Allanstand Cottage Industries; table mat; overshot; 1913; North Carolina
date: label: date made
content: 1913
name: label: maker
content: Allanstand School
notes: label: Description
content: A weaver or craftsperson associated with Allanstand Cottage Industries wove or assembled this "Double Chariot Wheels," overshot table mat by at least 1913 in Madison County, North Carolina. Allanstand was founded in 1897 by Frances Louisa Goodrich (1856-1944). Goodrich was one of many educated women from the North inspired by Christian progressivism, mission work, the settlement school movement, craft revival, and colonial revival that moved to Appalachia at the end of the nineteenth century to form craft schools and develop cottage craft-based industries that would benefit the local people and save dying handicrafts in the process. This table mat/coverlet fragment was purchased by the Smithsonian from the showroom of the Southern Educational Association, headquartered in Washington, D.C. at the Department of Agriculture Building in 1913 along with an assortment of other textiles and baskets. The Southern Educational Association held craft exchanges from 1913-1926. The SEA was directed by Martha Gielow with the encouragement of President Woodrow Wilson and his first wife, Ellen. First Lady, Ellen Wilson famously called upon craftspeople from the Southern Appalachian Mountains to decorate the Blue Mountain Room in the White House. This table mat is part of a very important early museum accession showcasing early-20th century craft revival in the Southern Appalachians. It is unclear is this mat was a reproduction weaving or a repurposed larger coverlet fragment. The decorative knotted fringe is similar to those found on other whole coverlets. This pattern is called “Double Chariot Wheels.” The plain weave ground cloth is made of a cotton warp and weft and the supplementary pattern weft is indigo-dyed wool.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: North Carolina, Madison
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Textiles
label: See more items in
content: Coverlets
label: See more items in
content: Textiles
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Southern Industrial Educational Association
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TE.T01375.000
label: catalog number
content: T01375.000
label: accession number
content: 56970
objectType: label: Object Name
content: table mat; overshot
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: cotton (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wool (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: Double Chariot Wheel (overall pattern)
label: Physical Description
content: overshot (overall production method/technique)