1825 - 1835 Abbie Corey Brackett's Whole Cloth Chintz Quilt
Object Details
- Brackett, Abbie Corey
- Description
- According to information given with the donation in 1945, this quilt originally belonged to Abbie Corey Brackett. Abbie Corey [Corah] married Ichabod Brackett, a hired man on the Corey family farm in Plainfield, Conn., in 1816. “All her father, Squire Joshiah Corey would allow her to take from home, were the two quilts, which she made. He allowed her nothing more. The Coreys were Scotch.” While this may have explained the other “quilt,” a woven coverlet, this particular quilt dates from about 1825-1835.
- The quilt top consists of lengths of a single glazed, roller-printed cotton. The “Pillar Print” design is in red and brown, with an olive drab color added by surface roller. The combination of architectural and floral elements was particularly popular from 1825 to 1835 in American household furnishing fabrics. The quilt has a plain-weave white cotton lining and cotton fiber filling. Concentric diamonds and a quilting pattern variously known as “Rob Peter and Pay Paul,” or “Lafayette Orange Peel” or “Dolly Madison’s Workbox,” quilted at six stitches per inch, complete the quilt.
- Records indicate that Abigail Corey was born about 1789. She married Ichabod Brackett (about 1790-1862) 3 February 1816. Sadly, after his death, Abigail is listed on the 1870 census as “Nabby Brackett” born about 1787 and living in Dudley, Worcester, Mass., as a pauper. On the 1880 census she is listed as Abigail Brackett and an “inmate” in Dudley. The donor received this quilt and a woven coverlet from a friend of her mother’s, Mrs. Hattie Vinton Wright, who was the great-granddaughter of Abbie Corey Brackett. When the items arrived at the Museum in 1945, they were deemed “excellent examples representing types not duplicated in the collections.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Gift of Mrs. Gertrude O.S. Cleveland
- 1825-1835
- ID Number
- TE.T09126
- accession number
- 169638
- catalog number
- T09126
- Object Name
- quilt
- Physical Description
- fabric, cotton (overall material)
- thread, cotton (overall material)
- filling, cotton (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 88 in x 98 in; 223 cm x 250 cm
- place made
- United States: Connecticut, Plainfield
- See more items in
- Home and Community Life: Textiles
- Textiles
- Domestic Furnishings
- Quilts
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Quilting
- Record ID
- nmah_556348
- Metadata Usage (text)
- CC0
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a3-c40d-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
Related Content
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.