Program Schedule & Registration
Lectures will begin at 8:45 am both days
We are very proud to offer the best experts in textile history in our Penn Dry Goods Market lecture series. This year, you will have the opportunity to hear lectures from nationally recognized authorities in textiles and in decorative and folk art. Our speakers are not merely experts in their respective fields, but are entertaining and very approachable.
All lectures require a ticket ($25/lecture purchased ahead), and tickets will be taken at the door. If you purchase a ticket the day of the event, it is $30/lecture. If the speaker requires a mask, that information will also be on the ticket.
You can pay for each lecture with a credit card below. Paying with Check or Cash? Download, complete, and mail in your registration form.
Mail completed registration forms to:
Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center
105 Seminary Street
Pennsburg PA 18073
2024 Textile History Lecture Series
We thank the Delaware Valley Historic Sampler Guild, the Overall Needlework Programs Sponsor
Sunday, May 19 (all times are EST)
2:00 — 3:00 pm The Royal School of Art Needlework at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition 1876 (this is a Zoom only lecture and it will not be recorded)
Dr. Lynn Hulse, co-founder, Ornamental Embroidery
Sponsored by the Tudor Rose Sampler Guild
The United States’ first official world fair, staged in Philadelphia in 1876, was designed to showcase America’s industrial and cultural progress in the 100 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The exposition played host to over 30,000 exhibitors, representing 37 nations from across four continents. The New York Tribune described the display of British furniture and decorative arts in the Main Exhibition Building as ‘the most striking collections of the fair’. Of particular note was the Royal School of Needlework’s stand, a ‘magnificent tent’ constructed of purple velvet hangings and ornamented inside and out with wall hangings, portières and window curtains together with embroidered chairs, screens, cabinets, cushions, and other soft furnishings, designed by such eminent British artists as William Morris, Walter Crane and George Frederick Bodley, among others. The RSN stand received a Certificate of Award, and in the opinion of the American designer Candace Wheeler, ‘sowed the seed’ for the development of art embroidery in the United States. Lynn Hulse will explore some of the work exhibited by the School at Philadelphia and its impact on the development of artistic needlework for the home on both sides of the Atlantic.
Friday, May 31 (all times are EST)
8:45 — 9:45 am Gingham Embroidery 1890-1990
Ann Hermes, collector of antique quilts and textiles and student of textile history
Sponsored by
a Special Friend of the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center
Cross-stitch embroidery on check gingham fabric is often associated with the mid twentieth century, ca. 1940-1960, in the form of colorful aprons bearing geometric bands as well as trees, cats, dogs, and flowers. These patterns are executed in cross-stitch using the fabric’s check squares as a guide. In fact, this form of embellishment on aprons, other clothing, and home decor dates to at least the 1890s. Some of the cross-stitched designs used may derive from even earlier crochet and lace making patterns. Today cross-stitch on gingham is sometimes called chicken scratch embroidery, but this term does not appear until the early 1980s. This talk will explore this decorative stitching over 100 years through newspaper articles, patterns, and advertisements.
10:00 — 11:00 am The “Valley” Quilts of the Berks County, Pennsylvania Area (Quilt turning)
Pat and Arlan Christ
Sponsored by Town and Country News
PLEASE NOTE: the same quilts will be shown in both the Friday and Saturday sessions.
Pennsylvania had a vastly diverse immigration of groups in the late 17th Century into the mid-18th Century. The largest of these groups were the German speaking immigrants from Europe. Ridges and valleys of Eastern Pennsylvania reminded these settlers of their homeland.
Quilt documentations discovered that regional quilt designs were being found from various “Valleys.”
This quilt turning explores the regionalism and use of color that makes these 19th century quilts uniquely Pennsylvania German.
SOLD OUT!
