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.
1850 - 1875 Mary Ann Bishop's "Double Nine-patch" Pieced Quilt
- Description
- Mary Ann Bishop of Wilkesville, Vinton County, Ohio, made this quilt in the mid-nineteenth century. She utilized plain-woven roller-printed cotton dress fabrics and woven striped, checked, and plaid cottons. Two of the blocks of the “Double Nine-patch” quilt were enlarged by adding strips of printed cotton along two edges. A combination of diagonal-line and feathered “S” curve patterns were used for the quilting. Two gradually curved S-shaped wooden templates, also donated to the Collection, were used for marking the quilting pattern.
- Mary Ann Gotschall was born July 7, 1819. She married Hiram H. Bishop (1818-1897) on January 31, 1842 in Harrison County, Ohio. He received his medical training at Starling Medical College in Columbus, Ohio, in the late 1840s. Lyne Starling (1784-1848) was the founder of the hospital and medical school, a new concept at that time of providing medical education and patient care in one facility. During the Civil War, from June 1864 to March 1865, Hiram was contracted as an Acting Assistant Surgeon at the Totten General Hospital, Louisville, Kentucky. In March of 1865, when he left, the hospital had over 6,500 patients and fewer than 100 surgeons.
- Mary and Hiram reared four children; John (b. 1843), Naomi (b. 1845), Mary (b. 1848), and Luie (b. 1860). Mary Ann died March 9, 1915, and is buried in the Wilkesville Cemetery. Mary Ann Bishop’s quilt in the “Double Nine-patch” pattern is one of three quilts in the Collection that were donated by her granddaughter, Maude M. Fierce, in 1936 and 1937.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1850-1875
- maker
- Bishop, Mary Ann Gotschall
- ID Number
- TE*T07850
- accession number
- 141189
- catalog number
- T07850
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1875 - 1888 Mary Ann Bishop's "Ocean Wave" Pieced Quilt
- Description
- This “Ocean Wave” quilt was begun by Mary Ann Bishop of Wilkesville, Vinton County, Ohio, in 1875 and quilted in 1888. Roller-printed cottons with a few woven checks and plaids were pieced for the patterns that set off the quilted plain, cream-colored cotton centers. A saw-tooth strip of red cotton appliquéd to the 6-inch border frames the “Ocean Wave” pattern. Quilted, at 9 stitches per inch, with straight lines on the pieced sections, the feathered circles and feathered leaves provide a surface texture to the quilt. Two gradually curved S-shaped wooden templates, also donated to the Collection, were used for pencil marking the quilting pattern.
- Mary Ann Gotschall was born July 7, 1819. She married Hiram H. Bishop (1818-1897) on January 31, 1842 in Harrison County, Ohio. He received his medical training at Starling Medical College in Columbus, Ohio in the late 1840s. Lyne Starling (1784-1848) was the founder of the hospital and medical school, a new concept at that time of providing medical education and patient care in one facility. During the Civil War, from June 1864 to March 1865, Hiram was contracted as an Acting Assistant Surgeon at the Totten General Hospital, Louisville, Kentucky. In March of 1865, when he left, the hospital had over 6,500 patients and fewer than 100 surgeons.
- Mary and Hiram reared four children; John (b. 1843), Naomi (b. 1845), Mary (b. 1848), and Luie (b. 1860). Mary Ann died March 9, 1915, and is buried in the Wilkesville Cemetery. Mary Ann Bishop’s quilt in the “Ocean Wave” pattern is one of three quilts in the Collection that were donated by her granddaughter, Maude M. Fierce, in 1936 and 1937.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1875-1888
- maker
- Bishop, Mary Ann Gotschall
- ID Number
- TE*T07851
- accession number
- 141189
- catalog number
- T07851
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1840 - 1850 Mary Ann Bishop's "Wreath of Roses" Appliqued Quilt
- Description
- In the mid-nineteenth century, Mary Ann Bishop appliquéd this “Wreath of Roses” quilt in the then popular red and green combination of fabrics. Nine 18-inch blocks appliquéd with wreaths of roses are separated by 5½-inch plain white sashing. Eight-pointed stars are appliquéd at the sashing intersections. The 8-inch quilt border is appliquéd with three-lobed leaves on an undulating vine. Plain-weave white and red cottons and a roller-printed cotton of brown dots on a green ground were used for the quilt. Diagonal grid and line quilting, 10 stitches to the inch, provides a contrast to the quilted feathered leaves on the sashing. Two gradually curved S-shaped wooden templates, also donated to the Collection, were used for marking the quilting pattern.
- Mary Ann Gotschall was born July 7, 1819. She married Hiram H. Bishop (1818-1897) on January 31, 1842, in Harrison County, Ohio. He received his medical training at Starling Medical College in Columbus, Ohio, in the late 1840s. Lyne Starling (1784-1848) was the founder of the hospital and medical school, a new concept at that time of providing medical education and patient care in one facility. During the Civil War, from June 1864 to March 1865, Hiram was contracted as an Acting Assistant Surgeon at the Totten General Hospital, Louisville, Kentucky. In March of 1865, when he left, the hospital had over 6,500 patients and fewer than 100 surgeons.
- Mary and Hiram reared four children; John (b. 1843), Naomi (b. 1845), Mary (b. 1848), and Luie (b. 1860). Mary Ann died March 9, 1915, and is buried in the Wilkesville Cemetery. Mary Ann Bishop’s quilt in the “Wreath of Roses” pattern is one of three quilts in the collection that were donated to the Smithsonian by her granddaughter, Maude M. Fierce, in 1936 and 1937.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1840-1850
- maker
- Bishop, Mary Ann Gotschall
- ID Number
- TE*T07956
- accession number
- 143694
- catalog number
- T07956
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center