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 3 items.
1835 Jessy Anderson's Stuffed-Work Quilt
- Description
- Jessy Anderson made this white quilted and stuffed-work counterpane in New York, probably completing it in 1835. The free-form overall design incorporates eagles, cornucopias, flowers, leaves, fruits, and other motifs popular at the time. Acorn, oak leaves and thistles are repeated in the quilting in several places.
- The center panel, 43 x 39 inches, contains a basket of flowers surrounded by branching coral with a different spray of flowers in each corner. With a thin inner layer of cotton it is closely quilted at sixteen stitches per inch. A 24-inch border surrounds the center panel. It does not have an inner layer of cotton, but is quilted at 18 stitches per inch.
- Two eagle motifs are centered in the top and bottom borders. One eagle is perched on an arch that is inscribed in quilting “E Pluribus Unum.” The other eagle holds arrows and an olive branch under a ribbon also inscribed in quilting, “Pluribus Unum.” A cornucopia in the left border holds a “lemon,” the family term, on which is embroidered in backstitch “Jefsy Anderson New York 1835.”
- For seven generations the quilt was handed down to the first-born daughter before its donation to the Smithsonian in 1981. The donor remarked that “I am unable to give it the kind of preservative care it needs and deserves . . . . I am also anxious to share this remarkable piece of artistry with as many people as would be interested in it.” While it had been in the family for over 140 years, the decision was made by the donors that “the highest honor we could give to our talented ancestor would be to place the quilt in a museum for many to enjoy.” Jessy Anderson’s quilt documents the expression of skills and art that many women displayed with their needlework.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1835
- quilter
- Anderson, Jessy
- ID Number
- 1981.0830.01
- catalog number
- 1981.0830.01
- accession number
- 1981.0830
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
James Alexander Coverlet
- Description
- James Alexander wove this coverlet for Eleanor Van Etten in 1824, possibly on a draw-loom. The owner's name and the date, October 14, 1824, appear in each corner. James Alexander was born in Ireland of Scottish parents on November 2, 1770. He immigrated to the United States in 1798, and settled in Orange County, New York. He was both a farmer and a weaver. He married Catharine Bullard in 1800, and they had 13 children. Like many weavers, Alexander wove household fabrics as well as coverlets. His account books survive, and show that he was weaving figured double-woven coverlets as early as 1821. This is earlier than any other known American weaver. It is believed that he was using a draw-loom, as the Jacquard loom had not yet been introduced in the United States. Although his weaving business was successful enough that at times he had others working for him, he did many odd jobs in exchange for money or goods: driving a team, processing flax, picking apples, husking corn, and more.
- This coverlet is made of cotton and wool and features a center field of flowers. It has two borders: lengthwise the border consists of eagles and stars and the tower of a building possibly intended to be Independence Hall. Across the top and the bottom the border consists of eagles and Masonic columns. This coverlet was woven in two pieces and sewn together. A hand-sewn paper label came with the coverlet. It says that the Swartwout family of Orange County, New York, owned the coverlet from 1824 to 1982, when it was given to the Museum.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1824-10-14
- 1824
- owner
- Van Etten, Eleanor
- maker
- Alexander, James
- ID Number
- 1982.0572.001
- catalog number
- 1982.0572.001
- accession number
- 1982.0572
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1867 Susan Rogers's Family Album Quilt
- Description
- Embroidered in the lower left corner of this Brooklyn, New York, quilt is the quilter's name, "Susan Rogers," with the date "1867." Each of the twenty-five blocks has a different design and most of them contain an embroidered name or initials of a family member. The quilt was donated to the Museum by the wife of Susan Rogers's great-great-grandson.
- A tree filled with birds is the detailed design of the block containing Susan Rogers's name. On one of the branches there is a robin holding a worm in its beak, and a nest with three open-mouthed baby birds begging to be fed, while a seated cat waits patiently below. Other blocks contain appliquéd symbols of military service or membership in benevolent and fraternal organizations. Seven of the blocks contain tiny appliquéd United States flags as part of their patriotic designs. The majority of the blocks have floral motifs. The name "Nellie," Susan's thirteen-year-old granddaughter is embroidered under a basket of flowers. Another floral motif block has the initials "E L," probably for Emma Louise, Susan's ten-year-old granddaughter. A vase decorated with the image of a young boy, cut from printed cotton, and filled with flowers, has "Mother" embroidered underneath it.
- The focus of the album quilt, the center block, is a decorated tree. The presents or decorations include baskets of fruit and flowers, oranges, stockings, a cane, a candy cane, a ladder, parasols, an umbrella, a bottle of bitters, a fish, a bird, a mitten, a slipper, a picture of a dog in an oval frame, a cat on a mat, a pipe, a watch, a bird in a cage, and other gifts. A few are marked with names or initials. Under the fenced-in base of the tree, Susan embroidered "Merry Christmas." Susan Rogers's quilt is a charming example of the mid-nineteenth-century album quilt, each block unique and personalized.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1867
- quilter
- Rogers, Susan
- ID Number
- TE*T15474
- catalog number
- T15474
- accession number
- 293922
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center