Textiles

Coverlet

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.

Date: 1840s

Susan Fussell Alexander, double-cloth coverlet; Tennessee, ca. 1840

Geometric, double-cloth coverlet in blue wool & natural cotton. Said to have been made by Susan Fussell Alexander; Columbia, Murray County, Tennessee, in about 1840. No fringes.Currently not on view
Description
Geometric, double-cloth coverlet in blue wool & natural cotton. Said to have been made by Susan Fussell Alexander; Columbia, Murray County, Tennessee, in about 1840. No fringes.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
about 1840 ?
maker
Alexander, Susan Fussell
Fussel, Margaret
Alexander, Susan Fussell
ID Number
TE.T12178
catalog number
T12178.000
accession number
233295

Figured and Fancy coverlet; tied-Beiderwand; 1844; prob. Pennsylvania

This Figured and Fancy, tied-Beiderwand coverlet has horizontal stripes of pink [rose], white, gold, light and dark brown and fringe on three sides, It is possible that some of the colors visible today have faded due to age, light, and the dyes used.
Description
This Figured and Fancy, tied-Beiderwand coverlet has horizontal stripes of pink [rose], white, gold, light and dark brown and fringe on three sides, It is possible that some of the colors visible today have faded due to age, light, and the dyes used. The fringe along the sides was created by the wool weft yarns and has mostly worn away over time. The centerfield pattern features the “Double Lily” and starburst carpet medallions. The border found on three sides of the coverlet feature addorsed Distelfinken (thistle finches) and rosebushes and Hom (tree of life). The two cornerblock show the name, Franz Rether, and the date 1844. There is no record of a weaver by that name, and Rether was likely the customer. More research is needed to determine just who Franz Rether was. Due to the pattern and color arrangement of this coverlet, it was likely made in Pennsylvania. Genealogical research revealed that Pennsylvania in the 1840s was full of families named Rether, Ritter, and Reiter, all of which have similar pronunciations. Adams County, Pennsylvania had a large number of Rether families living there in the 1840s, and it is possible that this is where the coverlet was woven.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1830
1844
ID Number
TE.T13546
catalog number
T13546.000
accession number
244500

Geometric Double-cloth Coverlet, ca. 1846

This double-woven wool coverlet has borders on three sides. The lower edge has a double border, while the two sides, have triple borders. In both cases the borders feature a variation of the "Pine Tree" motif.
Description
This double-woven wool coverlet has borders on three sides. The lower edge has a double border, while the two sides, have triple borders. In both cases the borders feature a variation of the "Pine Tree" motif. The lower edge has a cut self fringe, while the sides have an uncut self fringe. The center of the coverlet features a pattern similar to the "Irish Chain" pattern found in quilting. It is believed this coverlet was made in Pennsylvania in the mid-1840s. Coverlets such as this were highly valued possessions. They would have been mentioned in household inventories, and acquired for a young woman's dowry or hope chest.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1846
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.T10097
catalog number
T10097.000
accession number
060464

Weigley family; geometric coverlet; double-cloth; c. 1846; Pennsylvania

According to the donor, a man named Wegley or Wigley wove this red, white, and blue, geometric double-cloth coverlet for a Mrs. Umbarger in Berlin, Somerset County, Pennsylvania in 1846. Mrs. Umbarger had the coverlet woven for her son, Perry Umbarger (b. 1834).
Description
According to the donor, a man named Wegley or Wigley wove this red, white, and blue, geometric double-cloth coverlet for a Mrs. Umbarger in Berlin, Somerset County, Pennsylvania in 1846. Mrs. Umbarger had the coverlet woven for her son, Perry Umbarger (b. 1834). Clarita Anderson’s research revealed that there was a family of weavers in Somerset County active during the timeframe named, Weigley, and it is these men, John and his sons, Lewis (1810-1885) and Seth, who were the likely weavers of this coverlet. This pattern depicted here is most commonly known as “Sorrel Blossom” but the accession file also suggested “Lover’s Chain” and “Potato Blossom” as alternative names. Many of these pattern names have changed over time and place. Many German-American weaving pattern books never name the geometric block-weaving patterns at all, but simply number them. This coverlet has two sets of warp and weft made from 2-ply, S-twist, Z-spun wool and cotton yarns. There are self-fringes on three sides of the coverlet. The coverlet measures 80 inches by 69 inches and is constructed from two panels.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
c.1846
ID Number
TE.T10096
catalog number
T10096.000
accession number
060464

Caroline Quick's Sampler

This sampler features two block alphabets with a lower case backward “j,” She included the following inscription:“Bestow dear Lord upon our youthThe gift of saving graceAnd let the seed of sacred truthFall in a fruitful placeCaroline Quick 1841”Caroline Quick’s inscription is fro
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

