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- Title
WOMEN STITCHING IDENTITY: Two White Counterpanes.
- Authors
Horton, Laurel
- Abstract
Maria Upshaw (1770-1852) and Elizabeth O'Neal (1786-1892) were among the countless American women who created embellished white bedcovers during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Research on surviving examples made by Kentucky women reveals that the makers were the literal daughters of the American Revolution. They were born to Virginia families of patriot soldiers who migrated to Kentucky after the war. When descendants donated these family heirlooms, they provided sufficient provenance for researchers to study the lives of the makers. The findings support the author's hypothesis that these daughters created white bedcovers as an extension, or re-creation, of the domestic textile production of their mothers' generation during the Revolutionary era. The textiles demonstrate a variety of techniques and skill levels, paralleling the wide range of cultural and socioeconomic circumstances of the makers' families. The lives Maria Upshaw and Elizabeth O'Neal place them at opposite ends of this spectrum. Although they led very different lives, each of them succeeded in leaving a legacy to future generations.
- Subjects
QUILTMAKERS; O'NEAL, Elizabeth; AMERICAN Revolutionary War, 1775-1783; QUILTING; HEIRLOOMS; SOCIOCULTURAL factors
- Publication
Uncoverings, 2022, Vol 43, p118
- ISSN
0277-0628
- Publication type
Article