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 61 items.
Page 1 of 7
1878 Kate P. McHenry's "Basket" Pieced Quilt Top
- Description
- Pieced in the “Basket” pattern, this quilt was made in the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century. “Kate P. McHenry 1878” is written in ink on one corner. Catherine (Kate) Price McHenry was the daughter of Jane Price Winter, whose “Carpenter’s Wheel” quilt is also in the collection, and Josiah W. McHenry. Kate was born in 1850 and lived in La Pile, Union County, Arkansas.
- The quilt top consists of forty-two 9¼-inch blocks made of a variety of roller-printed cottons. The blocks are set in a triple sashing of green print and plain white cottons. A miniature “Nine-patch” design is set in the intersections of the sashing. Stripes, checks, small geometrics, plaids, and scallop-shell motifs are represented in the fabrics. This quilt top is among several items that G. Ruth McHenry (Kate’s niece) donated to the Smithsonian.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1878
- maker
- McHenry, Kate P.
- ID Number
- TE*T12698
- accession number
- 238478
- catalog number
- T12698
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Centennial Coverlet
- Description
- This Jacquard double-woven coverlet was made in the late 19th century around the time of the nation’s centennial (1876). It features an image of the U.S. Capitol framed by rings of flowers. Beyond the ring of flowers is a diamond design broken by a ring of 18 small flower medallions. The coverlet is made of cotton and wool yarns. It is hemmed at the top, while weft yarns form the side fringes. An applied fringe has been sewn to the lower edge. The maker is unknown. Throughout the 19th century, textiles were woven or printed with special designs celebrating historic events or people, including the 50th anniversary of American independence in 1826, the death of Lincoln, and the 100th birthday of Samuel Slater, the father of the American cotton industry.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1875-1900
- late 19th century
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- TE*T014561
- catalog number
- T14561.000
- accession number
- 277986
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1878 Caroline Granger's Prize Quilt Medal
- Description
- The New England Agricultural Society medal was awarded to Mrs. Joseph (Caroline) Granger at the 1878 New England and Worcester Agricultural Fairs. One side of the bronze medal has animals with "New England Agricultural Society" around the edge. The other side has; "AWARDED TO [inscribed] Mrs. Joseph Granger for the best Crib Quilt" also "WORCESTER MASS 1878". A certificate with the medal from the office of New England Agricultural Society, dated "Boston, November 1st, 1878" states: "This is to Certify, That Mrs. Joseph Granger Worcester Mass received a Bronze medal awarded at the New England and Worcester Agricultural Fairs, held in the City of Worcester, Mass. September, 1878, for the best Crib Quilt." Signed Daniel Needham, Secretary.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1878
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- TE*T16317.00B
- catalog number
- T16317.00B
- accession number
- 302043
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1876 Ellen Harding Baker's "Solar System" Quilt
- Description
- This "Solar System" quilt was made by Ellen Harding Baker of Cedar County, Iowa, in 1876. The wool top of this applique quilt is embellished with wool-fabric applique, wool braid, and wool and silk embroidery. Included in the design is the appliqued inscription, "Solar System," and the embroidered inscriptions, "E. H. Baker" and "A. D. 1876." The lining is a red cotton-and-wool fabric and the filling is of cotton fiber.
- The maker, Sarah Ellen Harding, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1847, and married Marion Baker of Cedar County, Iowa, on October 10, 1867. They lived in Cedar County until 1878, and then moved to Johnson County, where Marion had a general merchandise business in Lone Tree. Ellen had seven children before she died of tuberculosis in the spring of 1886.
- The design of Ellen's striking and unusual quilt resembles illustrations in astronomy books of the period. Ellen used the quilt as a visual aid for lectures she gave on astronomy in the towns of West Branch, Moscow, and Lone Tree, Iowa. Astronomy was an acceptable interest for women in the nineteenthth century and was sometimes even fostered in their education.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1876
- user
- Baker, Ellen Harding
- quilter
- Baker, Ellen Harding
- ID Number
- 1983.0618.01
- catalog number
- 1983.0618.01
- accession number
- 1983.0618
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1876 Mary W. Stow's "Centennial" Quilt
- Description
- “Mary W. Stow,” embroidered in red, is prominent on this patriotic quilt made of fabrics commemorating the 1876 Centennial in Philadelphia. The motifs were cut from bandannas that were printed as souvenirs of the event, and then appliquéd on white cotton. Most of the motifs are edged with a button-hole stitch using red cotton. Printed fabrics with patriotic motifs were popular in America before the 1876 Centennial, but the major exhibition in Philadelphia provided textile companies with an incentive to produce many new fabrics for the event. Several of these can be found on the quilt.
- The central motif depicts the Memorial Hall Art Gallery at the Centennial International Exhibition at Fairmont Park, Philadelphia. The Main Exhibition Building, Machinery Hall, Agricultural Hall, and the Horticultural Hall are circular motifs. These all originally appeared on one bandanna. There are flags of many nations, most likely cut from a printed textile. Cut-out portraits on printed fabric of George and Martha Washington, William Penn, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Ulysses Grant are among the motifs. Democratic candidates for president and vice-president, Samuel J. Tilden and Thomas A. Hendricks, and their Republican counterparts, Rutherford Hayes and William A. Wheeler, appear in separate motifs.
- Mary W. Stow lived in Wisconsin, and included on her quilt printed pictures of the capitol building at Madison, Wisconsin and Harrison Ludington (1812-1891), governor of Wisconsin from 1876 to 1878.
- Motifs also include inked drawings of the Hingham, Massachusetts, First Meeting House, the Bunker Hill Monument, the Liberty Bell, the Charter Oak, Trinity Church, and Independence Hall. Several motifs have the printed or inked date “1876.”
