Quilt, Album pattern

First Reform Churches of Fishkill and Hopewell

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Album quilts were extremely popular in the mid-nineteenth century and were made in every part of the country. They often commemorated a particular event such as a birth, marriage, retirement, or leave-taking. Sometimes, however, this type of quilt was made purely to acknowledge and give expression to the bonds of friendship that linked those who contributed to them. Although the signatures of individual makers do appear on some of the blocks, neither dates nor place names appear on this quilt. It is thought to have been made in southeastern New York State because the unusual names found on the quilt match those found in the towns of Fishkill and Hopewell in Dutchess County. Some of the makers' names were found in the records of the Dutch First Reformed churches for these towns. Stylistically, the quilt could be dated between 1840 and 1870. Nevertheless, a date of about 1855–60 at the earliest seems most likely because, although the rest of the quilt is handstitched, the white cotton edge binding has been sewn to the quilt by machine. A sewing machine would only have become available to the makers around 1860.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art