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 29 items.
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Daniel Pursell Coverlet
- Description
- The patterns seen in this cotton and wool Jacquard double-woven coverlet are “Birds of Paradise,” “Penelope’s Flower Pot,” and “Boston Town." The coverlet may have been made in Ohio by Daniel Pursell in the mid-to-late 1860’s. Mr. Pursell was born in Ohio about 1815. He reportedly lived in Portsmouth, Scott County, Ohio. He is listed in the 1850 Ohio Census as a 35-year-old weaver. When the coverlet arrived at the Museum in 1982, a note was attached to it. It read: “coverlet 110 years old or more 1868 approx. Prob. Made by D.Pursell Ports O-Liberty Raised sheep for wool, Grandm helped twist flax GMa born 1848 married 1871 about 23 years old.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1860s
- maker (possibly)
- Pursell, Daniel
- ID Number
- 1982.0573.001
- accession number
- 1982.0573
- catalog number
- 1982.0573.001
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1850 - 1880 Lucy Meade's "Sunburst" Pieced Quilt
- Description
- The “Sunburst” quilt was brought to Kansas from Ohio in 1904 by Emma Tracy, Lucy Meade’s mother. She had inherited it from her mother, Candus Cone Northway, whose aunt crafted it in the mid-19th century. Lucy Tracy Meade, the donor’s grandmother, exhibited the quilt in Kansas in the 1970s.
- According to Lucy Meade, it was always referred to in the family as the star pattern. Whether it is called a 14-point star, a sunburst, or a sunflower, the quilt makes a bold graphic statement.
- This carefully designed quilt is composed of five different roller-printed cottons, with a white cotton lining and cotton filling. A 23 ¾-inch red circular center is surrounded by 14 yellow triangles and 14 green diamonds. Additional piecing in blue provides contrast to the colorful sunburst. The resulting 57-inch square is framed by a border of 9 ½-inches on three sides and 17-inches on the bottom. The quilting accents the design with concentric circles ¾-inch apart in the center, echo quilting on the diamonds and triangles, clamshell quilting on the wedges between diamonds, and further concentric circles around the sunburst. The border is quilted with a diagonal grid pattern, all done at 7 stitches per inch.
- In an article in the Hays Daily News from 1979 about the “Sunburst” quilt, Lucy Meade says: “It’s been in the family for as long as I can remember. We’re even so worried about it wearing out that we don’t use it anymore, except for display purposes.” Her granddaughter, Janet Meade Komoroske agreed, and felt that the quilt belonged in a museum collection where it can be admired and studied by a wider audience.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1850-1880
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1984.0211.01
- catalog number
- 1984.0211.01
- accession number
- 1984.0211
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Rebecca Ballinger's Sampler
- Description
- Two block upper-case alphabets, no "J," alternate colors. One block lower-case alphabet of alternate colors. Numbers 1 through 9. One crown. Satin-stitched sawtooth crossband; one crossband worked in Irish stitch, also basket and two large diamonds in lower half. Two weeping willow trees, each with bird in its top, and three boxes, one containing verse and two containing maker's name and date and group of initials. Box on right side contains initials "WB," "CB," "JS," and "EJ." Box on left side contains initials "WB," "LB," "WP," "EP," "NU," "CU," "WB," "EB," 'SB," "MB," "LP," and "LU" as well as "Rebecca Ballinger 1830." Strawberry border. Silk embroidery thread on linen ground. STITCHES: cross, Algerian eye, satin, rice, Irish, queen, crosslet, long-armed cross, gobelin. THREAD COUNT: warp 24, weft 34/in.