Fiber sample, Sea Island cotton, Canary Islands, 1841

Fiber sample, Sea Island cotton, from Santa Cruz, Tenerife, Canary Islands, grown in 1841. One of a group of fiber samples given by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England, in 1885, to the US National Museum's economic botany collection..Currently not on view
Description
Fiber sample, Sea Island cotton, from Santa Cruz, Tenerife, Canary Islands, grown in 1841. One of a group of fiber samples given by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England, in 1885, to the US National Museum's economic botany collection..
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1841
ID Number
TE.T00664
catalog number
T664
accession number
16188

Craig Family; Figured and Fancy, double-cloth coverlet panel; 1849; Indiana

This Craig Family, Figured and Fancy, double-cloth coverlet panel features a "Peacocks Feeding Their Young" centerfield pattern and a “Christians and Heathens” side border with the Craig family signature, "Bluebells and Bellflower" top and bottom borders.
Description
This Craig Family, Figured and Fancy, double-cloth coverlet panel features a "Peacocks Feeding Their Young" centerfield pattern and a “Christians and Heathens” side border with the Craig family signature, "Bluebells and Bellflower" top and bottom borders. The panel can be attributed to the Craig Family because of the two dated trademark cornerblocks which feature a courthouse with cupola. The coverlet was woven from two sets of warps and wefts made up of indigo-dyed 2-ply, S-twist, Z-spun wool and bleached 3-ply, S-twist, Z-spun cotton. "Peacocks Feeding Their Young" centerfield pattern features male peacocks feeding young birds in the nest and two female peafowl on a in a confronted position. The arrangement of the centerfield pattern creates an ogival lattice with floral and Grecian urn motif infills. The “Christians and Heathens” side border design had many variations and featured a blend of Neoclassical and Eastern architecture with palms and played to tastes for Eastern exoticism.
The Craig Family weavers consist of Scottish-born, William Craig, Sr. (1800-1880), Scottish-born cousin, James Craig (1819-1896), William Craig, Jr. (1824-1880), and James Craig (1823-1889) make up the two generations of weavers who intermarried with other Scottish immigrant weaving families, dominating the coverlet market in Floyd, Decatur, and Washington counties in Indiana. It is almost certain that their regional influence extended into Western Kentucky as well. The Craigs were prodigious weavers and entrepreneurs and the number of extant coverlets attest to this fact. Also of interest is a published interview with William Sr.'s granddaughter, Rena Craig Gilchrist found in Indiana Coverlets and Coverlet Weavers (1928) by Kate Milner Rabb. Rena Craig Gilchrist recounted how her grandfather was born in Kilmarnock, Scotland in 1800, moving to South Carolina in 1820 to assume the role of foreman at a Southern cotton goods factory. In 1832 the Craigs and other immigrant weaving families, the Gilchrists and Youngs moved to Mt. Caramel, Indiana. In 1838, the family moved again, further distributing weavers, to Decatur County, Indiana. The Craigs at first wove on their farm just outside of Greensburg, Indiana, but soon sons William Jr. and James ventured out on their own, marrying other weaver’s daughters, and establishing workshops in Greensburg and Anderson. Their coverlet weaving became regionally famous and people were reported as having come from fifty to sixty miles by wagon with woolen yarn for enough coverlets for each child at marriage.
The Craigs continued to weave until 1860 when William Sr. retired. Cousin James opened a shop in Canton, Indiana. A local resident described his loom as," “different from any other loom I have ever seen in that the threads of the warp were each run through a loop of cords to which were attached leaden weights about the size of an ordinary lead pencil, and I should think from twelve to fifteen inches in length. I do not remember accurately about that. The other end of each cord was attached to a pedal, of which there was a considerable number. A number of cords may have been attached to a pedal, according to the colors and figures being used. This enabled him to depress any of the threads of the warp that he pleased by operating the pedals with his feet, thus opening a space for the passing of the shuttle, of which he used as many as he wished colors in the pattern.” This description suggests that members of the Craig family were using modified drawlooms, possibly what is sometimes referred to a Scotch loom, which was used to weave figured double-cloth ingrain carpet. This is interesting because the introduction of the Jacquard head attachment, which used chains of punch cards, made figured weaving much faster and cheaper in the decades before the Craig family’s foray into coverlet weaving.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1849
maker
Craig Family
ID Number
TE.T12174
catalog number
T12174.000
accession number
232964

Lavinia Rogers (attrib) Overshot Coverlet; Tennessee; 1833

This overshot coverlet is said to have been made by Lavina Rogers of Horse Creek, Tennessee, in 1833. It is made of cotton and wool, and is woven in what some call the "Braddocks Defeat" pattern.
Description
This overshot coverlet is said to have been made by Lavina Rogers of Horse Creek, Tennessee, in 1833. It is made of cotton and wool, and is woven in what some call the "Braddocks Defeat" pattern. The coverlet appears to have been repaired, as the center seam and the hems are machine sewn with cotton sewing thread. There were very few female hand- weavers in 1833. In most cases women spun the yarn used in their coverlets, and commissioned a professional weaver to actually weave the coverlet.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1830-1840
1833
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.T14956
catalog number
T014956
accession number
124301

