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 63 items.
Page 1 of 7
Rachel Breck's Sampler
- Description
- This sampler features an alphabet, numbers, flowers, baskets, birds, and trees all worked in cross stitch, while the background is completely filled in with long vertical stitches. The flower baskets symbolize friendship and love, and the birds on the trees would indicate her love of nature. The figure within the cartouche is balanced by a four-storied building, which may depict the school or academy that inspired the design. The sampler is stitched with silk embroidery thread on a linen ground with a thread count of 26/in warp, 24/in weft. The stitches used are cross, satin, chain, French knots, and straight. Rachel included the inscription:
Alas how transient all our earthly store
To-day we bloom tomorrow are no more
Rachel Breck / aged 11
- Rachel Breck also stitched a silk embroidery in 1810 entitled “Charity” at the Misses Patten School in Hartford, Connecticut.
- Rachel Breck was born July 22, 1792, to Joseph Hunt (1766-1801), a silversmith, and Abigail Kingsley (c1766-1846) Breck of Northampton, Massachusetts. In 1819 Rachel married George Hooker who was born 1798 to John and Sarah (Dwight) Hooker of Northampton. He went to Yale, class of 1814 and was a physician who resided in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. They had 8 children born between 1820 and 1833 and Rachel died in 1879.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1803
- maker
- Breck, Rachel
- ID Number
- 2011.0256.01
- catalog number
- 2011.0256.01
- accession number
- 2011.0256
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Elizabeth Pitman's Sampler
- Description
- The lettering on Elizabeth’s sampler is in black silk, and the whole sampler is framed by vines with leaves and flowers worked in various pulled thread patterns. She included the inscription:
"Elizabeth Pitman in
her 12th year 1802
And am I born to die, to lay this body down
And muf[s]t my trembling f[s]pirit fly into a world
unknown"
- (Most of the verse had disappeared; however it is a standard verse on samplers of the period, Hymns for Children (1763) by Charles Wesley.) Charles Wesley wrote over two thousand hymns during his lifetime, and Elizabeth Pitman chose one that was often used on samplers on the imminence of death. The sampler is stitched with silk embroidery thread on a linen ground with a thread count of warp 44, weft 44/in. The stitches used are cross, rice, Algerian eye, eyelet, outline, stem, and pulled thread. Elizabeth’s sampler came to the Smithsonian in very poor condition, but is important for research because of the pulled thread work on it and because it is a rare Southern sampler.
- Elizabeth Pitman was born on November 30, 1790, to Andrew and Francis Frankey Pitman in Harrisonburg, Virginia. She married Isaac Mytinger on July 16, 1807, and sometime after his death on May 26, 1814, she married Anthony Huffman (1784-1861). They had seven children - David (1815-), Frances C. (1816-), John Morgan (1821-), Caroline Matilda (1825-), Edward (1828-), Ann Elizabeth (1830-), and Asburina Cornelia (1833-). She died on September 3, 1870.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1802
- maker
- Pitman, Elizabeth
- ID Number
- TE*T12180
- catalog number
- T12180
- accession number
- 233455
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Hannah Hall's Sampler
- Description
- This sampler features two block alphabets, and below the alphabets are flower-baskets, trees, birds, and dogs. The flower baskets on this sampler may stand for friendship and love, while the birds are spirits of the air, and dogs denote fidelity and watchfulness. It is hemstitched on all four sides. Hannah included the inscription:
“Hannah Hall / AE 12 1803”
- The sampler is stitched with silk embroidery thread on a linen ground with a thread count of warp 25, weft 22/ in. The stitches used are cross, crosslet, satin, and reverse tent.
- Nothing is known about the life of Hannah Hall.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1803
- maker
- Hall, Hannah
- ID Number
- TE*T12186
- catalog number
- T12186
- accession number
- 233422
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Sukey Foster's Sampler
- Description
- One script alphabet with letters colored in pairs; no "J"; three rows separated by simple crossbands. Below verse, three flowering plants (one in vase) and two-story building with four chimneys standing next to tree on hill. Center section outlined by three sawtoothed bands and short strawberry-vine band. Border of wide geometric flowering vine on top and two sides, and band of shaded satin stitches across bottom. Silk embroidery thread on linen ground. STITCHES: cross, crosslet, chain, detached chain, petit point, outline, satin, hem. THREAD COUNT: warp 32, weft 28/in.
