QUILT INDEX RECORD

25-21-348

Who documented this quilt?

Texas Sesquicentennial Quilt Association, Texas Quilt Search

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin

Texas Quilt Search Number:

tqs_0015

Person filling out this form is:

Quilt owner; Relative of quiltmaker; Other

Source of the information on this quilt:

This quilt was identified and reviewed during the Texas Sesquicentennial Quilt Association's Texas Quilt Search, 1983-1985. Karey Bresenhan served as quilt historian.

When was the form filled out?

1983-1985

Choose the best description of the source to the quilt:

Quilt owner

If you are the quilt owner, how did you acquire this quilt?

Inherited

Describe the relationship to the quilt's maker:

The present owner of this quilt is the great great granddaughter of the quiltmaker.

This is a:

Finished quilt

Owner's name for quilt:

Ark and Dove

How wide is the quilt?

70 in.

How long is the quilt?

86 in.

Shape of edge:

Straight

Shape of corners:

Straight

What color is the quilt?

Green; Orange; Red; White

Overall color scheme:

Bright or primary colors

Quilt's condition:

Good/moderate use

Damage:

Fading; Open seams; Stains; Tears or holes

Describe the damage:

original vivid green of branches has faded to near grey-tan

Repairs:

Stabilized with netting; Tear or hole sewn together

Notes on condition, damage, or repairs:

In 1985, as part of the preparations for the “Lone Stars: A Legacy of Texas Quilts, 1836-1936” exhibit in the Texas Capitol Rotunda, the Texas Sesquicentennial Quilt Association sponsored a Quilt Conservation Seminar. Part of the seminar was a two-day intensive hands-on laboratory attended by quilt experts who stabilized, backed, or otherwise prepared the quilts, including this one, for this exhibition.

Time period:

1850-1875

Date estimated by an antique dealer, quilt historian or appraiser:

ca. 1860

Who estimated the quilt's date?

Karey Bresenhan

Describe the quilt's layout:

Block pattern

Subject of the quilt:

doves and ark

Number of quilt blocks:

25, plus center ark

Arrangement of quilt blocks:

Rotated, but less than 45 degrees

Spacing of quilt blocks:

Side by side

Number of different block patterns used in the quilt:

3

What is the shape of the quilt blocks?

Squares

Number of borders:

2

Describe the borders:

top and bottom border of thick red strip

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton

Fabric types used to make the quilt top:

Muslin

Piecing techniques used to make the quilt top:

Hand Piecing

Applique techniques used to make the quilt top:

Hand Applique

Embellishment techniques used to make the quilt top:

Embroidery

Describe the techniques used to make the quilt top:

one dove of the 25 large doves has its eye and eyebrow made by embroidery; all other eyes on the doves are simply circles buttonhole stitched down.

Materials used to make the back:

Cotton

What color is the back of the quilt?

White

Describe the back:

Hand sewn; Same fabric used throughout; Solid/plain

Materials used in the quilt binding:

Cotton

Fabric structure of the binding:

Other

How is the binding made?

Back turned to front

How are the layers held together?

Hand quilting

Thread type used for the quilting:

cotton

Color of thread used in the quilting:

white

Quilting designs used, overall motifs:

Clamshell; Double parallel lines; Outline; Triple parallel lines

Describe the quilting designs used:

mainly outline quilting, but also double and triple quilting around the ark and a few of the flowers; clamshell quilting in borders

Features or notes about the quilt's appearance, materials, or construction:

Karey Bresenhand reviewed this quilt and believes the quilt's Ark and Dove pattern is very unusual; she has seen only one other quilt like it--a quilt from Utah featured in the book Quilts in Utah. This Texas quilt has a folk-art look to it. Two rows of doves on right face left; three rows of doves on left face right; two smaller doves sit on ark at center but are out of proportion to ark size. Doves are hand appliqued with a running stitch. Body of each dove is designed with a scalloped effect to look like feathers.

Quilt top made by:

Russell, Harriet Lucinda Acker McDavid

Quilted by:

Russell, Harriet Lucinda Acker McDavid

Where the quilt was made, county:

Rusk

Where the quilt was made, state:

Texas (TX)

Where the quilt was made, country:

United States

How was this quilt acquired?

Inheritance

Tell the story of how the quilt was obtained:

Quiltmaker Harriet Lucinda Acker McDavid Russell is the great great grandmother of the quilt's present owner Diane Lawton Mayer. Harriet and her husband Richmond R. McDavid moved to Rusk County, Texas in 1859 when Harriet was sixteen. She made this quilt for her first child, a daughter, born October 20, 1860. Her husband was a private in Company D, 14th Texas Infantry; he died in 1864 at the Battle of Sabine Crossing, leaving Mrs. McDavid to rear her daughter alone. The quilt was handed down from mother to daughter and ultimately to daughter Diane Mayer, the current owner.

Describe anything about the history of the quilt that wasn't already recorded in a previous field:

The quiltmaker named her daughter Annie, but family history states that she was so busy caring for wounded Confederate soldiers that she didn't take time to give her daughter a full name. Annie was eventually named Annie Eugenia Florence McDavid at the request of one of the wounded soldiers "who sorely missed his sweetheart." Sometime later Harriet married a second time. She and her husband Captain Creighton Buchanan Russell had eight children. Annie Eugenia also married; she named her own daughter Eugenia Florence also.

Why was the quilt made?

Art or personal expression

The quilt was made to be used for:

Bedding, special occasion

Quilt is presently used as:

Keepsake/memento

Where did the maker get their materials?

Unknown

Where did the maker find their pattern?

Unknown

Describe the source of the pattern:

possibly original to maker

Exhibitions where this quilt was displayed:

One of 62 Texas quilts exhibited in “Lone Stars: A Legacy of Texas Quilts, 1836-1936,” Texas State Capitol Rotunda, Austin, Texas, April 19-21, 1986.

Related items such as diaries, obituaries, wills, household inventories, or pictures of the quiltmaker:

Texas Sesquicentennial Quilt Association’s Texas Quilt Search Archives

Publications (including web sites) where this quilt or maker was featured:

Bresenhan, Karoline Patterson and Nancy O'Bryant Puentes, Lone Stars: A Legacy of Texas Quilts, Vol. I, 1836-1936 (Austin: University of Texas Press), p. 52-53.

Ownership of this quilt is:

Private

Quilt owner's name:

Mayer, Diane Lawton

Quilt owner's state:

Texas (TX)

Quilt owner's country:

United States

Quiltmaker's maiden name:

Acker, Harriet Lucinda

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's birth date:

01/05/1843

Quiltmaker's birthplace, state:

South Carolina

Quiltmaker's birthplace, country:

United States

Quiltmaker's occupation:

homemaker, nurse during Civil War

Quiltmaker's father's name:

Acker, Deter

Number of children:

9

Who photographed this quilt?

Sharon Risedorph

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

Copyright holder:

Assistant Director Winedale