{"object":[{"sourceId":{"label":"Source ID","value":"4576"},"altNumsArchivespace":{"label":"ArchiveSpace","value":"A0047"},"copyright":{"label":"Copyright","value":"The American Folk Art Museum believes this work to be in the public domain."},"creditline":{"label":"Credit Line","value":"Gift of Marijane Edwards Camp"},"endDate":{"label":"End Date","value":"1855"},"sortNumber":{"label":"Sort Number","value":"2012     8    1"},"invno":{"label":"Accession number","value":"2012.8.1"},"medium":{"label":"Medium","value":"Cotton"},"geographyPlaceregion":{"label":"Place/Region","value":"The Knob, Morton Plantation, Russellville"},"media":{"label":"Media","value":{"mediaURL":"https://collection.folkartmuseum.org/internal/media/dispatcher/4715/full","mediaDepartment":"Object Photographs","mediaType":"Image","mediaId":"4715"}},"title":{"label":"Title","value":"Whig Rose and Swag Border Quilt"},"geographyCity":{"value":"The Knob, Morton Plantation, Russellville"},"textEntriesWebsitedisplaytext":{"value":["Exquisite workmanship and raised stuffwork are strongly associated with antebellum Kentucky quilts. Until fairly recently, such finely stitched quilts made in the South were typically attributed as the work of the mistress of the household. In truth many were made by female slaves with specialized sewing skills who worked in the home rather than the fields. The Whig Rose and Swag Border Quilt was made on the Russellville, Kentucky, plantation known as \u201cThe Knob,\u201d home of Mr. and Mrs. Marmaduke Beckwith Morton. Had it not survived with careful documentation, the quilt, no doubt, would have been ascribed to Mrs. Marmaduke Beckwith Morton, (1811-1880). However, a handwritten label pinned to the back by a descendant in 1933 affirms that it was, in fact, stitched by female slaves of the household.Two other quilts with remarkably similar quilting motifs survive from the plantation. These were made by Ellen Morton (c. 1826\u2013?), who was noted for her sewing skills, possibly with her younger sister, Margaret (c. 1833\u20131880), who was known for her cooking. Their mother, \u201cAunt Eve,\u201d raised the Morton children and is affectionately remembered in family histories. The Federal Slave Schedule of 1850 lists sixteen people between the ages of six and sixty as enslaved members of the Morton household. After emancipation, Ellen remained at the Knob, where she tended Mr. Morton until his death, in 1887, at the age of ninety-one. In the Federal census of 1870 she is listed as the wife of Mason Littlejohn, forty-four years of age, and her occupation was keeping house.Stacy C. Hollander, \u201cWhig Rose and Swag Border Quilt,\u201d exhibition label for Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum. Stacy C. Hollander and Valérie Rousseau, curators. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2014. Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.　To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.org","Very few quilts officially attributed to slaves exist in the historic record today, and even fewer possess documentation identifying the individual slave (or slaves) by name, as is the case with Whig Rose and Swag Border Quilt. This exquisite artwork was made on the Russellville, Kentucky, plantation known as \"The Knob,\" home of Mr. and Mrs. Marmaduke Beckwith Morton. Had it not survived with a handwritten label pinned to the back by a descendant in 1933, it is likely that the quilt would have been erroneously ascribed to the mistress of the household, Mrs. Marmaduke Beckwith Morton, (1811-1880). Confirmation that Whig Rose and Swag Border Quilt was, in fact, stitched by female slaves contributes valuable information to research concerning American quilt history\u2014specifically of the antebellum period.The influence of African American quilters is integral to the history of American quilting itself. The first slaves arrived on this continent in the 17th century and, since that time, have participated in the technical and aesthetic evolution of quilt making as a creative practice. Moreover, slavery was the forced labor behind the explosive growth of the cotton industry. By 1860, the US furnished 75% of the world\u2019s cotton, which equated to 60% of the nation\u2019s exports\u2014entirely a result of the approximately four-million African Americans enslaved on cotton, sugar, and tobacco plantations in the South. Much of the cotton was transformed into affordable textiles produced domestically at mills in northern states. As a result, the US witnessed a burgeoning culture of quilt making that expanded alongside agriculture and industry.The surface of this exquisitely handworked quilt is perforated with a multitude of micro-stitches to produce the stippled pattern throughout. Indigenous flora is raised using the trapunto stuffing technique, and the pieced design is a traditional Whig Rose motif. The Whig political party was active in the decades leading up to the Civil War. They were vocal supporters of abolition\u2014an ironic affiliation given the conditions of production of this quilt. Whigs advocated for the participation of women in presidential campaign clubs and, as a result, women became a primary force in the Whig campaign to abolish slavery. This motif appears frequently in quilts of this time and it is speculated that women used the seemingly benign decoration of the rose to express their political leanings, which may have been contrary to their husband\u2019s allegiance. Sarah Margolis-Pineo, Handstitched Worlds: The Cartography of Quilts, Self-Taught Genius Gallery, July 16 \u2013 October 3, 2018."]