- Inscriptions:
- "The fairest flower will soon decay
Its fragrant loose and splended hue
So youth and beauty wear away
And vanish is the morning dew
- Sukey Fosters Work
Wrought in the tWelfth
Year of her age
Cambridge
August 20 1803"
- Background:
- Sukey was born on March 10, 1791, to James and Sukey Foster in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. She married William Adams on September 17, 1818, and they had four children—Susan Ann, William, Hannah Foster, and Mary Jane. Sukey died in West Cambridge, Massachusetts, on September 13, 1846. Her sampler descended in the family of her son William.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1803
- maker
- Foster, Sukey
- ID Number
- 1980.0849.01
- accession number
- 1980.0849
- catalog number
- 1980.0849.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Priscilla Dutch's Sampler
- Description
- Script upper-case alphabet, & at end; second line completed with geometric vine; block upper-case alphabet; lower-case alphabet, & at end. Fourth row completed with geometric vine. Fifth row, numbers to 14, completed on each side with geometric vine. Alphabets and numbers separated by simple crossbands; simple crossbands separate above from Family Record and inscription. Geometric vine separates inscription and verse. Floral motif on each side of verse. All above enclosed in simple geometric border. Outer border of flowering vine that emanates from Grecian-style urn at bottom center and bows at top center, at lower left, and at lower right. Inked pattern for outer border visible. Silk embroidery thread on linen ground. STITCHES: satin, encroaching satin, queen, chain, outline, cross. THREAD COUNT: warp 32, weft 28/in.
- Inscriptions:
- "Family Record
Daniel Dutch born f[s]eptember 3 1765 Sarah Dodge born June 12 1766
were married september 17 1786 Nathaniel Dodge Dutch born
september 10 1787 Daniel Dutch born march 7 1790 died may 12 1791
Sarah Dutch born march 20 1792 Daniel Dutch born december 28
1794 Priscilla Dutch born september 9 1797 Mary Dutch born
november 12 1800 Isaac Dodge Dutch born december 21 1803
Mrs Sarah Dutch died February 7 1808 in the 42 year of her age
Priscilla Dutch wrought this sampler in the 11th year of her age 1808
As this fair sampler shall continue still
The guide and model of my future skill
May Christ the great exemplar of mankind
Direct my ways and regulate my mind"
- Background:
- Priscilla was born on September 9, 1797, to Daniel and Sarah Dodge Dutch, near Ipswich, Massachusetts. She married Ebenezer Putnam, a widower, on May 7, 1844. They did not have any children, but Priscilla was a mother to the thirteen children of Ebenezer and his first wife, Betsey Webb Putnam. Priscilla died on April 18, 1856, in Massachusetts.
- Date made
- 1808
- maker
- Dutch, Priscilla
- ID Number
- 1999.0083.01
- catalog number
- 1999.0083.01
- accession number
- 1999.0083
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Jefferson Banner
- Description
- This cloth banner celebrates the electoral victory of Thomas Jefferson over John Adams in the presidential election of 1800. The banner is believed to be one of the earliest surviving textiles carrying partisan imagery, created at the dawn of the first American party system in which power passed from Federalists to Jeffersonian Republicans. Its imagery celebrates Jefferson's electoral victory, while denigrating Adams, his opponent. The banner pictures Jefferson's likeness below an eagle with a streamer in its beak that proclaims, "T. Jefferson President of the United States of America / John Adams is no more."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1800
- associated date
- 1800
- associated person
- Jefferson, Thomas
- Adams, John
- ID Number
- PL*227739.1800.C01
- catalog number
- 227739.1800.C01
- accession number
- 227739
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Sarah Kurtz's Sampler
- Description
- Three block alphabets; one script alphabet. Two alphabets have letters colored alternately with no "J"; numbers to 4, to 15, and to 21; all these rows separated by geometric crossbands. Surrounding verse and inscription paired motifs of trees, crowns, flower-baskets, birds, and bird in wreath; two checkered flower-baskets with handles but no flowers. Border of geometric strawberry vine on all four sides. Silk embroidery thread on linen ground. STITCHES: cross, crosslet, stem, chain, eyelet, Algerian eye. THREAD COUNT: warp 28, weft 32/in.