- Inscription:
- "In thy fair book of life divine
My, god, incribe [sic] my name
There, let it fill some humble place
Beneath the slaughter'd Lamb"
- Background:
- Rebecca was born on March 22, 1814, to William and Lydia Smith Ballinger in Pipe Creek, Maryland. The family moved to Ohio in 1819, and Rebecca stitched her sampler under the tutelage of Ann Thorn in Jefferson County. The initials on her sampler are of her grandparents, brothers, sisters, brothers-in-law, and two nieces who died in infancy. The initials in black are family members who had died by the time she stitched her sampler. Rebecca married Thomas H. Terrell as his second wife on April 22, 1863.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1830
- maker
- Ballinger, Rebecca
- ID Number
- 1989.0343.12
- accession number
- 1989.0343
- catalog number
- 1989.0343.12
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
All Wool Coverlet
- Description
- According to the donor of this coverlet, it first belonged to Mrs. Ferdinand O’Neal, who lived just outside Zanesville, Ohio. Her maiden name is believed to have been Wheeler, and in about 1863 she married Mr. O’Neal and moved to a home outside of Zanesville, known as “Greenwood.” Mrs. O’Neal passed the coverlet on to her daughter Marcella O’Neal, who passed it on to Martha Margaret O’Neal. The coverlet is made entirely of wool, and was probably woven (in two sections) between 1840 and 1860. The pattern is similar to the one known as “Cup and Saucer.” The weaver is unknown.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1840-1860
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1993.0225.001
- accession number
- 1993.0225
- catalog number
- 1993.0225.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1935 - 1945 Olive Bender's "Water Lily " Quilt
- Description
- Olive Bender made this quilt for her son and daughter-in-law as a Christmas gift in the 1940s. Her grandson, David Bender, later donated the quilt. He recalled that his grandmother would work on quilt patches during the warm months, and then, in the winter, quilt on frames she would set up in the dining room of her Ohio farmhouse.
- Nine 16”-inch blocks, appliquéd and embroidered in the “Water Lily” pattern, are set in pink and white sashing. The lily buds, leaves, water, lily pad, and flower details are embroidered. Various patterns quilted at 7 stitches per inch and scalloped edges complete the overall quilt design.
- Popular in the 1920s to 1940s, the “Water Lily” motif was available in kit form or as a paper pattern. Quilt historian, Cuesta Benberry, traced this pattern to the Rainbow Quilt Block Company owned by William Pinch. His company perfected a printing process that stamped colors on muslin squares indicating the color of embroidery threads needed to complete the motif and gave the company its name, Rainbow. William Pinch (1880-1972), a professional photographer, created as many as 1,000 designs for his company. Advertised in flyers, newsletters and catalogs, the kits and patterns could be purchased by mail or in retail stores making them available to small towns and rural areas.
- Olive Mae (nee Fairall) Bender was born February 13, 1892, in Frazeysburg, Ohio. She died April 18, 1971, in East Sparta, Ohio. Her quilt is an example of mid-20th-century quilting and of a design available from the Rainbow Quilt Block Company, one of many companies that promoted quilting from the 1920s on by publishing patterns and providing quilting kits.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1935-1945
- maker
- Bender, Olive Mae Fairall
- ID Number
- 1996.0223.01
- accession number
- 1996.0223
- catalog number
- 1996.0223.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Jacob Saylor Coverlet
- Description
- The corner boxes of this Jacquard double-woven coverlet say "Maide by Jacob Saylor*North Liberty*Knox*Ohio*1853." The coverlet is made of cotton and wool, and has a self fringe on the lower edge. The upper edge is hemmed. There is a center seam as the coverlet was woven in two pieces that were later sewn together. While he lived in several different Ohio towns, little is known abut Mr. Saylor.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1853
- maker
- Saylor, Jacob
- ID Number
- TE*T013999
- catalog number
- T13999.000
- accession number
- 269209
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Double Rose Jacquard Coverlet
- Description
- This cotton and wool red, white, and green single-woven Jacquard coverlet features stars, trees, and eagles in its borders, and a double rose pattern in the center. It has a self fringe along two sides and was woven in two sections that were later sewn together. It was made in Perry Co., Ohio, by L. Hesse in 1840. Mr. Hesse, who was born in Germany about 1809, wove coverlets in Ohio from about 1838 to 1860. Nothing more, not even his first name, is known about him.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1840
- weaver
- Hesse, L.
- ID Number
- TE*T014540
- catalog number
- T14540.000
- accession number
- 277122
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Logan County Coverlet
- Description
- Woven in Logan County, Ohio, this red and white cotton and wool Jacquard double-woven coverlet features double roses and stars in the center, while the borders feature long rows of daisy-like flowers. The words "Pyna.Rosc. Wove. IN LOGAN CO. OHIO BY I+M+," and the date "1848," appear in the lower corners. The upper edge of the coverlet has a wide dark red stripe. One can only guess that the weaver ran out of the yarn used for the rest of the coverlet, and had to substitute another. The full name of the weaver remains a mystery.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1848
- maker
- I. M.
- ID Number
- TE*T014955
- catalog number
- T14955
- accession number
- 285840
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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
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