William Brosey; Jacquard, tied-Biederwand coverlet; 1842; Pennsylvania

William Brosey wove this Jacquard, 2:1 tied-Biederwand coverlet for J. Bassler in 1842. The coverlet features a variation of the "Four Roses" centerfield field pattern, substituting the traditional rose with what appears to be a marigold.
Description
William Brosey wove this Jacquard, 2:1 tied-Biederwand coverlet for J. Bassler in 1842. The coverlet features a variation of the "Four Roses" centerfield field pattern, substituting the traditional rose with what appears to be a marigold. The triple borders features a Germanic tree of life (Hom) flanked by addorsed thistle finches (Distelfinken) and interspersed with pairs of rose bushes. The cornerblock design is made up of a grid of nine, eight-petaled flowers with three, eight-pointed stars. This border and cornerblock design was used by an entire family of coverlet weavers in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The green-, madder-, and indigo-dyed wool 2-ply, S-twist, Z-spun weft yarns interact with the 2- and 3-ply, S-twist, Z-spun cotton warp and weft to form an integrated weave structure known as tied-Biederwand and identifiable by the ribbed appearance of the fabric. The coverlet has two self-fringes along its side borders and applied faux self-fringe along the bottom. Also along the bottom edge can be found the woven inscription, “J*BASSLER/W*B” and the date, “1842.” The coverlet was woven as one length, cut, folded back on itself and seamed down the center. This is a standard construction feature for coverlets not woven on a broadloom with a fly-shuttle, as loom widths tended to not be wider than the average person’s arm span.
The Brosey family lived in Manheim Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The known weavers in the family included John Brosey Sr. (1789-1863), William Brosey (1818-1884), and John Brosey, Jr. (1829-1879). J. Bassler, the name at the base of the coverlet is almost certainly the customer’s name. It is not know which J. Bassler this might be, but the Lebanon Courier and Semi-Weekly Report reported a barn and corncrib fire in Lancaster County on the farm of Mr. John Bassler on November 18, 1853. It is possible that the J. Bassler named on the coverlet is indeed this same John Bassler of Lancaster County, but more research is needed to confirm this attribution. What can be determined is that William Brosey wove this coverlet as he signed it with his initials, “W*B” just under the client’s name. The Brosey centerfield designs and triple border are unique to Lancaster County suggesting that besides weaving they too were drafting their own designs and punching their own Jacquard punch cards.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1842
maker or owner
Bassler, J.
maker
unknown
Bishops Antiques
ID Number
1998.0081.03
accession number
1998.0081
catalog number
1998.0081.03

Clarrisa Champion Smith and Charity Vosburgh Mihan; Overshot coverlet; 1830-1840; Chatham, New York

This red-orange and white, overshot coverlet was woven with no borders and appears to be handwoven. The coverlet edges correspond with the end of a block which appears cut off on some sides. There is no fringe.
Description
This red-orange and white, overshot coverlet was woven with no borders and appears to be handwoven. The coverlet edges correspond with the end of a block which appears cut off on some sides. There is no fringe. One end had a rolled hemmed secured with a whip stitch, and the other end is frayed. The coverlet is structurally sound, being constructed of one length of fabric that has been cut in half and sewn together in middle with a center seam. There is some fading and wear that has accrued with time and use. The fading also suggests that the red-orange was obtained by using a natural red dye like madder. Chemical spectroscopy is needed to determine the dye definitively. One end of the coverlet is badly frayed as the securing rolled hem has come loose. There are some pulled yarns present and there are some old repairs. There was a note attached to the coverlet (now in the object file). It says: "Former owner of madder coverlet Mrs. Clarissa Champion Smith, Charity Vosburgh Milhan both of north Chatham (south of Albany) New York, wove it." 1830's or 40. Clarissa Champion was born October 11, 1799. She married Henry Nicholas Smith and died in 1886. Charity Ann Vosburgh was born c. 1805 and married Simon Milham. She died December 2, 1877. Both women were married to men who in the 1850 Federal Census recorded their occupations as “Farmer.” It would not have been unusual for the women of Chatham to pool resources, tools (looms and spinning wheels), raw materials (wool), and skills to create textiles in exchange for other goods and services. This economy is described and explained by Dr. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s books, The Age of Homespun. This block and table overshot pattern could easily have been woven on a four-harness loom.
date made
19th century
c. 1830-1840
ID Number
1981.1020.05
accession number
1981.1020
catalog number
1981.1020.05