- Inscription:
- "When wealth to virtuous hands is giv[e]n
It blef[s]ses like the dews of heavn
Like heaven it hears the orphans cries
And wipes the tears from widows eyes
- Sarah Kurtz." (written in ink after the inscription is: "Worked 1804 age 9")
- Background:
- Sarah Kurtz and Thomas Orme were married by Rev. Balch in Washington, D.C., on June 2, 1816. They had three daughters—Rebecca, Elizabeth, and Anna. Sarah died on December 23, 1864, in Washington and is buried there in Oak Hill Cemetery. The date on the sampler indicates that Sarah was born in 1795. Anna's daughter Mary donated her grandmother's and aunt's samplers. See Elizabeth Orme's sampler.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1804
- maker
- Kurtz, Sarah
- ID Number
- TE*T07318
- catalog number
- T07318
- accession number
- 124663
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Elizabeth Marx's Sampler
- Description
- Verse and two wide floral crossbands, both arcaded, one with roses and one with strawberries and forget-me-nots. Two eight-pointed stars. Black guidelines under flowers in rose crossband. Center section framed in band of sawtooth. Border of geometric flowering vine with strawberries and pinks, and an outer row of dentil pattern on all four sides. Silk embroidery thread on linen ground. STITCHES: cross, straight, Algerian eye, satin, surface satin, encroaching satin, stem, queen, outline. THREAD COUNT: warp 40, weft 38/in.
- Inscriptions:
- "Here In This Garden Here Below
Water Me That I May Grow
And When All Grace To Me Is Given
Then Transplant Me Into Heaven
- Elizabeth Marx Her Work 1802"
- Background:
- This is probably the Elizabeth born on March 14, 1791, to George and Elizabeth Marx in Reading, Pennsylvania. According to the records from the Trinity Lutheran Church in Reading, she married Christian Brobst on August 30, 1812.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1802
- maker
- Marx, Elizabeth
- ID Number
- TE*T11651
- catalog number
- T11651.000
- accession number
- 222389
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1806 Charlotte Roe's Child's Quilt
- Description
- Charlotte Merritt Roe embroidered her name as well as the place (Virgil) and date (1806) on this pieced child’s quilt. Charlotte Merritt was born in 1774 in Rye, Westchester County, New York. She married John Elting Roe in 1796. In 1797 Charlotte and her husband settled in Virgil, New York. They stayed on to rear five children. This quilt, made for one of their children, was passed down through the family before being donated to the Museum in 1984.
- An anecdote in Stories of Cortland County by Bertha E. Blodgett, Cortland, New York, published in 1932, relates the arrival of Charlotte and John Roe in Virgil.
- “In the spring of 1797 John E. Roe . . . came up the river and prepared a log cabin in Virgil. He . . . peeled bark for a roof and agreed with a man to put it on . . . then went down the Tioughnioga to get his wife, bringing her in a sleigh from Oxford . . . .
- When they came to the river at a place called Messengerville, they saw Mr. Chaplin’s house on the opposite bank. It was winter and the river was high, and the canoe that had been used in crossing was carried away. Mr. Chaplin’s hog trough was secured, and Mrs. Roe was safely carried over on it . . . whole day was consumed in negotiating the road over the hill to Virgil . . . when they arrived they were surprised to find their house without a covering and the snow deep on the floor . . . .
- In after years, Mrs. Roe enjoyed telling the story of her experience . . . and she always ended by saying, ‘And what do you think! The horses were so hungry that they ate the seats out of my nice rush-bottomed chairs.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1806
- quilter
- Roe, Charlotte
- ID Number
- 1984.0092.01
- catalog number
- 1984.0092.01
- accession number
- 1984.0092
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from Henry Bodmer]
- Date
- 1800s
- Company Name
- Henry Bodmer
- Related companies
- Dufour & Co.
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_8140
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries
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