This redwork embroidered counterpane was most likely made as a fund raiser for the Clarksville Reformed Church. It is dedicated to “Rev. Boyce Pastor. Peggy His wife, Rex Their dog.” According to further inscriptions on the quilt, the occasion was the “Clarksville Reformed Church Fair Dec. 8th 1922.”
A twelve-petal daisy is the motif of the forty-eight blocks, the petals providing spaces for over 500 embroidered names. First, the names were written in pencil, and then embroidered with red cotton. In a few instances, a different name is embroidered over the original penciled name. One block utilized the spaces for advertising: “Priced / Lowest / The / Transportation / Economical / Motor Cars / Chevrolet / Wright / Gardner / Automobile / Equipped / Fully.” Presumably a small donation, maybe ten or twenty-five cents, assured one’s name embroidered on the counterpane. Further funds may have been secured by a raffle at the December fair. Or it may have been given to Pastor Boyce as a token of appreciation. Quilts or counterpanes such as this are still used, as they have been for more than 150 years, to raise funds for worthy causes.
The Clarksville Reformed Church was established in 1853, when a building was erected to serve the congregation. Sadly, this church was destroyed by fire on a cold February Sunday in 1912. The congregation rallied to rebuild and less then a year later, in January 1913, they were able to hold services in a new church. Clarksville in the 1920s, when this counterpane was made, was a small village in Albany County, New York. Reverend Boyce was the pastor for the Clarksville Reformed Church from 1919 to 1926 and also the Reformed Church in Westerlo, New York. In the 1950s Clarksville was still a small village and it became increasingly difficult to support the church. Another church in Clarksville, the Methodist Episcopal Church, also faced similar problems, and the solution was to merge the two. By the mid-1960s, a new church was dedicated whose sign incorporates the two bells from the older churches, symbolizing the origins of the new Clarksville Community Church.
The donor’s great-great-grandmother wove this blue and white, overshot coverlet featuring the pattern known as "Queen's Delight "or "Mary Simmons" c. 1800-1825 in Cortland County, New York. The donor’s grandmother was Mrs. Evalina Bean Hammund, but the name of her great-great-grandmother is unknown and there were no further details about through which line of her family it may have descended. The coverlet was constructed from two panels woven as one length, cut, and seamed up the middle. The ground cloth was woven from a white 2 ply, s-twist, z-spun cotton warp, a z-twist, s-spun cotton single ground weft, and a 2-ply, s-twist, z-spun wool supplementary pattern weft. The coverlet measures 77 inches by 70 inches.
This “Variable Star” quilt, quite well worn, was found inside another quilt (TE*T07116.00A) in the Collection. Rachel Burr Corwin of Middle Hope in Orange County, New York, fashioned this quilt alternating 8-inch pieced blocks with 8-inch floral, roller-printed cotton squares. The same floral print was used for the 7-inch borders. The lining, plain-weave cotton, is plate-printed in blue with long-tailed birds, small birds, peonies and other flowers, a late 18th-century design. The quilting, 5-6 stitches per inch, consists of diagonal lines ¾-inch apart in opposite directions on alternate blocks.
Rachel Burr, daughter of Samuel Burr and Sibyl Scudder Burr of Massachusetts, was born March 3, 1788. She married Samuel Corwin of Orange County, New York, October 14, 1809. They had four children. Needlework examples by one of their daughters, Celia, are also in the Collection. Rachel Burr Corwin died March 14, 1849, in Orange County, New York.
This blue and white, double-cloth coverlet has no fringe. The centerfield pattern consists of large stylized floral medallions alternating with smaller bird and flower motifs. Similar patterns have been named “Bird of Paradise” and are generally associated with the Finger Lakes region of New York. The four-sided border is composed of abstract geometric and leaf figures. The cornerblocks depict a “Double Rose” motif. This design is likely the logo or trademark of an unidentified coverlet weaver in that region. The donor, Dr. Charles D. Walcott was the Fourth Secretary of the Smithsonian. This coverlet had passed down through his family in Washington County, New York, and it is almost certainly from the area. There is a center seam joining the two panels of the coverlet together. The coverlet is in overall excellent condition and likely dates from the 1840s.
A length of printed "Indestructible Chiffon Voile" dress silk, from H.R. Mallinson & Co.'s "Playgrounds of the World" series of printed silks. This sample is an allover printed design, "Rose Gardens of the Bagatelle", a landscape design with an architectural feature within a framework of meandering or serpentine floral bands. Colors are greens, yellows, and other pastel shades.. Mallinson trade name "Indestructible Chiffon Voile" was an important fabric quality for the firm. It was a fine, sheer plain weave silk. Selvage inscription - Mallinson's Silks Deluxe Playgrounds of the World Rose Gardens of the Bagatelle. The series dates to 1928 and included both European and American "playgrounds". NMAH holds samples of each design in the series. Company numbers: 1800/2675. Colorway # 7.