},"collections":{"label":"Collections","value":"Textiles"},"geography":{"label":"Geography","value":"The Knob, Morton Plantation, Russellville"},"id":{"label":"Id","value":"155142"},"geographyState":{"value":"Kentucky"},"geographyCountry":{"value":"United States"},"onview":{"label":"On View","value":"0"},"people":{"label":"Artist / Maker","value":[{"displayOrder":"1","personRole":"Artist","personID":"3070","content":"Ellen Morton Littlejohn"},{"displayOrder":"2","personRole":"Artist","personID":"3071","content":"Margaret Morton"}]},"classifications":{"label":"Classification(s)","value":"Textiles"},"textEntries":{"label":"Text Entries","value":["Exquisite workmanship and raised stuffwork are strongly associated with antebellum Kentucky quilts. Until fairly recently, such finely stitched quilts made in the South were typically attributed as the work of the mistress of the household. In truth many were made by female slaves with specialized sewing skills who worked in the home rather than the fields. The Whig Rose and Swag Border Quilt was made on the Russellville, Kentucky, plantation known as \u201cThe Knob,\u201d home of Mr. and Mrs. Marmaduke Beckwith Morton. Had it not survived with careful documentation, the quilt, no doubt, would have been ascribed to Mrs. Marmaduke Beckwith Morton, (1811-1880). However, a handwritten label pinned to the back by a descendant in 1933 affirms that it was, in fact, stitched by female slaves of the household.Two other quilts with remarkably similar quilting motifs survive from the plantation. These were made by Ellen Morton (c. 1826\u2013?), who was noted for her sewing skills, possibly with her younger sister, Margaret (c. 1833\u20131880), who was known for her cooking. Their mother, \u201cAunt Eve,\u201d raised the Morton children and is affectionately remembered in family histories. The Federal Slave Schedule of 1850 lists sixteen people between the ages of six and sixty as enslaved members of the Morton household. After emancipation, Ellen remained at the Knob, where she tended Mr. Morton until his death, in 1887, at the age of ninety-one. In the Federal census of 1870 she is listed as the wife of Mason Littlejohn, forty-four years of age, and her occupation was keeping house.Stacy C. Hollander, \u201cWhig Rose and Swag Border Quilt,\u201d exhibition label for Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum. Stacy C. Hollander and Valérie Rousseau, curators. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2014. Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.　To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.org","Very few quilts officially attributed to slaves exist in the historic record today, and even fewer possess documentation identifying the individual slave (or slaves) by name, as is the case with Whig Rose and Swag Border Quilt. This exquisite artwork was made on the Russellville, Kentucky, plantation known as \"The Knob,\" home of Mr. and Mrs. Marmaduke Beckwith Morton. Had it not survived with a handwritten label pinned to the back by a descendant in 1933, it is likely that the quilt would have been erroneously ascribed to the mistress of the household, Mrs. Marmaduke Beckwith Morton, (1811-1880). Confirmation that Whig Rose and Swag Border Quilt was, in fact, stitched by female slaves contributes valuable information to research concerning American quilt history\u2014specifically of the antebellum period.The influence of African American quilters is integral to the history of American quilting itself. The first slaves arrived on this continent in the 17th century and, since that time, have participated in the technical and aesthetic evolution of quilt making as a creative practice. Moreover, slavery was the forced labor behind the explosive growth of the cotton industry. By 1860, the US furnished 75% of the world\u2019s cotton, which equated to 60% of the nation\u2019s exports\u2014entirely a result of the approximately four-million African Americans enslaved on cotton, sugar, and tobacco plantations in the South. Much of the cotton was transformed into affordable textiles produced domestically at mills in northern states. As a result, the US witnessed a burgeoning culture of quilt making that expanded alongside agriculture and industry.The surface of this exquisitely handworked quilt is perforated with a multitude of micro-stitches to produce the stippled pattern throughout. Indigenous flora is raised using the trapunto stuffing technique, and the pieced design is a traditional Whig Rose motif. The Whig political party was active in the decades leading up to the Civil War. They were vocal supporters of abolition\u2014an ironic affiliation given the conditions of production of this quilt. Whigs advocated for the participation of women in presidential campaign clubs and, as a result, women became a primary force in the Whig campaign to abolish slavery. This motif appears frequently in quilts of this time and it is speculated that women used the seemingly benign decoration of the rose to express their political leanings, which may have been contrary to their husband\u2019s allegiance. Sarah Margolis-Pineo, Handstitched Worlds: The Cartography of Quilts, Self-Taught Genius Gallery, July 16 \u2013 October 3, 2018."]},"beginDate":{"label":"Begin Date","value":"1845"},"displayDate":{"label":"Date","value":"c. 1850"},"exhibitions":{"label":"Exhibitions","value":[{"exhibitionDisplayDate":"Thursday, March 16, 2023 - Sunday, October 29, 2023","exhibitionEndISODate":"2023-10-29","exhibitionID":"248","exhibitionISOBeginDate":"2023-03-16","exhibitionBeginDate":"2023","exhibitionTitle":"What That Quilt Knows About Me","exhibitionEndDate":"2023"},{"exhibitionDisplayDate":"Tuesday, May 13, 2014 - Sunday, August 17, 2014","exhibitionEndISODate":"2014-08-17","exhibitionID":"171","exhibitionISOBeginDate":"2014-05-13","exhibitionBeginDate":"2014","exhibitionTitle":"Self-Taught Genius","exhibitionEndDate":"2014"},{"exhibitionDisplayDate":"Monday, July 16, 2018 - Wednesday, October 3, 2018","exhibitionEndISODate":"2018-10-03","exhibitionID":"226","exhibitionISOBeginDate":"2018-07-16","exhibitionBeginDate":"2018","exhibitionTitle":"Handstitched Worlds: The Cartography of Quilts","exhibitionEndDate":"2018"}]},"altNums":{"label":"Alternative Numbers","value":"A0047"},"dimensions":{"label":"Dimensions","value":"88 x 104 \" (223.5 x 264.2 cm)"}}]}