11:15 — 12:15 pm McDonald Sisters from West Virginia Make-do Crafts/Rugs
Susan Feller, writer, historian, and artist
Sponsored by the Ted Breckel Memorial Fund
The frugal craft skills of many homemakers in the mid-20th century are the focus of this talk. Using appliqué, hand stitching, embroidery, scraps of clothing, and household fabrics, the McDonald sisters from the heart of West Virginia created area rugs and footstools. Because of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, craftsmen in the mountains were promoted, their work sold in regional and national markets. The McDonalds’ rugs ended up exhibited in 1973 at the Pasadena Art Museum in California.
Susan Feller has researched the sisters’ life and work for over a decade. the talk will focus on the process, techniques, and materials Otha and Blanche used and how Susan discovered much of these answers by restoring several rugs.
2:00 — 3:00 pm Oh Darn! Reevaluating Mended Early American Textiles
Emily Whitted, PhD Candidate, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Sponsored by M. Finkel & Daughter
What can we learn from a darned stocking, a patched pair of breeches, or a mended bed rug? Examining an abundance of mended items in museum collections as well as diaries, account books, and advertisements, this talk focuses on the historic and interpretative value of repaired early American textiles.
3:15 — 4:15 pm Mermaids & Sea Dragons, Slavers & Privateers:
Quilted Petticoats and Rhode Island’s Maritime Economy in the 18th Century
Lynne Bassett, Independent Scholar, Author, and Curator
Sponsored by Harleysville Bank
At least 25 petticoats, quilted using an unusual spaced back stitch with an array of animals, sea creatures, human figures, and even ships in full sail and the British royal coat of arms, have survived whole or in part from the mid-18th century. Those with verifiable histories place them in Rhode Island and New London County, Connecticut—a region with an economy deeply embedded in the Triangle Trade of slaves, sugar, and rum. This lecture explores how these magnificent petticoats with their quirky critters represent what 18th-century Newport schoolteacher Sarah Osborn expressed as “the bitters that Lurk under the most splendid appearances.”
4:30 — 5:30 pm The Means of Learning: Exploring the Embroidery Samplers of the Vassar College Collection
Joanne Lukacher, Author
Sponsored by Sampler Consortium
The lecture will highlight a selection of the more than 330 American and European samplers in the collection of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College. Ranging in date from 1667 to 1911, these samplers represent the collecting talents and prescient cultural interests of Elizabeth Gilmer Packard, Vassar College class of 1894, and Emmeline Reed Bedell, who was cited by Betty Ring as one of the earliest American women sampler collectors. Forty-three samplers from the Bedell Collection were featured in the landmark 1921 publication American Samplers by Bolton and Coe. Enhanced by more recent gifts, the temporal range and international breadth of the Vassar sampler collections allow for multi-dimensional perspectives on this most enduring of female art as it evolved from a educational exercise laden with moral overtones into an artistic collectable and a scholarly exemplar in the study of women’s material culture.
Saturday, June 1
8:45 — 9:45 am “The Duty of ‘Plying the Polished Shaft”
Alden O’Brien, Curator of Costume and Textiles at the DAR Museum, Washington DC
Sponsored by Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates
The pretty textiles with obvious artistry hog all the attention: quilts, samplers, embroideries, knitted and netted accessories of beauty and skill, lace and other needle crafts draw our eyes, impress us with their skill and beauty. But we forget much of their context. Women could only turn to the “fancy work” after the “plain work” was taken care of. (The word “fancy” does double duty here, meaning both elaborate or adorned, in our understanding of the word, and in the old sense of “whim” or “preference” or “choice.”)
Obligatory plain sewing took a tremendous amount of most women’s time in preindustrial times: clothing could not be bought ready-made, even sheets and all the household linens had to be sewn at home. Mending and darning, altering and updating, repurposing and what we’d now call “recycling” or “upcycling” were also constant tasks to be faced. Even women who had hired (or enslaved) help with sewing had to organize and supervise the household sewing, and invariably did some of it themselves. No wonder the oft-reprinted Young Lady’s Book warned that “no woman [should] think herself exempt from the duty of ‘plying the polished shaft.’”