A length of Mallinson's "Pussy Willow" trademark silk, printed with an allover pattern titled "Newport" from the "Playgrounds of the World" series. Shades of yellow, rust, black, green and white on a ground of green. Printed "Pussy Willow silk", a fine, soft, radium-like, plain weave fabric. Selvage width; selvage inscription: Mallinson's Silks DeLuxe Playgrounds of the World Newport. Judging from drawings by free-lance textile designer Walter Mitschke in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts - Boston, Mitschke designed this print. Company numbers 1900/2667. Colorway #7. An image from the publicity brochure for this series is atached to this record.
This blue and white double-cloth, Figured and Fancy coverlet was possibly made in Scipio, New York in 1830. There are “Double Lily” carpet medallions in the centerfield, and three borders depicting fruit trees, pine trees, and trees with no leaves. It is possible that this border pattern is attempting to represent the changing of the seasons from bare to leaf, to fruiting, and back again. The lower two corner blocks have this woven in: "E.V/Valen/tine/Scipio/N.Y. 1830". According to the donor, the coverlet was made for her grandmother, Mrs. Elizabeth Hilliker Valentine (1782-1874). The weaver of Scipio coverlets has yet to be discovered. There is no evidence of active weavers working in Scipio; however, there are numerous weavers in Cayuga County. Many of these weavers advertised in local newspapers with several different locations where customers could order their coverlets, drop off their wool yarn, and then pick up the finished coverlet. It likely that the Valentine family placed the order for this coverlet at a local general store of inn, where the yarn and order was taken to a weaver or small manufactory in the county.
Set of three Cheney Brothers silk fabric lengths, of the same pattern. "Brocatelle", with a spun silk warp and linen and spun silk wefts. Style #4234/2, Neo-classical design featuring large medallions and floral swags, combining pearl roundels, birds, cord, tassels, and nude figures (putti). Motifs in pinkish-tan and blue-gray on a pinkish strie ground. Wholesaled for $9.50 per yd. A- (W. 25 in, L. 140 in.), B- (W. 25 in., L. 36 in.), C- (W. 25 in., L. 4.5 yds) Design inspired by Phillippe de LaSalle styles in the late 18th C. for the French court.
These furnishing silks were, along with the patterned velvets, represent the most expensive and exclusive textiles that Cheney Brothers produced.
This quilt was among several pieced-work quilts, quilt blocks, and other household textile items that were donated in 1932. It is the work of Celia Corwin, the daughter of Rachel Burr Corwin, whose quilts are also in the Collection.
A wide variety of plain-weave and roller-printed cottons were used for the cross-and-square design, a variation of the “Economy” pattern. The thirty 13-inch blocks are framed with a 4½-inch polka-dot sashing and border. The lining is composed of four lengths of roller-printed stripe fabric. Linear quilting, 5 stitches per inch, completes the quilt.
Celia Corwin, daughter of Samuel and Rachel Burr Corwin, was born April 13, 1816, in Orange County, New York. She never married and died December 23, 1884. The Textile Collection also contains a sampler that she made in 1830.
“1896” was cleverly incorporated into the overall design of this Alphabet themed quilt top. The maker's name, Elva Smith, is appliqued across the top. Notably the “S” in her name and the “S” of the alphabet are both backward. Thirty 8-inch square white blocks with machine stitched appliqued letters of the alphabet and “1896” alternate with 20 dark colored print fabric square blocks, set on the diagonal. Dark print fabric triangles complete the 55-inch x 68-inch center. The center is framed by an 8-inch strip of light colored fabric with 20 stars appliqued on three sides and “ELVA SMITH” across the top. A 3-inch strip of dark-colored print fabric completes the border. It is turned under and sewn with a running stitch. There is no filling or lining.
Quilt making can be a teaching tool as well as a useful household item. Might this quilt top have been the result of a young girl’s early needlework efforts? Unfortunately there is no information on Elva Smith nor is it certain the quilt is from New York, although applique letters are most common in New York quilts.
This silk variation of the “Log Cabin” pattern was used to make this parlor throw or quilt that was in the Macy family. The donor at the time of donation in 1971 remembered seeing it as a 10 year old on a bed in his family’s home in Ossining, New York.
