Textiles - Overview
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.
"Textiles - Overview" showing 14 items.
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1900 - 1950 Amish "Path Through the Woods" Quilt
- Description
- Quilted in Topeka, Indiana, in the first half of the twentieth century, this is an example of the pattern referred to as “Path through the Woods.” Made of cottons, mainly solid colored tan and red, the blocks are framed by a 2¼-inch red inner border and a 6½-inch tan outer border. The quilt has a blue binding. It is both hand- and machine-pieced; the blocks are joined with machine stitching. An 8-pointed star is quilted in the center of each block. This is an instance of Amish quilting done outside of traditional Pennsylvania areas.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1900-1950
- quilter
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1985.0029.03
- catalog number
- 1985.0029.03
- accession number
- 1985.0029
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Blue and White LaTourette Coverlet
- Description
- Either Sarah or Henry LaTourette, of Fountain County, Indiana, is believed to have woven this cotton and wool Jacquard double-woven coverlet in 1858. The coverlet is woven in two pieces, which were sewn together. It features stylized flowers in rectangles, with a flower and vine border. Sarah (1830—1914) and Henry (1832—1892) were two of weaver John LaTourette’s fourteen children, and coverlet weavers in their own right. When John died in 1849, Sarah and Henry continued weaving in Indiana. They used their father’s corner flower trademark, but added the word “Year” to distinguish their work from his. Since Sarah and Henry used the same trademark, it is impossible to be certain which coverlets were made by Sarah (one of the few known female Jacquard weavers) and which were made by her brother. Sarah married John Van Sickle in 1870 and moved to Kentucky. Her brother married Elizabeth Cooper in 1872. Henry died in 1892, and Sarah died in 1914. Both Henry and Sarah are buried in the Mt. Hope Cemetery in Covington, Indiana.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1858
- referenced
- LaTourette, Sarah
- maker
- LaTourette, Sarah
- LaTourette, Henry
- ID Number
- TE*T002735
- catalog number
- T02735.000
- accession number
- 058524
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Coverlet by Daniel or Levi Fisher
- Description
- This coverlet was made in South Bend, Indiana, in 1852. It is Jacquard double-woven with cotton and wool yarns, and features a conventionalized repeat design with palms, crosses, and a bird border. The lower corners contain the words: “FEAR GOD AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS/SOUTH BEND/1852.” This maker’s mark is credited to Daniel and Levi Fisher, of South Bend, St. Joseph County, Indiana. Both brothers were born in Pennsylvania: Daniel in 1821 and Levi in 1829. It is believed they arrived in Indiana in or around 1846. In the mid- to-late 1850s, both men moved to California.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1852
- maker
- Fisher, Daniel
- Fisher, Levi
- ID Number
- TE*T011173
- catalog number
- T11173.000
- accession number
- 205417
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Pettibone Coverlet
- Description
- Eliza Hackly Pelton Pettibone of Crown Point, Indiana, is said to have owned this double-woven coverlet. The coverlet is made of cotton and wool, and is thought to have been made abut 1840. The pattern used has several names: "Rose in Bloom," "Double Compass," " Wheel of Fortune," and "Cup and Saucer." It was woven in two sections which were later sewn together. The name of the weaver is unknown. There were many coverlet weavers in Indiana in the first half of the 19th century. According to Pauline Woodard Montgomery, in her book Indiana Coverlets and Their Weavers , one of the earliest written references to a coverlet by someone living in Indiana was a request for eight “coverlids” to be delivered to the U.S. Army at Ft. Knox, near the town of Vincennes in 1803.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1840
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- TE*T012676
- catalog number
- T12676.000
- accession number
- 237318
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Craig Family Coverlet
- Description
- This rust, white, and blue Jacquard double-woven coverlet may have been made by a member of the Craig family of Indiana, in 1850. William Craig and his sons William Jr. and James were weavers in Decatur and Franklin Counties, Indiana. Their corner trademark was a courthouse with a cupola. On occasion they used an initial and their last name to sign a coverlet. James Craig sometimes used a lily and the date to sign his work. William Sr. was born in Scotland in 1800, and immigrated to the United States in 1820. His sons were born in North Carolina in 1823 and 1824. He moved his family to Indiana in 1830. The wool in this coverlet is believed to have been hand spun by Jane Russell, grandmother of the donor. The lower border features birds and buildings, while the side borders show vases of flowers. The center of the coverlet features medallions of flowers, with leaves and vines.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1850
- maker
- Craig, James
- Craig Family
- ID Number
- TE*T012728
- catalog number
- T12728.000
- accession number
- 239334
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
John LaTourette Coverlet
- Description
- This cotton and wool Jacquard double-woven coverlet features floral and geometric medallions with a floral border. The flower seen in each of the lower corners, along with the date, is the trademark of John LaTourette. LaTourette was born in New Jersey in 1793. In 1816 he and his wife, Sarah Schenck, moved to Germantown, Ohio. In 1828 he moved his family to Fountain County, Indiana, where he set up shop as a weaver. He and Sarah had fourteen children, several of whom became weavers. After his death in 1849, two of the children, Sarah and Henry, continued weaving coverlets in Indiana with his trademark. However, they placed the word “Year” above the flower to distinguish their work from their father's. This coverlet was woven in two sections, which were sewn together, and has a self fringe on the lower edge.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1844
- possible maker
- LaTourette, John
- maker
- LaTourette, John
- ID Number
- TE*T014001
- catalog number
- T14001.000
- accession number
- 269209
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1855 - 1860 Millie Medaris's "Ocean Wave" Quilt
- Description
- In 1939, Millie Medaris’s granddaughter donated this “Ocean Wave” pieced quilt. Unfortunately, little is known at this time about the quilt maker. The “Ocean Wave” has been a popular pattern at various times and this mid-nineteenth-century quilt provides a competently rendered example.
