In this Book
- Connecticut Needlework: Women, Art, and Family, 1740–1840
- Book
- 2010
- Published by: Wesleyan University Press
summary
Winner of the Connecticut Book Award (2011)
Winner of the Connecticut League of History Organizations Award of Merit (2012)
Connecticut women have long been noted for their creation of colorful and distinctive needlework, including samplers and family registers, bed rugs and memorial pictures, crewel-embroidered bed hangings and garments, silk-embroidered pictures of classical or religious scenes, quilted petticoats and bedcovers, and whitework dresses and linens. This volume offers the first regional study, encompassing the full range of needle arts produced prior to 1840. Seventy entries showcase more than one hundred fascinating examples—many never before published—from the Connecticut Historical Society’s extensive collection of this early American art form. Produced almost exclusively by women and girls, the needle arts provide an illuminating vantage point for exploring early American women’s history and education, including family-based traditions predating the establishment of formal academies after the American Revolution. Extensive genealogical research reveals unseen family connections linking various types of needlework, similar to the multi-generational male workshops documented for other artisan trades, such as woodworking or metalsmithing. Photographs of stitches, reverse sides, sketches, design sources, and related works enhance our understanding and appreciation of this fragile art form and the talented women who created it. An exhibition of needlework in this book will be held at the Connecticut Historical Society in late fall, 2010. Funding for this project has been provided by the Coby Foundation, Ltd., and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Winner of the Connecticut League of History Organizations Award of Merit (2012)
Connecticut women have long been noted for their creation of colorful and distinctive needlework, including samplers and family registers, bed rugs and memorial pictures, crewel-embroidered bed hangings and garments, silk-embroidered pictures of classical or religious scenes, quilted petticoats and bedcovers, and whitework dresses and linens. This volume offers the first regional study, encompassing the full range of needle arts produced prior to 1840. Seventy entries showcase more than one hundred fascinating examples—many never before published—from the Connecticut Historical Society’s extensive collection of this early American art form. Produced almost exclusively by women and girls, the needle arts provide an illuminating vantage point for exploring early American women’s history and education, including family-based traditions predating the establishment of formal academies after the American Revolution. Extensive genealogical research reveals unseen family connections linking various types of needlework, similar to the multi-generational male workshops documented for other artisan trades, such as woodworking or metalsmithing. Photographs of stitches, reverse sides, sketches, design sources, and related works enhance our understanding and appreciation of this fragile art form and the talented women who created it. An exhibition of needlework in this book will be held at the Connecticut Historical Society in late fall, 2010. Funding for this project has been provided by the Coby Foundation, Ltd., and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Director’s Foreword
- pp. vi-vii
- Acknowledgments
- pp. ix-xiii
- Selections from the Connecticut Historical Society Collection
- Explanation of Cataloging Terms
- pp. 25- 29
- 1. Elizabeth Gore’s Cushion Cover
- pp. 30- 31
- 5. Hannah Edwards Wetmore’s Shoes
- pp. 38-39
- 7. Babcock Family Skirt Panels
- pp. 42-43
- 8. Bedcover
- pp. 44-45
- 9. John Storrs’s Pocketbook
- pp. 46-47
- 13. Punderson Family Bed Hangings
- pp. 54-59
- 14. Sarah Halsey’s Petticoat
- pp. 60- 61
- 15. John Eddy’s Sleeved Waistcoat
- pp. 62- 63
- 16. Elizabeth Swan Brewster’s Bedcover
- pp. 64- 65
- 17. Mary Bidwell’s Family Register
- pp. 66-67
- 18. Floral Picture
- pp. 68- 69
- 19. Bed Rug (fragment)
- pp. 70- 71
- 20. Priscilla Kingsbury’s Bed Curtain
- pp. 72- 73
- 21. Ebenezer Punderson’s Pocketbook
- pp. 74- 75
- 22. Esther Carrington’s Sampler
- pp. 76- 77
- 23. Hannah Punderson’s Sampler
- pp. 78- 79
- 24. Pictures of the Twelve Apostles
- pp. 80- 83
- 25. Hand-held Fire Screens
- pp. 84- 85
- 27. Elizabeth Foote’s Bed Rug
- pp. 90- 91
- 28. Sarah Spencer’s Sampler
- pp. 92- 93
- 29. Lorrain Collins’s Bed Rug
- pp. 94- 95
- 30. Asenath Rising’s Whole-Cloth Quilt
- pp. 96- 97
- 31. Lydia Church’s Sampler
- pp. 98- 99
- 32. Sally Lawrence’s Sampler
- pp. 100- 101
- 33. Eunice Ripley’s Sampler
- pp. 102- 103
- 34. Lucy Spalding’s Sampler
- pp. 104- 105
- 35. Polly Ives’s Sampler
- pp. 106- 107
- 36. Catherine Wadsworth’s Sampler
- pp. 108- 109
- 38. Lee-Brace Family Beehive Picture
- pp. 112-113
- 40. Sally Stiles’s Sampler
- pp. 116-117
- 41. The Cottage Girl
- pp. 118-119
- 42. Ripley Family Coat of Arms
- pp. 120-121
- 43. Nancy Dunham’s Family Portrait Memorial
- pp. 122-123
- 44. Charlotte Perkins’s Dancing Dress
- pp. 124-125
- 45. Amelia Hayden’s Family Portrait Memorial
- pp. 126-127
- 46. Ruth W. Patten’s Sampler
- pp. 128-129
- 47. Maria Bolles’s Sampler
- pp. 130-131
- 48. The Parting of Hector and Andromache
- pp. 132-133
- 49. Perkins Family Coat of Arms
- pp. 134-135
- 50. Watson-Gay Sampler
- pp. 136-137
- 52. Sophia Ellsworth’s Family Memorial
- pp. 140-141
- 53. Jephthah’s Rash Vow
- pp. 142-143
- 54. Unfinished Family Portrait Memorial
- pp. 144-145
- 57. Hannah Boardman’s Sampler
- pp. 150-151
- 58. Frederic William Tuttle’s Sampler
- pp. 152-153
- 59. Abigail Ursula Wooster’s Sampler
- pp. 154-155
- 60. Sixteen Miniature Samplers
- pp. 156-157
- 61. Clarissa Cornelia Loomis’s Sampler
- pp. 158-159
- 62. Clarissa Treadwell Perry’s Pillowcase
- pp. 160-161
- 63. Elizabeth Potter Moore’s Sampler
- pp. 162-163
- 64. Mary Hine’s Sampler
- pp. 164-165
- 65. Clarissa Fox’s Family Register Sampler
- pp. 166-167
- 66. Case Sisters’ Samplers
- pp. 168-169
- 67. Mariett Norton’s Memorial Sampler
- pp. 170-171
- 68. Miranda Robinson’s Sampler
- pp. 172-173
- 69. Prudence Maria Hollister’s Sampler
- pp. 174-175
- 70. Martha Street’s Memorial Sampler
- pp. 176-178
- Select Sources
- pp. 201-206
- Illustration Credits
- pp. 207-208
Additional Information
ISBN
9780819571267
Related ISBN(s)
9781881264118
MARC Record
OCLC
726747148
Pages
240
Launched on MUSE
2012-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No