The twenty 12-inch blocks are pieced with a wide variety of silks and satin. Fancy embroidery stitches (Herringbone, Feather, French knot, Straight, Daisy, Buttonhole, Stem, and Satin) embellish the blocks which are constructed on cotton squares. Each center of a “Log Cabin” block has a different embroidered motif. The blocks are framed by a 4 ½-inch border composed of 1-inch strips of many different silks. The top is attached to a black cotton satin lining which is quilted 7 stitches per inch. The resulting quilt of many colors is still impressive to view.
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 pastoral scene shows a young man seated under a tree with a horn slung over his shoulder, and holding a piece of bread (?). Before him stands a young woman carrying a sack, at which a dog is sniffing. The oval scene is surrounded by a single line of stem stitch, 1/4" beyond the picture. The border is embroidered with an undulating ribbon tied in a bow at the lower edge and entwined with sprays of roses, lilies, morning glories, carnations, daisies, and other flowers. At the lower edge of the oval embroidery, printed in ink, is the inscription: "MARGARET McKAY M. E. & A. SKETCHLEY's BOARDING SCHOOL HAERLEM LANE." The picture is worked on a twill-weave ivory silk ground and the stitches used are satin, long and short, stem, straight, chain, and French knot.
The Sketchley’s school continued at Haerlem Lane in Poughkeepise, NY from 1801 until 1804. The name “M. E. & A. Sketchley” and the address or town, were usually worked on the silk embroideries of their students. The Sketchleys also taught in North Carolina and Virginia. The embroideries include elegant scenes in the neoclassical taste, but lack any distinct characteristics that would help identify unsigned pieces.
Margaret McKay is probably the sister of Capt. George Knox McKay (1791-1814). Her embroidery descended in his family until it was given to the National Museum of American History.
By the 1840s a new technique [in the field] of needlepoint known as Berlin wool work was the rage. It arose in Germany at the beginning of the 19th century. New dyes became available and brightly colored wools could be worked in tent stitch on canvas. The patterns were painted by hand on “point paper,” which today would be called graph paper. Jane’s piece is an example of this technique.
A large rectangular composition shows Mary, Queen of Scots, kneeling over Douglas, who lies mortally wounded on the ground. A riderless horse stands nearby, probably Douglas’s. All in clothing of the period. The warriors wear armor and carry lances. One has a banner. The faces and hands are done in petit point. The picture is worked on penelope canvas ground, 14/28 threads per inch, with Berlin wool in tent/half cross stitch.
The title of this piece is Mary Queen of Scots, Mourning over the Dying Douglas at the Battle of Langside. It is based on a painting by Charles Landseer (1799-1879). However, Douglas did not die at that battle. Charles Landseer based many of his paintings on the novels of Sir Walter Scott, and in his book entitled The Abbot, Douglas does die at the Battle of Langside. Scott was writing historical fiction and so he could have Douglas die whenever and wherever he wanted him to.
In 1856 Jane entered this piece in the American Institute Fair in New York City where it was awarded the bronze medal (which was first prize for worsted work.) (See picture of her medal.)
Jane Elizabeth Loucks was born in 1835 to John and Desdemonia Marsh Loucks in Sharon, New York. She married Joseph Warren Hastings on February 16, 1871, in Manhattan. They moved to Illinois and had one daughter, Dena. See her other pieces; The Ascension of Jesus and The Offering of Isaac.
This Jacquard double-cloth coverlet features a tulip, carpet medallion centerfield with eagle, federal architecture, and masonic motif borders. Inscribed in the coverlet’s corners and top and bottom edges are the name of the client, "Esther Jewil" and the phrase and date, "Agriculture & Manufactures are the Foundation of Our Independence. July 4, 1840." This coverlet was woven in Dutchess County, New York in 1840. Ester Jewell (1757-1844) was the recipient of this coverlet. It is interesting that the Jewell’s commissioned this coverlet just four years before her death. Esther’s husband, Isaac Jr., father-in-law, Isaac Sr., and brother-in-law were veterans of the American Revolution.
This particular design and inscription was woven numerous times, and there are dated coverlets of this pattern from 1824-1840. Likely because of its bold patriotic statement, this coverlet design appears in major museums across the country. NMAH has another red and white coverlet of the same design. This design was initially associated with Scots-Irish weaver, James Alexander, but the consensus has changed as Alexander had retired from weaving in 1828 and none of the client names in Alexander’s account book matched those found on extant “Agriculture and Manufacture” coverlets.
This group of coverlets was almost certainly woven by more than one weaver whose identities have not yet been found. The weavers were also almost certainly apprentices or journeymen working with Alexander before his retirement. The floral medallions harken back to Scottish and English double-woven carpet designs and are identical to those found on Alexander’s earlier coverlets. Even the Masonic and eagle borders featured on this coverlet are more refined versions of borders found on Alexander coverlets.
