the turn of the twentieth century, the American textile industry was the most technologically advanced in the world. However, it was still dependent on Europe, especially France, for art and design. World War I cut off communication with the industry in Europe, and American manufacturers were forced to turn to American artists for design. The industry held contests, and sent designers and art students into museums to study paintings and objects for inspiration.
Students at the Chicago School of Art designed these fabrics in 1915. They were produced and sold by Marshall Field & Co. of Chicago and exhibited by the National Museum in 1916. The school (first known as the Chicago School of Applied and Normal Art) was founded by Emma Marion Church in 1908, the same year she published her book, The New Basis of Art Education. Ms. Church was a graduate of Pratt Institute, of Brooklyn, N.Y., and served a term as president of the Western Drawing and Manual Training Association from 1912 to 1913. A member of the Board of Trustees of the Chicago Art Institue, she was the first woman member of the Chicago Chamber of Commerce. She died in Woodstock, Vermont in 1952.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1915
retailer
Marshall Field and Company
student's designed
Chicago School of Art
maker
Marshall Field & Co.
designer
Chicago School of Art
ID Number
TE.T03364.000
catalog number
T03364.000
accession number
59938
At the turn of the twentieth century, the Amreican textile industry was the most technologically advanced in the world. However, it was still dependent on Europe, especially France, for art and design.
Description
At the turn of the twentieth century, the Amreican textile industry was the most technologically advanced in the world. However, it was still dependent on Europe, especially France, for art and design. World War One cut toff communications with the industry in Europe, and American manufacturers were forced to turn to American artists for design. The industry held contests, and sent designers and art students into museums to study paintings and objects for inspiration.
These fabrics were designed by the students at the Chicago School of Art in 1915. They were produced and sold by the Marshall Field &Co., of Chicago Illionis, and exhibited by the National Museum in 1916. The school (first known as the Chicago School of Applied and Normal Art) was founded by Emma Marion Church in 1908, the same year she published her book: " The New Basis of Art education." Ms Church was a graduate of the Pratt Institute of Brooklyn, New York, and served a term as President of the Western Drawing and Manual Training Association from 1912 to 1913. She was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Chicago Art Institute, and was the first women member of the Chicago Chamber of Commerce. She died in
Woodstock Vermont in 1952.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
c.1915
maker
Marshall Field & Co.
ID Number
TE.T03365.000
catalog number
T03365.000

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