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.

The blue and white, Jacquard double-cloth coverlet features a carpet medallion centerfield design composed of floral medallions and scalloped foliate-filled diamonds. The border is a meandering/running floral design and unique to the maker, John LaTourette.
Description
The blue and white, Jacquard double-cloth coverlet features a carpet medallion centerfield design composed of floral medallions and scalloped foliate-filled diamonds. The border is a meandering/running floral design and unique to the maker, John LaTourette. There is a self-fringe at the lower edge of the coverlet. A stylized flower trademark is woven into each of the lower corners, and below it, the date 1844. This flower trademark is associated with the LaTourette family of Fountain County, Indiana, and the 1844 date suggests that John (Jean) S. LaTourette was the weaver.
The LaTourette family immigrated to Staten Island, New York in 1685, just after Louis XIV’s revocation of the Edict of Nantes, when French Protestants, known as Huguenots, were forced to either convert to Catholicism or leave the Kingdom of France. As a result, there was a mass exodus of craftspeople to Protestant Europe and the British American colonies. John (Jean) S. LaTourette (1793-1849) was born in New Jersey to a weaver and Revolutionary War veteran also named John G. Latourette (1749-1813). After serving in the War of 1812, John married his wife, Sarah Schenck (1799-1873) in 1816.
The couple immediate headed west, first settling in Germantown, Ohio were the first half of fourteen children were born. In 1828, John LaTourette purchased eighty-acres in what would become Wabash Township, Fountain City, Indiana. The LaTourettes were among the first European settlers in the area. The family initially lived in a log cabin and spent most of their energy clearing the land, farming, and weaving a variety of goods for their neighbors.
After 1840, the weaving began to shift to exclusively coverlets and the log cabin became the loomhouse as the family built a larger brick home on their farm. This is also the time that two of his children, Sarah (1822-1914) and Henry (1832-1892) began to weave with their father. There are several extant accounts that there were at least three looms on the property. In an interview, John’s youngest son, Schuyler LaTourette described the looms the family used to weave the coverlets, indicating that they used punch-cards associated with the Jacquard loom introduced to the United States during the 1820s. John S. LaTourette died in 1849, leaving the booming weaving business in the able hands of his daughter Sarah and son Henry who continued to weave coverlets until 1871.
This coverlet is in excellent overall condition and is a wonderful example of one of Indiana’s famous coverlet-weaving dynasties. We can attribute this coverlet to John because of the 1844 date during his lifetime and the omission of the word “year” from the cornerblock. His children would continue to use the same cornerblock as their father but added the word “year” to differentiate their work from that of their father.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1844
possible maker
LaTourette, John
maker
LaTourette, John
ID Number
TE.T14001
catalog number
T14001.000
accession number
269209
This coverlet was woven by the LaTourette family, likely John LaTourette (1793-1849) in Fountain County, Indiana in 1842. John and his wife moved from New York and New Jersey first to Germantown, Ohio in 1816. The family moved again in 1828 to Fountain County, Indiana.
Description
This coverlet was woven by the LaTourette family, likely John LaTourette (1793-1849) in Fountain County, Indiana in 1842. John and his wife moved from New York and New Jersey first to Germantown, Ohio in 1816. The family moved again in 1828 to Fountain County, Indiana. By 1840, John had established a successful weaving business for himself and his family on their farm. John trained both his daughter Sarah (1822-1914) and son, Henry (1832-1892) to weave as well, and after John’s death in 1849 his children continued the thriving business until 1871. The family was of French Huguenot stock, migrating to New York at the end of the seventeenth century. This coverlet was woven in two panels on a hand loom with a Jacquard attachment. The family still possesses a photograph of the loom attachment sitting on the porch of the house in Indiana. The centerfield pattern is an elaborate floral carpet medallion arrangement. There are borders along three sides. The side borders feature flowering urns and floral motifs, and the lower border depicts scrolling floral designs. The LaTourette family all used the same rose cornerblock design. Sarah and Henry’s later coverlets incorporate the word “YEAR” in to the cornerblock designs differentiating them from those of their father.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1842
referenced
LaTourette, John
maker
LaTourette, John
ID Number
TE.T12816
catalog number
T12816.000
accession number
242607

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.