The National Museum of American History also possesses two more of these “Agriculture and Manufacture” coverlets (see T14962 and T18131). Perhaps, Alexander sold his weaving equipment and patterns to former apprentices who joined in partnership? There are two groups of these coverlets and over 125 of them known. One group was woven in two sections and joined with a center seam, the other group was woven on a broad loom and does not have the center seam. The Esther Jewell coverlet falls into the latter group. Broad looms required either two weavers or the use of a fly shuttle to get the weft yarn back and forth across the wider width of the fabric, otherwise the loom and fabric width was dictated by the weaver’s arm width. There is also so speculation as to whether these particular patterns were executed on a draw loom of with the help of a Jacquard mechanism. Alexander’s weaving career almost entirely predates the introduction of the Jacquard head into the United States, suggesting that these coverlets which are so much in his fashion were almost certainly also woven on a draw loom.
Being double-cloth, this coverlet has two sets of warps and wefts made of an Indigo wool 2-ply, S-twist, Z-spun warp and weft and a cotton 2-ply, S-Twist, Z-spun warp and weft. The warps and wefts change place throughout the weaving process, creating the contrasting designs and strengthening the structure and creating a heavier and warmer textile.
A length of M. C. Migel & Co., Inc. Mexixe series. Taffeta silk: "Pussy Willow" quality. Pure dye printed taffeta, design "Rattlesnake symbol"; 1914. Bright red ground printed with pottery-inspired Rattlesnake symbol, in circular motifs in purple, blue, green, and black. Printed on Pussy Willow quality plain weave silk. The Mexixe series was publicized as the first time an American textile company had utilized American design inspiration without looking to Paris first. The line was inspired by the prominence of Mexico and the US southwest in the news because of the US war against Pancho Villa.
M.C. Migel & Co., which in 1915 became H.R. Mallinson & Co., Inc., was known for innovation in silk design and silk manufacturing technology.
Cheney Brothers Pigment-printed silk satin, 1913. Satin weave silk in pale blue, naturalistic printed design of Cosmos flowers, in a tossed, non-directional layout, in white and pink with twining stems in green and brown. The white sections are matte-finished on both the face and reverse - initial cataloging suggests a pigment print. (Dimensions: W. 30 in., L. 36 in.). Designed by Sophie Crownfield. A second colorway on a pale yellow ground is also in the collection: T01023. Cheney description: "This is a decorative material used for the manufacture of kimonos, sofa cushions, bedspreads, lambrequins, etc." In this instance 'kimono' means women's wrappers or dressing gowns.
A length of all silk, "radium--like" plain weave fabric, Mallinson's "Pussy Willow", quality #5459-H. This process sample of an innovative discharge-printing technique illustrates the fabric after steaming which has dissolved and eliminated the dyed gray ground where the printed colors were applied and caused the printed colors to become not only fixed but more brilliant. This sample is from a group of six donated by the company to illustrate the discharge-printing process. Selvage width; selvage inscription. Judging from drawings by free-lance textile designer Walter Mitschke in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts - Boston, Mitschke designed this print and possibly a few others in the American Indian series.
This blue and white, Figured and Fancy, double cloth coverlet features a “Double Rose” and “Double Thistle” carpet medallion centerfield. There are borders along three sides which feature alternating “Double Rose” and “Double Leaf” medallions. “1839/A P” appears in the two lower cornerblocks, quartered and reflected. Being double cloth, this coverlet was woven with two sets of cotton and wool warp and weft. The cotton yarns are all 3-ply, S-twist, Z-spun, and the wool yarns are 2-ply, S-twist, Z-spun. The coverlet is constructed of two panels that were initially woven as one length, cut, and seamed up the center. The coverlet measures 86 inches by 80 inches. According to the donor, this coverlet was woven by hand by his wife’s grandmother near the Syracuse, New York area. The donor’s wife’s father was Charles H. Peck. There are multiple people names Charles Peck from the Onondaga County area in the late 19th century and more research is needed to definitively determine who A.P. might have been. While family legend attests that a grandmother wove the coverlet, it is much more likely that this coverlet was woven by a male professional weaver for an ancestor with the initials A.P. The loom and patterning device used to weave this coverlet would have been cost and space prohibitive for anyone but the professional carpet and coverlet weaver. The design of the coverlet would indicate that the coverlet was woven anytime between the years 1835 and 1845, suggesting that the donor’s wife’s grandmother may have inherited the coverlet from an older ancestor.