The Huntington Library has an interesting item in their collection: A wooden spool of thread (looks like a Coats & Clark's spool.) Inside the hole is a coiled piece of paper. The curators and staff unfurled it in this video: https://www.facebook.com/TheHuntingtonLibrary/videos/886636192928345 (Those white cords are like small book snakes to gently hold the note in place) Some time ago the message was typed. It's some kind of military order---issued before the Civil War began in April, but probably having to do with the future Confederates gathering their assets in the face of ..read more

  Washington Whirlwind #4: Next Door Neighbor by Becky Collis We've been looking at the Lincoln White House from the view of the Taft family who lived close by. Julia recalled cutting through the grounds on her walk to school. The official gardener welcomed her shortcut through an unlocked gate.  It seems a little hard to believe now but the grounds and building were open to the public. In the theory that the mansion was the "people's house" anyone could walk in day or night as they wished, too many picking up knick-knacks and cutting swatches out of the drapes for souvenir ..read more

  Caroline Healey Dall tells us one more tale of the heartbreak of slavery in her diary in December, 1842. Caroline from Massachusetts had taken a position as Assistant Principal at Miss Lydia English's Female Seminary in Washington City, a Southern town that permitted slavery, an economic cruelty Miss English embraced. Massachusetts Historical Society Caroline Healey (later Dall) (1822-1812) About the time she took a teaching position in Washington due to family financial troubles. Caroline, always self-confident, broke many Washington rules, teaching one of the enslaved servants at t ..read more

Kentucky Classic #1: Kentucky Reel by Becky Collis We begin a rather complicated applique block of the month series for 2024 today with the first block of our Kentucky Classic. Becky C. will be glad to tell you how many little points you have to tuck in the buds. You could leave those edges smooth or see the actual pattern below with a "More Casual Approach." The inspiration: a Kentucky quilt associated with  Amanda Malvine Estill Moran (1810-1888) https://quiltindex.org//view/?type=fullrec&kid=8-5-744 The Kentucky project recorded this applique quilt attributed to ..read more

Mary Ellen Marcy (1838 - 1907) & husband  George B. McClellan in 1862 When the Civil War began Nellie McClellan was in her early 20s living in Cincinnati. Married about a year to George McClellan, president of the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad, she was pregnant with her first child Mary (May.) By the time May was born in October West Point graduate George had returned to the Army where he'd served under General Winfield Scott during the Mexican War of the 1840s. Generals McClellan, Banks & Wool behind seated General Scott, who could hardly stand much less ride a horse when ..read more

  Washington Whirlwind #3: Lincoln's Platform by Becky Brown Purple for Mary Lincoln's favorite color, set with black & white for ours. Lincoln's political platform was enough of a threat to the South  that several states seceded before he was even inaugurated in March, 1861.  President Buchanan tipping his hat beside Lincoln on the way to Lincoln's inauguration from Harper's, March 16, 1861. But we aren't here to talk politics---rather parenting. The Lincolns may have argued noisily and held different opinions on many things but parenting was not one of them. The offic ..read more

  We have big plans for applique this year and it all starts in three weeks. We've long admired Garrard County's appliqued medallions like Amanda Estill Moran's recorded by the Kentucky Quilt Project. See more about her quilt in a post here: https://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2023/08/amanda-estill-morans-civil-war.html And more about the related Kentucky quilts here in a post about Garrard County (pronounced to rhyme with Herod like King Herod.) https://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2012/02/garrard-county-kentucky.html Numerous talented quilters have also been inspired by the medalli ..read more

  Lidian (Lydia) Jackson Emerson enjoying breakfast in bed with her cats. Sketch by her daughter. Ellen Tucker Emerson (1839-1909) in 1860 At 17 Ellen returned from school in western Massachusetts to the family home to live the rest of her life. She never seemed interested in marriage but enjoyed her position managing the Sage of Concord's home.  Edward, father Waldo (as he was called) and Ellen in the 1850s Ellen's father Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was one of the foremost writers, philosophers and personalities of his time. Ellen's mother was a perfect example of a Victo ..read more

  Washington Whirlwind #2: Boy's Playmate by Becky Collis Mary Todd Lincoln  Photo by William Mumler, 1865 During the social whirlwind of a new presidential administration in the spring of 1861 Mary Cook Taft, wife of the Patent Office's chief examiner, was introduced to First Lady Mary Lincoln. Once Mary Lincoln heard that the Tafts had two boys about the same age as her own sons she invited them over to play at the White House. Halsey Cook Taft "Holly" & Horatio Nelson Taft Jr. "Bud"  The Lincolns had four boys. During the first years of the war Robert was at ..read more

  Double Irish Chain, 1850 Quilt in the collection of the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian. One inked block in a corner is said to read Mary T. Barnes, 1850. https://www.si.edu/object/1850-mary-t-barness-irish-chain-quilt%3Anmah_556317 A second quilt from the same family. The black and white photo shows the block-by-block quilting designs in this white-work quilt. https://www.si.edu/object/1850-mary-t-barness-dower-counterpane:nmah_556306 The caption for this quilt is similar to the Irish Chain "An inked inscription, 'Mary T. Barnes 1850' is near one corner." I ..read more