Figured and Fancy coverlet; double-cloth; 1844; New York

This unsigned, blue & white, Figured and Fancy, double-cloth coverlet has no fringe. There is a large stylized ovular central medallion made up of flowering baskets and scrolling foliage. Beyond this are scattered flowers.
Description
This unsigned, blue & white, Figured and Fancy, double-cloth coverlet has no fringe. There is a large stylized ovular central medallion made up of flowering baskets and scrolling foliage. Beyond this are scattered flowers. There is a double border around four sides of the coverlet. The innermost border is composed of similar flowering baskets and foliate scrollwork. The outermost border contains the date, “1844” and is made up of stylized floral designs and peacock feather eyes. The designs are similar to those used by New York weaver, Ira Hadsell. However, Hadsell usually signed his work. According to the donor, this coverlet was made for her great-grandmother near Syracuse, New York.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1844
ID Number
TE.T6714
catalog number
T06714.000
accession number
111910

John LaTourette; Jacquard, double-cloth coverlet; 1844;

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

John LaTourette; coverlet; Jacquard; double-cloth; 1842; Indiana

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

Auburn State Prison, coverlet; Jacquard, double-cloth; 1842; New York

This blue and white, Jacquard, double-woven coverlet is made of cotton and wool. It features the “Bird of Paradise” pattern with floral and geometric borders on all four sides. It is woven in two sections, each thirty-nine inches wide. The sections were sewn together by hand.
Description
This blue and white, Jacquard, double-woven coverlet is made of cotton and wool. It features the “Bird of Paradise” pattern with floral and geometric borders on all four sides. It is woven in two sections, each thirty-nine inches wide. The sections were sewn together by hand. The date “AD 1842” is woven into all four corners with a stylized floral or carpet design cornerblock now known to be associated with the Auburn Prison Loom House and coverlet weaver, James Van Ness. The original owner was the donor’s father. He lived in Ontario County, New York. Coverlets could be commissioned by a man or a woman for use in the home. Being double-cloth, the coverlet was woven using two sets of warp and weft yarns. The blue yarn is indigo-dyed 2-ply S-twist, Z-Spun wool and the white yarns are 3-ply, S-twist, Z-spun cotton. The coverlet is made of two panels which were originally woven as one length.
Not much work has been done on prison weaving in the 19th century. Ralph S. Herre wrote a dissertation while at Penn State University entitled, "The History of Auburn Prison from the Beginning to about 1867." He confirmed that the prison did have a carpet weaving shop, sold to local customers, and even attempted to cultivate and manufacture silks. In American Coverlets and Their Weavers (2002), Clarita Anderson included an entry for a coverlet which had a family history of being from Auburn State Prison and dated 1835. Anderson pointed out that of the four confirmed Auburn State coverlets she had encountered most are Biederwand structure, not double weave. She attributed the coverlets to New York weaver, James Van Ness (1811-1872).
The two Auburn State Prison coverlets in the NMAH collection have a similar corner block organization but different motifs, suggesting the possibility that the individual(s) designing the point papers and cutting the cards for these coverlets were the same person, maybe even Van Ness. More research is needed to confirm Anderson's attribution. It could be, and likely was the case, that the prisoners were trained in coverlet and ingrain carpet weaving by a master weaver, perhaps even Van Ness. At the very least, ornate Fancy weave jacquard card sets were purchased by the prison with the express purpose of producing fancy weave coverlets for general consumption. Prisoners at Auburn State were organized in what became known as the Auburn- or Congregate-Style. Prisoners spent most of their time in isolation in their cells. They were released for work hours, six days a week. They walked silently to work, worked in silence, and lived in silence. This coverlet is a fascinating material glimpse into the culture and economics of prisons in the 19th century.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1842
maker
unknown
ID Number
TE.T16877
catalog number
T16877
accession number
307177

Benjamin Hausman, Figured and Fancy Coverlet; Pennsylvania, 1841

Benjamin Hausman, born March 2, 1799, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, wove this cotton and wool Jacquard double-woven coverlet for Jane Paul in 1841. His name and hers appear in the lower corners along with the date.
Description
Benjamin Hausman, born March 2, 1799, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, wove this cotton and wool Jacquard double-woven coverlet for Jane Paul in 1841. His name and hers appear in the lower corners along with the date. The coverlet is Jacquard double-woven with floral medallions and stars, as the overall pattern, and with a border of trees and flowers. It has no center seam. Several members of the Hausman family were coverlet weavers in Pennsylvania in the 19th century. Benjamin worked in Allentown, Lehigh County, from 1836 to 1845, and in York, York County, from 1847 to 1848. He is listed as a coverlet weaver in the 1850 census of York, York County, Pennsylvania. He moved to Philadelphia in 1852 and in the 1862 Philadelphia Septennial Census he is listed as a weaver. He and his wife Sarah lived with their daughter and son-in-law in Philadelphia. He died c. 1869.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1841
owner of coverlet in 19th century
Paul, Jane
maker
Hausman, Benjamin
ID Number
TE.E393749
accession number
211606
catalog number
E.393749

