Description:
Pieced, silk quilt in the "Slashed Nine Patch" or "Wild Geese" or Mosaic variation patterns, which was made by Deborah Ellis Shaw (1796-1859) of Palmer, Massachusetts. There was a handwritten note written by the donor's mother, Evelyn King Wheeler (1899-1987) attached to the quilt: "This patchwork quilt was made by by Deborah Ellis Shaw (1796-1859), a great grandmother of Raymond P. Wheeler, during these long evenings when she waited for her husband, a country Doctor. Although given to her daughter soon after the latter's marriage it is evident that it never has been used a great deal." Deborah Ellis Shaw was the wife of Dr. Samuel Shaw who moved to Palmer, Massachusetts, around 1857. The Shaw's daughter, Dora Ellis Shaw (1833-1876), married William Roland Parks (1833/36-1907) of Palmer in 1859, and the Parks' daughter, Jessie E. Parks (b.1861) married John P. Wheeler in 1888. The Wheeler's son, Raymond P. Wheeler (1889-1951) of Hartford (graduated Amherst, 1910) was Evelyn King Wheeler's husband and the donor's father. Mrs. Wheeler kept the quilt when she closed the John P. Wheeler (Mrs. Wheeler's father-in-law and the donor's grandfather) household in Hartford in the 1920s or early 1930s. Mrs. Wheeler learned the history of the family possessions from Samuel Shaw Parks (b.1863), Raymond Wheeler's uncle (Amherst 1886), and the brother of Jessie E. Parks Wheeler. Pieced silk quilts dating from before the last quarter of the 19th century are somewhat rare. Deborah Ellis Shaw probably made this small quilt of out scraps from worn family clothes, as the fabrics used were common mid-19th century dress silks. In constructing this “Wild Geese” quilt, each square was made individually, bound, and then stitched to the next square. Some of the ‘shot silks’ (or iridescent), which means that there is a warp of one color and a weft of another, are in fragile condition but most of the silks in this quilt, which predate the use of metallic salts in the dye baths, are in an excellent state of preservation. A kind of glazed cotton, often referred to as ‘book linen’ (because it was used in the process of binding books), was a common lining for silk dresses from 1840 to 1860. The multi-colored silk blocks are individually made and bound in black ribbon, and then sewn together; the in-the-ditch quilting is done in 10 stitches to the inch with fine brown/black thread; and backing made of two different polished brown cotton fabrics, which are typical of the dress bodice lining material used in the mid 19th century.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2002.16 |