10:00 — 11:00 am The “Valley” Quilts of the Berks County, Pennsylvania Area (Quilt turning)
Pat and Arlan Christ
Sponsored by Town and Country News
PLEASE NOTE: the same quilts will be shown in both the Friday and Saturday sessions.
Pennsylvania had a vastly diverse immigration of groups in the late 17th Century into the mid-18th Century. The largest of these groups were the German speaking immigrants from Europe. Ridges and valleys of Eastern Pennsylvania reminded these settlers of their homeland.
Quilt documentations discovered that regional quilt designs were being found from various “Valleys.”
This quilt turning explores the regionalism and use of color that makes these 19th century quilts uniquely Pennsylvania German.
SOLD OUT!!
11:15 am — 12:15 pm Emerging Scholar Presentation: “A Place to cultivate her Mind in by Musing”: New Exploration of Anne Emlen’s 1757 Shellwork Grotto
Kaila Temple, Colonial Dames of America Chapter II Curatorial Assistant at Stenton Museum in Philadelphia
Sponsored by Master Supply Line
Anne Reckless Emlen’s (1720-1816) shellwork grotto box is an object one can easily get lost in. The wonders of its complexity and depth have fascinated Stenton stewards and visitors for over one hundred years. The box represents a small but fascinating category of women’s creative production in colonial Philadelphia and is one of only several such boxes known. Emlen used her materials to replicate nature in miniature, performing a kind of creative alchemy to turn shells into flowers and wax and thread into branches of “coral.” Emlen used many different species of shells, mostly hailing from the Caribbean, to construct the dream-world interior of her grotto. Through its materials and the processes by which it was assembled, Anne Emlen’s grotto provides a window into the lives, education, and artistic pursuits of women; the movement of natural resources in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world and beyond; the human and environmental cost of luxury in the eighteenth century; and the rococo aesthetic.
With Bonus presentation - Waxing Rhapsodic: 19th Century Wax Art and Craft
Candace Perry, Curator, Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center
Explore art imitating nature with Candace Perry with an illustrated lecture on 19th century wax fruit and flower making, with new research and examples from the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center collection. Enjoyed by schoolgirls and adult women alike, the products of this popular craft once graced the walls and tables of parlors everywhere. They look good enough to eat, you’ll say!
1:15 — 2:15 pm Patterns and Pieces: Whitework Samplers of the 17th Century
Dr. Tricia Wilson Nguyen, owner, Thistle Threads
Sponsored by The Betty Whiting Flemming Grant Fund of The Loudoun Sampler Guild
By the end of the 17th century, patterns for several forms of needlework had been published and distributed for over a hundred years. These early pattern books were kept and used by multiple generations as well as reproduced in multiple editions and extensively plagiarized. Close study of the patterns and samplers of the last half of the 17th century can reveal many answers to the working of popular cut whitework techniques. From the fronts-pieces, pattern names, and subtle clues in the woodcuts we can tell which patterns were realistic and gave instruction to the reader and which were opportunistic prints by less-knowledgeable artists and likely unable to be worked. We can start to group these samplers based on technique and pattern and discuss many corundums that they hold.
2:30 — 3:30 pm Delaware Valley Chintz Quilts
Lori Lee Triplett, Business Manager, Quilt & Textile Collections
Sponsored by Stauffer Glove & Safety
Explore a survey of more than 50 quilts from the Delaware River Valley in a four-state area and the influence on a fifth state. The survey provides production groups/workshops, quilt artists, and even dry goods stores. Information about the Sewing Societies of the period and how the quilts were distributed as gifts or sold. Additionally, specific chintz fabrics common to this style of quilts are tracked to reveal new clues regarding their origin. The survey also explores more than 20 mixed album quilts which fit into this grouping both by style (cut-out applique blocks) and/or because they are interconnected by signatures/makers.