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.

Sussex Print Works, 1915. Silk dress goods printed in black on white with a variation (S-226) of an "ant and swallow" design derived from the Bolling family crest in England, to honor the marriage of President Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bolling Galt in December 1915.
Description
Sussex Print Works, 1915. Silk dress goods printed in black on white with a variation (S-226) of an "ant and swallow" design derived from the Bolling family crest in England, to honor the marriage of President Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bolling Galt in December 1915. This variation has a thin black check on a white ground, with scattered larger squares, white squares containing black ants and black squares containing white birds. The use of strict black and white reflects the fact that color dyes were scarce due to the blockade of Germany by British ships during WWI. German firms were the primary holders of dye and colorant patents, , and the blockade created a critical shortage of dyestuffs in the still-neutral United States in 1915-1916. When the US entered the war in 1917, on the British side, the German dye patents were seized and turned over to American manufacturers.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
referenced
Wilson, Edith Bolling Galt
maker
Sussex Print Works
ID Number
TE.T02961
accession number
59282
catalog number
T02961.000
Sussex Print Works, 1915. Silk dress goods printed in black on white with a variation (S-227) of an "ant and swallow" design taken from the Bolling family crest in England, in honor of the marriage of President Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bolling Galt in December 1915.
Description
Sussex Print Works, 1915. Silk dress goods printed in black on white with a variation (S-227) of an "ant and swallow" design taken from the Bolling family crest in England, in honor of the marriage of President Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bolling Galt in December 1915. This variation has widely spaced black stripes with superimposed black coin dots holding white birds, with individual ant motifs in columns between the stripes. The use of strict black and white reflects the fact that color dyes were scarce due to the blockade of Germany by British ships during WWI. German firms were the primary holders of dye and colorant patents, , and the blockade created a critical shortage of dyestuffs in the still-neutral United States in 1915-1916. When the US entered the war in 1917, on the British side, the German dye patents were seized and turned over to American manufacturers.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
referenced
Wilson, Edith Bolling Galt
maker
Sussex Print Works
ID Number
TE.T02959
accession number
59282
catalog number
T02959.000
Sussex Print Works, 1915. Silk dress goods printed in black on white with a variation (S-225) of an "ant and swallow" design taken from the family crest of the Bolling family in England, in honor of the marriage of President Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bolling Galt.
Description
Sussex Print Works, 1915. Silk dress goods printed in black on white with a variation (S-225) of an "ant and swallow" design taken from the family crest of the Bolling family in England, in honor of the marriage of President Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bolling Galt. This variation has closely spaced black stripes with rows of coin dots in a half drop repeat - black ants in white circles and white birds in black circles.The use of strict black and white reflects the fact that color dyes were scarce due to the blockade of Germany by British ships during WWI. German firms were the primary holders of dye and colorant patents, , and the blockade created a critical shortage of dyestuffs in the still-neutral United States in 1915-1916. When the US entered the war in 1917, on the British side, the German dye patents were seized and turned over to American manufacturers.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
referenced
Wilson, Edith Bolling Galt
maker
Sussex Print Works
ID Number
TE.T02958
accession number
59282
catalog number
T02958.000
Sussex Print Works, 1915. Silk dress goods printed in black on white with a variation (S-222) of an "ant and swallow" design taken from the Bolling family crest in England, in honor of the marriage of President Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bolling Galt in December 1915.
Description
Sussex Print Works, 1915. Silk dress goods printed in black on white with a variation (S-222) of an "ant and swallow" design taken from the Bolling family crest in England, in honor of the marriage of President Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bolling Galt in December 1915. This variation has a pattern of checks in black on white, with black ants in the white squares and white birds in the black squares. The use of strict black and white reflects the fact that color dyes were scarce due to the blockade of Germany by British ships during WWI. German firms were the primary holders of dye and colorant patents, , and the blockade created a critical shortage of dyestuffs in the still-neutral United States in 1915-1916. When the US entered the war in 1917, on the British side, the German dye patents were seized and turned over to American manufacturers.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
referenced
Wilson, Edith Bolling Galt
maker
Sussex Print Works
ID Number
TE.T02960
accession number
59282
catalog number
T02960.000

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