- The quilt is composed of fourteen-inch blocks pieced of plain and printed triangles around plain cotton centers. A three-inch white cotton border frames the “Ocean Wave” pattern, enhanced by a ¾-inch printed cotton strip along the inside edges of the two sides. The fabrics used, typical of the late 1850s, are plain-colored, roller-printed, and checked cottons. All the pieced triangles are outline-quilted, with clamshell quilting on the white centers and double diagonal lines on the border. It is finely quilted, 10 stitches per inch.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1855-1860
- maker
- Medaris, Millie
- ID Number
- TE*T08358
- accession number
- 153091
- catalog number
- T08358
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1860 Mary McCrea's "Crown" Quilt
- Description
- Two quilted and stuffed blocks help identify this quilt; “M. L. Mc May 24th 1860” (Mary Larson McCrea) and “J Mc” (Rev. James McCrea, her husband). According to family information that accompanied the donation, a close inspection of the quilt even reveals the handprint of one of her children. Other designs in the quilting were inspired by the ferns and flowers gathered near her home.
- This pieced quilt artistically embodies two quilting techniques popular in mid-nineteenth-century America: raised and ground quilting. Sixteen 10-inch blocks, pieced of plain white and printed red cottons in the “Crown” pattern, are set diagonally with elaborately quilted and stuffed plain white blocks in floral patterns. The quilt has a 9-inch border edged by two pieced sawtooth bands, the inner one of the same fabric as the pieced blocks, the outer one composed of green printed cotton. It is quilted with feathered vines. The quilting is 10 stitches per inch, all a fine tribute to Mary McCrea’s needlework and design skills.
- Mary Lawson Ruth, daughter of Samuel and Margaret Ruth, was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1835. The family, like many in that period, moved to Ohio where Mary received her education and taught school at Millwood (Quaker City), Ohio. An account of Quaker City, Ohio, describes the early school, founded in 1810, as a log cabin equipped with a few books and a supply of hickory and beech switches, although by the time Mary was teaching in the 1850s the school presumably had improved.
- On July 3rd, 1856, Mary married Rev. James McCrea. A white silk shawl with a white silk embroidered floral border that was worn by Mary McCrea at her wedding was included in the donation. They had seven children.
- She was profiled in family information as an “accomplished needlewoman . . . proven by the exquisite stitchery in the quilt and infants’ clothing.” A baptismal gown, also part of the donation, was made for her first child, Samuel P. McCrea, born in 1857, and subsequently worn by all her children. “She made all of the clothing worn by her family including her husband [his clothes].” James McCrea was both a teacher and ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church. Mary died in December 1880 and is buried in the Murray, Indiana, cemetery. The “Crown” quilt as well as jewelry, infant apparel, and family portraits, were included in the bequest to the Smithsonian by Miss Mary E. McCrea in 1941.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1860
- maker
- McCrea, Mary Lawson Ruth
- ID Number
- TE*T08582
- accession number
- 160721
- catalog number
- T08582
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Samuel Grahams Taylor Coverlet
- Description
- Samuel Graham made this coverlet honoring Gen. (later President) Zachary Taylor in 1847. It is cotton and wool, with borders of trees while Taylor's profile is part of the repeat design in the center. Below the trees in the border, the words “Rough and Ready” are repeated over and over. The date 1847 appears under a bird in the lower corners. Zachary Taylor became a national hero during the Mexican War, and ran for president in 1848. Samuel Graham was born in Manchester, England, in 1805. He left England about 1823, and eventually settled in Henry County, Indiana. At one time he lived in Delaware County, Indiana. During the Civil War he moved his family to England, but returned to Indiana after the war. He signed his work with a trademark that features a bird on a twig with the date below it. The trademark can be seen in the lower corners of this coverlet.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1847
- depicted
- Taylor, Zachary
- possible maker
- Graham, Samuel
- weaver
- Graham, Samuel
- ID Number
- TE*T008401
- catalog number
- T8401
- accession number
- 156229
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1840 Eliza Hussey's Masonic Symbols Quilt`
- Description
- Eliza Rosecrans Hussey personalized her pieced wool-and silk-star quilt with symbols of the Masonic Society. The embroidered motifs are interspersed between twenty-five blocks pieced in a variation of the “Feathered Star” pattern. Another silk quilt in the Collection was also made by Eliza, and was embroidered with symbols and inscriptions of the Odd Fellows. Edward Simmons Hussey, her husband, was an active member of both the Masons and the Odd Fellows.
- Eliza, born about 1817 in Pennsylvania, went with her family to Indiana as a young child. In the early 1830s she married Edward Simmons Hussey in Carlisle, Indiana. They lived in various Indiana towns while Edward worked as a merchant, hotel manager, book keeper, and express agent.
- By 1860 they had settled in Brazil, Indiana, where Eliza worked as a milliner. There they raised their family of ten children. Eliza, after some years as an invalid, died in 1880. Her carefully designed and crafted quilts are a reminder of the importance of benevolent societies such as the Masons and the Odd Fellows in the developing towns and cities in the Midwest in the first half of the nineteenth century.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1840
- quilter
- Hussey, Eliza Rosenkrantz
- ID Number
- 1981.0680.01
- catalog number
- 1981.0680.01
- accession number
- 1981.0680
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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