Daniel Pursell (attrib.); coverlet; Figured and Fancy, double-cloth; c. 1840; Ohio

This Figured and Fancy, double-cloth coverlet is undated, although the object file contains a newspaper clipping suggesting that it is dated 1840. There is also no corner block or trademark to help identify the weaver.
Description
This Figured and Fancy, double-cloth coverlet is undated, although the object file contains a newspaper clipping suggesting that it is dated 1840. There is also no corner block or trademark to help identify the weaver. The centerfield is made up of a lattice-work of squares reminiscent of the “Single Chariot Wheel” pattern found in geometric double-cloth and overshot coverlets. Inside the lattice-work are alternating rows of sunbursts and stylized medallions. The side borders are double rows of grapes with leafy vines. The top has no border and the bottom border is just a thin zig-zag interspersed with dots. There is fringe on three sides. The double-cloth structure requires two sets of warps and wefts. Each set is made up of a 2-ply, S-twist, Z-spun cotton yarn and a similarly spun wool yarn. The weaver has expertly arranged the red- and blue-colored wools in the warp and weft to create gridded pattern of color that is amplified by the double-cloth structure and the white cotton.
Although the coverlet is unsigned, it is still possible to attribute this piece to the workshop of a weaver in Portsmouth, Scioto County, Ohio, Daniel Purcell (1812-1880). Clarita Anderson and Robert Heisey both mention Purcell in their catalogs of known weavers. He only dated one coverlet that is known, but based on census records we can estimate that Daniel Purcell was weaving in Scioto County from approximately 1840 until his enlisted in the 1st Ohio Light Artillery Battery L in 1861 as a bugler. In the 1870 Federal Census, Daniel Purcell is listed as a paper-maker, having abandoned weaving after the Civil War. In the 1880 Federal Census, Purcell is listed as a drug store attendant in Logan, Hocking County, Ohio. He died shortly after. Purcell appears to have designed his own patterns. It is not clear what kind of loom he wove on or how his business was organized, but he clearly had an eye for design and color and ranks as one of Ohio’s most skilled coverlet weavers.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
mid 19th century
date made
c. 1840
maker
Pursell, Daniel
ID Number
TE.T12615
catalog number
T12615.000
accession number
234386

Birdseye twill weave coverlet; Pennsylvania, ca. 1846

There is no information known about the provenance or origins of this coverlet other than it is said to have been woven near Somerset, Pennsylvania around 1846.
Description
There is no information known about the provenance or origins of this coverlet other than it is said to have been woven near Somerset, Pennsylvania around 1846. The pattern is interesting because this blue and white float weave coverlet is imitating a “Bird’s Eye” or “Diamond Twill” weave in the center field, with a zigzag twill border on three sides. Fringes also on three sides. Blue wool weft, natural cotton warp.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1846
ID Number
TE.T10099
catalog number
T10099.000
accession number
060464

Blonde Bobbin Lace Silk Flounce

This flounce of stylized floral motifs is executed in Blonde bobbin lace. The flounce is made of cream colored silk thread in three sizes. The ground is point ground, with the motifs made in dense linen stitches and lighter half stitches outlined with a heavy gimp thread.
Description
This flounce of stylized floral motifs is executed in Blonde bobbin lace. The flounce is made of cream colored silk thread in three sizes. The ground is point ground, with the motifs made in dense linen stitches and lighter half stitches outlined with a heavy gimp thread. Honeycomb ground is used as decorative fillings. The flounce is edged with a narrow machine made picot edge on both sides.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1830-1845
maker
unknown
ID Number
1984.0111.243
accession number
1984.0111
catalog number
1984.0111.243

