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 684 items.
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Lydia I. Marden's Sampler
- Description
- This sampler features a monument, rendered in perspective, flanked by two small trees and a flowering plant. On the top of the sampler is the inscription:
- “So fadef[s] the
lovely blooming
flower
Cut of in lifef[s]
erlief[s]t hour.”
- On the monument is the inscription:
- “In Memory
of
Sarah Pervier
who died 16th
of April 1826
aged 8 monthf[s]”
- The monument represents death and Lydia’s inscription on the top comes from two different sources. The first line is by Anne Steele (1716-1778) from a poem entitled “On the Death of a Child” and the second line is from a hymn that is part of the Catholic liturgy for the feast of Holy Innocents (December 28). The sampler is stitched with silk and cotton embroidery thread on a linen ground with a thread count of warp 44, weft 44/ in. The stitches used are cross, satin, chain, and detached chain.
- Nothing is known about the life of Lydia Marden.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1826-1836
- maker
- Marden, Lydia
- ID Number
- TE*E388181
- catalog number
- E388181
- accession number
- 182022
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Memorial Sampler for Rev. Samuel Hopkins
- Description
- The entire text on this sampler is worked in black silk, using color only for the border and one crossband. The top center contains a 3 x 3 ½” space that is outlined with basting stitches in tan silk, but is completely empty. It probably was intended to contain a memorial monument or urn. Working the sampler in black indicated death and including a Bible passage on a sampler was common as most families owned that book. The sampler is stitched with silk embroidery thread on a linen ground with a thread count of warp 27, weft 28/in. The stitches used are cross and crosslet.
- The sampler maker did not include her name, but was honoring a well respected minister. Samuel Hopkins was born on October 31, 1729, and married Sarah Porter on February 17, 1756. She was a widow with five children, and they had nine more children. After Sarah died, Samuel married Margaret Stoddard on October 16, 1776, and they had one child. He was ordained as the fourth minister of the church in Hadley, Massachusetts on February 26, 1755, and served until February of 1809, when he was struck with a paralysis which impaired his mental faculties. He died on March 8, 1811.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- TE*E388183
- catalog number
- E388183
- accession number
- 182022
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Catalina Juliana Mason's Map Sampler
- Description
- Map of New York State. Most counties and county seats named; rivers shown but not named; names of neighboring states given (Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania); Erie Canal shown, but not named. Light gray guidelines under all embroidery; water damage prior to arrival at Smithsonian. Silk thread on wool ground. STITCHES: cross, crosslet, four-sided, Algerian eye, back, chain. THREAD COUNT: warp 44, weft 46/in.
- Inscription:
- "MAP
of the
STATE
of
NEW YORK"
- Background:
- Catalina Juliana was born on June 19, 1823, to Sidney and Maria Benito Dorado Mason, in St. Johns, Puerto Rico. Catalina's father was American consul in St. Johns from 1829 to 1835. Desiring to educate his children in his native land, Mr. Mason brought his family to the United States in one of his own sailing vessels. After arrival in Baltimore, they were taken to Gloucester, Massachusetts. His wife soon succumbed to the rigors of the climate and died on September 14, 1835. On the death of his wife, Mr. Mason gave up all business interests and set forth on an extended tour of Europe. Before departing, he traveled to Puerto Rico one more time and took Catalina with him. When they returned, he placed Catalina at Miss Emma Willard's boarding school for girls in Troy, New York. Recalled from Europe by the death of his son on Dec 25, 1839, he took up residence in New York, and Catalina finished her school days with the Misses McClennachan. It is not known where she stitched her map sampler. She married Theodorus Bailey Myers in 1847, and they had two children, Theodorus Bailey and Cassie Mason. Catalina and her husband made many trips to Europe, and she is known to have paid a visit to the famous dressmaker, Worth. Her niece admired her hands, saying "They were not ornamental only, for they could sew and embroider beautifully, and do all sorts of fine worsted work." Catalina died on August 27, 1905. See Catalina Mason's other sampler.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1837-1847
- maker
- Mason, Catalina Juliana
- ID Number
- TE*H33819.A
- catalog number
- H33819.A
- accession number
- 70138
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Caroline Quick's Sampler
- Description
- This sampler features two block alphabets with a lower case backward “j,” She included the following inscription:
- “Bestow dear Lord upon our youth
The gift of saving grace
And let the seed of sacred truth
Fall in a fruitful place
Caroline Quick 1841”
- Caroline Quick’s inscription is from a hymn, Prayer for a Blessing by English poet William Cowper (1731-1800). Stitching such a verse on her sampler was a way for Caroline to receive religious instruction. The sampler is stitched with silk embroidery thread on a linen ground with a thread count of warp 22, weft 25/ in. The stitches used are cross, four-sided, double cross, queen, Algerian eye, and crosslet.
- Caroline Quick (c.1831) was the daughter of Reuben and Elizabeth Quick and was born in Ulster County, Marlborough, New York. In the 1880 New York census she was living with George and Timna Quick Woolsey. Timna was a sister to Caroline, and George and Timna were the parents of donor Harriet Woolsey Gardner, Mrs. Daniel Gardner.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1841
- maker
- Quick, Caroline
- ID Number
- TE*H37549
- catalog number
- H37549
- accession number
- 115031
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Mary Louisa McCully's sampler
- Description
- This sampler features a picture of two children, a dog, a parrot, and a butterfly in a garden with a floral border. A dog symbolizes fidelity and watchfulness, a parrot suggests talkativeness, and a butterfly symbolizes immortality. These are appropriate motifs to go with young children. Mary worked her sampler in Patterson, New Jersey. Patterson was home to many textiles mills in 1840 and that may have been the reason her family came to live there. Her pattern was probably a Berlin wool work pattern. In 1820 with the introduction of Berlin wools comes the name Berlin wool work patterns. These patterns were hand painted on graph paper. The sampler is stitched with wool and silk embroidery thread on a cotton canvas ground with a thread count of warp 24, weft 24/in. The stitches used are cross, crosslet.
