Description:
Woven coverlet with blue weft and cotton warp, and the woven inscriptions: "AGRICULTURE & MANUFACTURES ARE THE FOUNDATION OF OUR INDEPENDENCE." in two corners. The coverlet descended through the donor's family of Columbia County, New York. It was given to the donor by her mother, Charlotta Niver Fimball (b.1885), in 1948, and had been part of her mother's trousseau when she married on September 16, 1911 in Columbia County, NY. The coverlet was probably from the family of Charlotta's mother, Mary Emily Bain (1851-1825?) who married Russell Niver (1851-1900), a blacksmith and rural mail carrier, in 1869(?). HD's coverlet has six full and six partial floral medallions in the center, and stars, eagles, Independence Halls, and Masonic emblems around the border. These emblems refer to the teachings and practices of the secret fraternal organization of the Free and Accepted Masons. Upholding the principles of morality, charity, and obedience to the law, Masons became a very popular and powerful civic organization in colonial and early America. Their members included many of the most famous Americans such as Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Paul Revere. A similar coverlet with a matching verse and a date of 1829 was featured in an advertisement in Antiques and the Arts Weekly, p. 7C, September 12, 2014.
Subjects:
Textile fabrics; Cotton; Wool Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+86.101 |