1847 Emily Holbert's "Vanity of Vanities" Quilt

Emily Holbert put not only her name, date, and location on this quilt, but also two maxims that held significance for her. Boldly and precisely appliquéd in the border: “INDUSTRY, AND PROPER IMPROVEMENT OF TIME 1847 VANITY OF VANITIES, ALL IS VANITY.
Description
Emily Holbert put not only her name, date, and location on this quilt, but also two maxims that held significance for her. Boldly and precisely appliquéd in the border: “INDUSTRY, AND PROPER IMPROVEMENT OF TIME 1847 VANITY OF VANITIES, ALL IS VANITY. EMILY HOLBERT’S QUILT; WORKED JANUARY, A.D. 1847. CHESTER, ORANGE COUNTY, NEW YORK.” “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” is from Ecclesiastes I:2. “Industry, and proper improvement of time are the duties of the young” was an expression that could be found in mid-nineteenth-century school books. Similar religious and moralistic sayings are found on samplers, embroidered pictures, and other needlework items, that were made by young women in the eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries.
This quilt consists of twenty 14-inch blocks, each appliquéd with a medallion surrounded by three-lobed leaves, iris, and tulip motifs. The blocks are set with a 2-inch printed green sashing. The 9¾-inch-wide border contains the appliquéd inscriptions on all four sides of the quilt, sandwiched between a band of appliquéd leaf, tulip, and cherry motifs and a pieced sawtooth edge. Roller-printed fabrics are used for the appliqué work; the lining is white cotton with a cotton filling. All the appliquéd motifs, letters, and numbers are outline-quilted, and the leaves have quilted veins. Open spaces are filled with quilted motifs of scrolls, botehs, oak leaves, and hearts; 8 stitches per inch.
Emily Holbert, born October 15, 1820, was the daughter of James Holbert (1788-1871) and Susan Drake Holbert (1791-1851 or 1854). Emily was born and lived in Chester, Orange County, New York. On October 30, 1851 she married Theodore Finch, son of John and Catherine Anne Woodward Finch. Theodore was born about 1827 and died in January 1852 at the age of 24, a few months after his marriage to Emily.
There is no record that Emily remarried, and she died in 1858, only six years after Theodore. In 1988, the quilt she so proudly put her name to was donated to the Smithsonian by Mr. and Mrs. John Beard Ecker. Emily Holbert was Mrs. Theodora Ecker’s great-aunt. At the same time another quilt from the same family, Susan Holbert’s “Little Sister’s" quilt, was also presented to the Museum.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1847
quilter
Holbert, Emily
ID Number
1988.0245.01
catalog number
1988.0245.01
accession number
1988.0245

Trade Card for The Liverpool Cloth Establishment

This trade card for Philips & Holmes cloths, cassimere’s, and waistcoatings store in Liverpool, England belonged to a member of the Copp family of Stonington, Connecticut.
Description
This trade card for Philips & Holmes cloths, cassimere’s, and waistcoatings store in Liverpool, England belonged to a member of the Copp family of Stonington, Connecticut. The card is dated to around 1803, and may have been owned by Samuel Copp in his New York dry goods store, who did business with international traders.
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1825
associated person
Copp, Jr., Samuel
owner
Copp Family
ID Number
DL.006513.03
accession number
28810
catalog number
6513.03

1847 Rev. Nadal's "Baltimore Album" Quilt

“I have in my possession a quilt that was presented to my great-grandfather, Bernard Nadal, by the female members of his congregation when he was a minister . . . . It seems to me that it should be in a museum as the workmanship is exquisite . . .
Description
“I have in my possession a quilt that was presented to my great-grandfather, Bernard Nadal, by the female members of his congregation when he was a minister . . . . It seems to me that it should be in a museum as the workmanship is exquisite . . . .” wrote Miss Constance Dawson in 1983 when the quilt top was donated to the Smithsonian.
The Ladies of the Columbia Street Methodist Church congregation presented this “Baltimore Album” quilt top to Rev. Bernard H. Nadal in 1847. He had been a pastor at the church in Baltimore between 1845 and 1846 and left to attend Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1848.
“Album” or “friendship” quilts were popular in the mid-nineteenth century. The complex appliquéd blocks, typical of the Baltimore style, as well as signatures, poems, and drawings that grace this quilt top express the high regard the women must have had for Reverend Nadal.
Variations of baskets, wreaths, vases, and floral designs are appliquéd on 17-inch blocks. An appliquéd flowering vine on the 9-inch border frames the twenty-five blocks on this quilt top which has neither filling nor lining. All of the blocks have embroidered or inked details and a name with often an additional poem and drawing. Almost all of the drawings, seemingly done by the same hand, are of a bird, generally a dove, with a ribbon or book sometimes on a monument or urn. These are motifs frequently found on “album” or “friendship” quilts in the mid-nineteenth century. A red Bible dated “1847” in the quilt’s center is inscribed: “To Rev. Bernard H. Nadal. Baltimore.” An inked drawing of a dove with a ribbon containing the name “Susan M. Shillingburg” is above the Bible and the inscription:
“Accept my gift affection brings
Though poor the offering be
It flows from Friendship purest spring
A tribute let it be.”
Probably presented as a farewell gift, the inscriptions on this quilt top express friendship, good fortune in the future, and the wish to “forget me not.”
Bernard H. Nadal was born in Talbot County, Maryland, in 1812. His father, from Bayonne, France, was said to have freed all his slaves and possibly influenced Bernard, who later had a reputation as a strong antislavery advocate and was an admirer of Lincoln.
Bernard Nadal apprenticed as a saddler for four years but joined the ministry in 1835 at age 23. It was noted that he rode his circuit using a saddle he had made. He served churches in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1841. In 1855 he became a professor of ethics and English literature at Indiana Asbury University (now DePauw University) and remained there for three years before returning to pastorates in Washington, New Haven and Brooklyn.
In 1867 Nadal became Professor of Historical Theology at Drew Theological Seminary in Madison, New Jersey. He married Sarah Jane Mays and they had nine children. His career was cut short in 1870, when he died after a short illness at his home in Madison, New Jersey. In addition to many lectures, addresses, sermons, and newspaper editorials that were “continually pouring from his tireless pen,” he wrote The New Life Dawning, and other Discourses of Bernard H. Nadal published in 1873. He was described by colleagues as a person who “enjoyed that peculiar popularity among his students which belongs only to the teacher who possesses the heart to enter deeply into sympathy with young men, and also the power to inspire them with his own devotion to earnest work.” He must have made a similar impression on the women whose album quilt top indicates their high esteem for his work.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1847
referenced
Nadal, Bernard H.
quilter
unknown
ID Number
1983.0866.01
catalog number
1983.0866.01
accession number
1983.0866

