Quiltmakers at Work, or Hey, There’s a Menagerie on my Petticoat

This beautifully detailed quilted petticoat made in 1758 was owned by Sarah Halsey and was a gift to the CHS from the Lyman Allyn Museum, New London.

A mermaid, a lion, a griffin (or is it a leopard?), a fish, two stags, three rabbits, three different birds and what might be a dog. That’s the list of intricately stitched figures found around the border of Sarah Halsey’s amazing quilted petticoat.

Celebrating America

For over 230 years, Americans have been celebrating the birth of America.  Although our celebrations of America generally culminate on the fourth of July, have you ever stopped to think of the ways we might celebrate America every day of the year?  Let me give you a few historical examples of how people in the past did just that…

Sampler. 1821. Gift of Jane Tuttle. 1923.9.0

Boxing Day

Detail of Pieced Quilt. 1876. Gift of Susan Goodrich Motycka in memory of my father John Quincy Goodrich. 2013.74.1.

Quite a bit happens behind the scenes here at CHS that most people never see (unless you come on a behind-the-scenes tour!).  It is usually all those seemingly small, unglamorous tasks that make it possible for us to share our great collections with all of you. Tuesday, Diane Lee, our Collections Manager, and I spent an entire day doing one such seemingly small, unglamorous task.