- Mary Louisa McCully was a cousin of Frank H. McCully, in whose memory the sampler was donated to the Smithsonian.
- date made
- 1840
- maker
- McCully, Mary Louisa
- ID Number
- TE*T08229
- catalog number
- T8229
- accession number
- 147229
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Julia Winona Lacey's Sampler
- Description
- This sampler features two block alphabets of 26 letters, with numbers to 4. The letters and numbers are all stitched at random in different colors, and all the rows are separated by simple geometric crossbands. Julia was only learning the basics needed for plain sewing by making a sampler with just alphabets and numbers. On the bottom she included the inscription:
“Julia Lacey St Vince Sch”>br>
- Julia worked her sampler while attending St. Vincent’s school for orphans in Washington, D.C. The sampler is stitched with wool embroidery thread on a cotton canvas ground with a thread count of warp 23, weft 26/in. The stitches used are cross, and crosslet.
- Julia Winona Lacey was born in Washington, D.C., in 1840 and married Almanza Layton, who was born on June 1837. They had four children - Esther (c.1860-), Fanny (1862-), Florence (1864-), and Catherine (c.1865-). Julia died in 1874.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1848
- maker
- Lacey, Julia Winona
- ID Number
- TE*T08869
- catalog number
- T8869
- accession number
- 164049
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Sally Precinda Chaffee's Sampler
- Description
- This sampler features two block alphabets of 26 letters, with numbers to 8. Below the alphabets is the inscription:
“Sally Precinda Chaffee 1849
11 years of Age”
- This sampler was not done on fabric but on perforated paper, a light weight card that first became available in the 1820s and was commonly used for bookmarks and mottos. The sampler is stitched with cotton and wool embroidery thread on perforated paper with a count of 15/in. The stitches used are cross and tent.
- Sally Precinda Chaffee was born on September 6, 1838, to Samuel and Ursula Selenda James Chaffee in Berkshire, Franklin county, Vermont. She died unmarried on August 30, 1857, in Berkshire, Vermont.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1849
- maker
- Chaffee, Sally Precinda
- ID Number
- TE*T09688
- catalog number
- T9688
- accession number
- 173352
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Sarah Hoopes' Sampler
- Description
- This sampler features nine rectangles that are outlined by cross-stitch and satin sawtooth bands. The center and corner rectangles contain flowers and strawberries with some worked in crinkled silk. The flower and strawberry motifs on this sampler indicate nature and a perfect fruit: the strawberry has no rind or pit to throw away. The verses and inscription are in the remaining four rectangles, reading from the top center, to the right center, to the left center, back to the lower part of the right center, and then to the bottom center, resulting in jumps from one rectangle to another where words did not fit the space. The words are worked in green and yellow thread, except for the name “Phebe Hoopes,” which is worked in the only black thread used on the sampler. The inscriptions are:
“Waz[s]h Lord ANd
PUrIFY MY Heart
ANd MaKe It CleaN
IN EVerY Part ANd
WheN It IS CleaN
LOrd KeeP It SO
FOr That IS MOre
ThaN I CaN DO
The LOSS OF TIMe
IS MUCh The LOSS
OF Truth IS MOre
The LOSS OF ChrISt
IS SUCh That NO
MaN CaN ReStOre
POOR State of JaCob
Here It SeeMS TO Me
The CattLe FOUNd
AS SOFt A Bed AS He
Yet GOd APPeared
There HIS JOY ANd
CrOWN GOd IS NOt
ALwaYS FOUNd ON
BedS OF DOWN
The Bed WaS
Earth The RaIsed
PILLar StONe
WhereON POOR
JaCOb ReSt HIS
Head ALONe
HeaVeN WaS HIS
CaNOPY The Shades
OF NIGht WaS
HIS DraWN CUrtaIN
TO EXCLUde The
LIGht ThIS WOrK
IN HaND MY FrIeNdS
MaY HaVe WHeN I aM
IN The SILeNt GraVe
Sarah HOOPes
DauGhter OF Abram
ANd SUSaNNa HooPeS
Her WOrK doN
IN The 14th Year OF
Her AGe 1799
ReeSe HOOPeS
DaNIeL HOOPeS
ALICe HOOPeS
Phebe HOOPeS
AP EJ(?) PH SH”
- The four verses that Sarah Hoopes included reflect the emphasis of her time on piety and the brevity of life. Even though Sarah’s sampler came to the Smithsonian in poor condition, it is important to the study of these compartmented verse and flower samplers that were worked only in Philadelphia. The sampler is stitched with silk embroidery thread on a linen ground with a thread count of warp 51, weft 46/in. The stitches used are cross, satin, stem, and outline.
- Sarah Hoopes was born on December 25, 1785, to Abraham (1755-1807) and Susanna McNees (1752-1834) Hoopes of Newtown, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Her father was a shoemaker. She lists the names of her two brothers, Reese and Daniel, and her two sisters, Alice and Phebe, on her sampler. There are other initials under Phebe’s name. She died unmarried.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1799
- maker
- Hoopes, Sarah
- ID Number
- TE*T11163
- catalog number
- T11163
- accession number
- 203959
- 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
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