1843 Hannah Nicholson's Album Quilt

Members of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, presented Hannah C. Nicholson with this album quilt made in 1843. She was 19 years old at the time and would shortly marry Howell Grave in 1845.
Description
Members of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, presented Hannah C. Nicholson with this album quilt made in 1843. She was 19 years old at the time and would shortly marry Howell Grave in 1845. A descendent wrote at the time of donation: “The quilt has been carefully tended since that time and regarded as an heirloom by our family.”
In the mid-nineteenth century, album quilts with inscriptions and signatures were often made to celebrate an important event, and provide a textile record of friends and family. The forty-one appliquéd blocks and one inked block on this quilt are inscribed with names, dates, and places. Names of Hannah’s paternal relatives, Nicholson, Miller, Biddle, and Parrish, predominate.
The quilt’s inscriptions indicate that some blocks were contributed by women in the name of relatives or young children, e.g. “for her brother” or “for her daughter.” When the block was for a son or daughter, the age was also added. The dates are given in the style of month, date and year with many of them just “8 Mo 1843.” Most of the places inked on the blocks are from the Philadelphia area, with a few from New Jersey (Woodbury, Bordentown, Pleasant Hill, and Salem). Although Hannah was born and lived in Indiana, her father was from New Jersey.
The quilt is composed of forty-nine pieced and appliquéd blocks. The blocks are made with glazed, unglazed, and roller-printed cottons. These were joined by a 2 ½-inch glazed printed-stripe sashing. The same printed cotton is used for the border, providing a cohesive grid-like framework for the blocks. The quilting pattern is an overall diagonal grid, quilted 8 or 9 stitches per inch.
Hannah C. Nicholson was born in Indiana on November 19, 1824, to John and Esther Nicholson. On August 14, 1845 Hannah married Howell Grave (1818-1894) in Wayne County, Indiana. Howell’s ancestors were among the earliest settlers of Indiana. His parents and grandparents arrived in the same year Indiana achieved statehood, 1816, and he was born there in 1818.
Howell and Hannah farmed in Wayne County and raised four children, three girls (Esther, Emma, and Josephine) and a son (Vernon). In the early 1860s they moved to Richmond, Indiana, where for twenty years Howell was one of the principal iron merchants in the city. By the mid-1880s he was in the insurance and real estate businesses. Two of their daughters are listed as teachers on the 1870 census, while Vernon continued to farm. After Hannah was widowed in 1894, she lived with her daughter and son-in-law in Wayne, Indiana. She died there on February 13, 1912, and is buried in the Earlham Cemetery Richmond, Indiana.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1843
maker
unknown
ID Number
1986.0657.01
catalog number
1986.0657.01
accession number
1986.0657

