This quilt top is made of blue chambray and printed cotton fabrics; feed sacks. Eleven inch square blocks (some variances) are pieced, with random use of prints. The top is six blocks wide and seven blocks in length. The pieces are machine-stitched.
This is one of a pair of pieced work pillowcases. The top has a fiber filling and is quilted, the lining is linen. Embroidered on front is "H.S. 1836".
After a young lady learned to embroider a sampler, she might attend a female academy to make a silk embroidered picture. This was a more challenging technique that became popular in the early 1800s. Subjects included classical, biblical, and historical scenes, as well as mourning pictures.
This expertly stitched large chenille work picture represents Lady Elizabeth Grey petitioning King Edward IV for the return of her husband’s land, following Edward’s victory over the Lancasterians in 1461, in which Lord Grey died. Lady Elizabeth is in a kneeling position, one knee on the ground, and her left arm around a small boy standing beside her. Her right hand is held by King Edward. On the left are two young men attendants, one holding a staff and dressed in the period of the event (1460s) as is King Edward. On the right are three women attendants dressed, as is Lady Elizabeth, in costumes of the period in which the embroidery was done, 1815. It is assumed the children’s mother is Lady Elizabeth Grey. Edward IV and Lady Elizabeth were later married and their sons were the "princes of the tower." Their daughter Elizabeth married Henry VII, unifying the Yorks and Lancasters and establishing the Tudor line. The ground is pale gold silk satin, and the threads are silk chenille, silk floss, and metal. The stitches are encroaching satin, laid chenille work, satin, and French knots.
The design of this embroidery is based on an engraving made by William Wynn Ryland, after a painting of this event by Angelica Kauffmann.
Elizabeth Cassel was born September 12, 1800, in Marietta, Pennsylvania, to Henry and Catherine Neff Cassel. She died unmarried in 1891. This piece of embroidery was considered very important to the family and Daniel Cassel in his book A Genealogical History of the Cassel Family in American (Norristown, Pennsylvania: Morgan R. Wills, 1896) mentions it along with the family genealogy. It was given to the National Museum of American History by a descendant. For more information about this embroidery see Piecework, March/April 2007, “Three American Schoolgirl Silk Embroideries from the Smithsonian” by Sheryl De Jong.
Eight pointed pieced work star from a quilt. Pieced of fabric from tobacco pouches; twill weave cotton, printed in blue-green trade mark that includes a picture of a building. A few pieces have something printed in red instead of building.
This bolster cover, probably from Pennsylvania, consists of nine-patch squares (19" x 51” on the top) with 3 1/2" on across the top and bottom folded to the back and sewn to a 12" plain white cotton piece (provides coverage when bolster inserted). Open on one end, the edges turned under and whip stitched. The fabrics used are a variety of printed and plain cottons. The 51” length was made to span the width of bed. This may have been constructed to match a nine –patch bed quilt or may have used left-over blocks from another project.
This pair of iron gates from the 1870s hung in the Dobson textile mill in Philadelphia, Penn., until 1991.
In the late 18th century most workers were farmers or artisans, accustomed to overseeing their own work and schedules, and setting the pace of their work by the seasons and centuries-old traditions. With the rise of the factory system of production in the 19th century, managers sought to mold workers into disciplined and coordinated armies of employees. They tried to regulate each laborer's schedule, pace, and work habits. They prohibited amusements, reading, games, and consumption of alcohol—diversions that had been permitted in the flexible work schedule of artisans' shops.
Fences around factories protected property and symbolically established who was in control. A fence forced workers to file through a gate past a timekeeper's office. Americans who worked in textile mills were among the first to experience the new relationship between managers and workers. Not everyone adapted to the new rules. Some workers found ways to continue to control their own work, formed unions to enforce their own work rules, or quit.
Skein of Raw Tussah Silk, Cheney Brothers, 1913. 1 skein. Part of gift illustrating all the steps in making silk textiles at the Cheney Brothers mill in South Manchester, CT. Sales offices: 4th Ave. and 18th St., New York City
Painted point papers for jacquard-woven textile design, Cheney Brothers, 1913, on 8 sheets. Painted design on square graphed paper for T-1050, called a "Tapestry" furnishing fabric. Island design with exotic blossoms, sailboats. Blues and yellow-gold. Mfrs. #s: Com.4765; Style 3408. Point papers were used to plot a design out for cutting the cards for Jacquard-loom-woven textiles.
Engraved copper roller or cylinder for a textile printing machine; 1884. Made in England. Used by Pacific Mills in its Lawrence, Massachusetts textile manufacturing operations.. Dense repeating pattern of small floral wreath motifs engraved on the roller surface Pacific Mills was one of the US's most important textile manufacturers in the late 19th century.
Rectangular linen cloth with Reticella borders with side by side circular motifs on all four sides. Punto in Aria dentate needle lace border on one end. Pieced at the end with the extra border, so probably re-assembled from a longer cloth.
Skein of Cheney Brothers raw Canton silk, 1913. White. Part of gift illustrating all the steps in making silk textiles at the Cheney Brothers mill in South Manchester, CT. Sales offices: 4th Ave. and 18th St., New York City