On display through December 31 2019 at the DAR Museum in Washington, D.C., “A Piece of Her Mind: Culture and Technology in American Quilts” explores the connections between 19th century women and the surrounding culture as seen through their quiltmaking.
The exhibit presents over a dozen quilts side-by-side with the objects that inspired their makers. “It’s not just the quilts by themselves,” says Museum Director and Chief Curator Heidi Campbell-Shoaf. “We have objects that the women may have come in contact with as they were making or planning the quilt. So you see the inspiration and the quilt together, and it adds a depth of understanding of the time period.”
One quilt contains pieces of actual campaign ribbons for Henry Clay, a presidential candidate for the 1844 election. Even though women could not vote in 1844, Clay’s campaign appealed to women as he recognized their potential to influence male family members. (If you’re racking your brain to remember who won, it was his opponent, James Polk.)
Another quilt exhibits some of the earliest machine stitching, as it was made in the 1850s when the sewing machine first appeared on the consumer market. Its maker, Mary Sneed, was eager to embrace new technology and might have wanted to upgrade to the c.1870 Wheeler & Wilson sewing machine also on exhibit.
“We call the exhibit A Piece of Her Mind because we’re looking at what’s going on in the minds of these women. We can’t read their minds but we can read their quilts,” said Curator of Costume and Textiles Alden O’Brien. “The designs they were choosing reflect their interest and involvement in current events and popular culture. I hope that people will think of Victorian women as more interesting and intelligent than we sometimes give them credit for.”
For more information on this exhibit and other programming, see: www.dar.org.
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