1849 Eighteen Appliqued Quilt Blocks

Collection consists of 18 appliqued quilt blocks. Many of which have inscriptions. The blocks are 9 1/2 -10" square. Each block is individually described below:A - Friendship Block. Fleur de Lis pattern with central open space.
Description
Collection consists of 18 appliqued quilt blocks. Many of which have inscriptions. The blocks are 9 1/2 -10" square. Each block is individually described below:
A - Friendship Block. Fleur de Lis pattern with central open space. Edges are turned under by whipstitching, 14 stitches per inch. Stitched to block is inked paper inscribed: "Hannah Hall".
B - Friendship Block. Stylized bows with a small, sawtooth-edged central open space. Background cotton is glazed. Raw edges are secured with buttonhose stitch, 30 per inch. Stitched ot block is paper inscribed in ink, "Miss Mary Warthman".
C - Friendship Block. FLeur de Lis pattern with central open space. Edges aare turned under and whistitched, 14 per inch. Center open space is stamped with floral garland surrounding the name, "Emmaline Evans".
D - Friendship Block. Fleur de Lis pattern with central open space. Edges are turned under and whipstitched, 12 per inch. Stitched to block is inked paper inscribed "Jane Hall, Philadelphia".
E - Friendship Block. Fleur de Lis pattern with central open space. Edges are turned under and whipstitched, 12 per inch. Stitched to block is inked paper inscribed "Mary Ann Dickinson, Du cannon, Pa."
F - Friendship Block. Fleur de Lis pattern with central open space. Edges are turned under and whiipstitched, 12 per inch.
G - Friendship Block. Fleur de Lis pattern with step outlined, on center square inscribed with the inked name, "Lydia Ann Warner" edges are turned under and whipstitched, 13 per inch.
H - Friendship BLock. Fleur de Lis pattern with central open space. Raw edges are secured with button hole stitch, 18 per inch. Stitched to block is inked paper inscribed: "May sorrow never on thee come/Mall thy joys increse/Unnumbered pleasures round thee bloom/And everlasting peace. Copied for Sarah H. Dickinson April 22nd 1849".
I - Friendship Block Fleur de Lis Pattern with central opeen space. Raw edges are secured with button stitch, 24 per inch. Stitched to block is inked paper inscribed, "Hannah H. Dickinson, Philadelphia".
J - Friendship Block. Fleur de Lis Pattern with central open space. Edges are turned under and whipstitched, 14 per inch. Signed in ink on back, "Louise A. (? indecipherable)"/
K - Friendship Block. Unfinished. Leaf pattern with central open space.
L - Honey Bee Block. Central solid square with 3 petal shapes on each corner. Ground fabric of glazed cotton is pieced. Edges of applique are turned under and whipstitched, 12 per inch.
M - Star & Leaf Block. Eight pointed central star with square open space in center surrounded by single and multiple leaf forms. Edges are turned under and finely whipstitched, 18 per inch.
N - Heart Block. Center heart with open space in center, four outward pointing heart shapes at each corner. edges are turned under and finely whipstitched, 20 per inch. Stitched to block is inked paper inscribed, "Lydia P. Wood, Mount Holly".
O - Clematis Block. Central four petaled form with four single petal shapes in each corner. Raw edges secured with button hole stitch, 30 per inch. Stitched to block is inked paper inscribed, "Sarah Hampton".
P - Star Block. Large single five-pointed center star with four smaller stars, one in each corner. Raw edges secured with button hole stitch, 32 per inch. Stitched to block is inked paper inscribed, "Mary Hampton".
Q - Garland of leaves and berries. Stitched to block are two pieces of inked paper inscribed, "John Hampton" and "John A. Hampton".
R - Chintz Applique Block. Motif of flower, buds, leaves and stem cut out of a printed cotton and appliqued to white cotton, with edges turned under using fine whipsti
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1849
ID Number
1992.0128.01A-R
accession number
1992.0128
catalog number
1992.0128.01A-R

1842 - John J. Greenough's Patent Model of a Sewing Machine

Sewing Machine Patent Model. Patent No. 2,466, issued February 21, 1842John James Greenough of Washington, D.C.In 1842, John Greenough received the first American patent for a sewing machine. Greenough’s patent model used a needle with two points and an eye in the middle.
Description
Sewing Machine Patent Model. Patent No. 2,466, issued February 21, 1842
John James Greenough of Washington, D.C.
In 1842, John Greenough received the first American patent for a sewing machine. Greenough’s patent model used a needle with two points and an eye in the middle. To make a stitch, the needle would completely pass through the material by means of a pair of pinchers on either side of the seam. The pinchers traveled on a rack and opened and closed automatically. The needle was threaded with a length of thread, and required constant rethreading.
This type of sewing was classified as a short-thread machine. The machine was designed for sewing leather, and an awl preceded the needle to pierce a hole. The leather was held between clamps on a rack that could be moved, to produce a back stitch, or forward to make a shoemaker’s stitch. The material was fed automatically at a selected rate, according to the length of stitch desired. A weight drew out the thread, and a stop-motion shut down the machinery when a thread broke or became too short. Feed was continuous for the length of the rack-bar, and then it had to be set back. The turn of a crank set all motions to work. Greenough did not commercially manufacture his invention and his patent model remains as the only evidence.
He held several profitable patents for shoe-pegging machinery. He had many interests and his other patents included ones for plate glass; lampshades; looms; firearms; meters; propellers; gearing; hinges; power-transmitters; car steps; and a paper bag-making machine.
Greenough worked at the Patent Office from 1837 to 1841, supervising draftsmen who were restoring the patent drawings lost in the disastrous 1836 fire. Later he became an attorney working mostly on patent cases, and established a patent agency in New York City. In 1853, he was one of the founders of the American Polytechnic Journal, which published engravings of recent patents.
Location
Currently not on view
model constructed
before 1842-02-21
patent date
1842-02-21
inventor
Greenough, John J.
ID Number
TE.T06048
catalog number
T06048.000
patent number
002466
accession number
48865

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