- The border makes use of patriotic colors. A 1½-inch inner band of blue striped cotton with white stars is framed by an outer 1¾-inch band of red cotton. Quilting, 9 stitches per inch, outlines the appliquéd motifs. The border is quilted with a feathered vine and 1-inch diamond quilting fills the background.
- The patriotic theme is carried to the lining of the quilt. In the center of the back is a bandanna with the printed text of the Declaration of Independence and facsimiles of the signatures of the signers. These are framed by the Liberty Bell and seals of the thirteen colonies, linked by names of the Revolutionary patriots.
- Mary Williams Loomis was born on April 8, 1820, in Brownville, Jefferson County, New York. The daughter of General Thomas Loomis, she married Marcellus Kent Stow (1806-1871) on October 5, 1837, in Buffalo, New York. They moved to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, in 1852 where Marcellus was a business man, practiced law, and was a county judge.
- Marcellus had followed his brother, Alexander, to Wisconsin from New York and together they had platted subdivisions that provided a plan for the city’s growth. Their father, Silas Stow, was a congressman from New York during the War of 1812. Mary and Marcellus reared five children, two girls and three boys.
- Mary was also active in the Fond du Lac community. She was a foundering member of the Fond du Lac Relief Society, established in 1873 following the great forest fires of 1872 that destroyed several areas in Wisconsin. The establishment and management of a “Home for the Friendless” or “The Home” was a result of the fund-raising labors of this organization. Operating well into the twentieth century “The Home” provided a refuge for those in need, particularly the elderly, who did not have other resources. Although widowed, Mary still lived in Fond du Lac at the time of the Philadelphia 1876 Centennial. She may have visited the Exhibition and made this quilt as a reminder of the event. Her son, James W. Stow (1853-1913), lived in Washington, D.C., and Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. It was in Washington, D.C., on June 13, 1898, that Mary died.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1876
- maker
- Stow, Mary W.
- ID Number
- TE*T15703
- accession number
- 297870
- catalog number
- T15703
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
"The Battle of the Sewing Machines" Sheet Music
- Description
- "The Battle of the Sewing Machines" was composed and arranged by F. Hyde for the piano, and was published in 1874 by Wm. A. Pond & Co. of 547 Broadway, N.Y., N.Y. The lithograph by R. Teller of 120 Wooster St., N.Y., N.Y., illustrates a "battle" of sewing machines. The Remington "army" is marching towards the fleeing Singer, Howe, Succor, Weed, and Willcox & Gibbs sewing machines. The soldiers are riding the Remington treadle machines like horses and are carrying Remington rifles. The Remington No. 2 sewing machine had just come out to market in June 1874. The family treadle machine with a drop-leaf table and two drawers would have cost $75.00.
- On the top left of the sheet music, a woman is pictured sewing on a Remington machine in the Remington office at Madison Square, New York. In the right box is featured the Remington Works of Ilion, N.Y. The music consists of 11 pages, with such subtitles as: "Howe the battle began"; "Advent of all the best machines"; "Song of the Sewing Machine Man: 'How Can I Leave Thee'"; "Triumph of the Remington Sewing Machine," and "Home Sweet Home."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1874
- referenced
- Remington Sewing Machine Company
- composer
- Hyde, F.
- publisher
- William A. Pond and Company
- lithographer
- Teller, R.
- ID Number
- 1991.0130.01
- catalog number
- 1991.0130.01
- accession number
- 1991.0130
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1876 Bradbury Family's 1876 Centennial Quilt
- Description
- Harriet Bradbury Rich wrote in 1948 that she was "pleased and proud" to donate this "memento of the First Centennial Exhibition of the United States of America." Her father, John Henry Bradbury, had been a merchant in the dry goods wholesale trade in New York and his firm received samples from the manufacturers commemorating the first one hundred years of nationhood that was celebrated at the 1876 Centennial in Philadelphia. At the age of twelve Harriet Bradbury along with her mother, Emily Bradbury, and her grandmother, Maria Silsby, assembled the commemorative fabric samples to make this patriotic quilt. The quilt was made at the Bradbury home in Charleston, New Hampshire, the fourth settlement on the Connecticut River, dating back to the French and Indian Wars.
- Printed fabrics with patriotic motifs were popular in America before the 1876 Centennial but the major exposition in Philadelphia provided the textile companies with an incentive to produce many new fabrics. The utilization in this quilt of the small sample pieces that Mr. Bradbury brought back to his family provides an index of fabrics for that period. There are twenty-six roller-printed cottons and five plate or roller-printed bandannas or banners in the quilt. Many of these are printed with the dates 1876 or 1776-1876 or the word centennial. Patriotic motifs of eagles, flags, liberty caps, muskets, stars, cannonballs, liberty bells as well as portraits of George and Martha Washington and Lafayette are found in the various fabric designs. One particular striped design honors Martha Washington as it was copied from the fabric of a favorite gown of hers, the bodice of which is still at Mount Vernon, Virginia. The center of the back of the quilt contains a cotton kerchief that contains the text of the Declaration of Independence surrounded by the Liberty Bell and the seals of thirteen colonies linked by the names of the patriots of the Revolutionary cause.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1876
- depicted
- Washington, George
- Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier Marquis de Lafayette
- quilters
- Bradbury family
- quilter
- Bradbury, Emily
- Silsby, Maria
- Rich, Harriet Bradbury
- ID Number
- TE*T10090
- accession number
- 180031
- catalog number
- T10090
- 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
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from Leopold Cassella & Co.]
- Date
- 1800s
- Company Name
- Leopold Cassella & Co.
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_10178
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from Champion]
- Date
- 1800s
- Company Name
- Champion
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_10265
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries
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