1926 James Cunningham's Appliqued Pillowcases
date: label: Date made
content: 1926
name: label: quilter
content: unknown
notes: label: Description
content: This is one of two matching appliqued pillowcases and a bedcover that were made in China in the 1920s. Rev. Alexander Cunningham, a Presbyterian minister in China at the time, sent them to the United States on the birth of his nephew, James Cunningham, in 1926. Both pillowcases are white with a single blue square at each end. On either side of each blue square is a figure of a boy with a ball, a bird, a cat, and a dog; all are made of overlapping blue circles.
label: Description
content: Alexander Cunningham was born March 13, 1861, in Murrayville, Illinois. He graduated from Illinois State Normal University in 1887 and McCormick Theological Seminary in 1890. In that same year he married Mary E. Neely, and they left for China to become missionaries. Assigned to the Presbyterian North China Mission, they were active missionaries in China from 1890 to 1933, and after retirement continued to live in China until 1940. After fifty years as missionaries, they returned to California on the eve of World War II. Alexander Cunningham died in Los Angeles, California, on September 20, 1943. This appliquéd pillowcase with the matching bedcover may be the product of a mission where Rev. Alexander Cunningham served.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: China
topic: label: Subject
content: Quilting
label: Subject
content: Children
label: Subject
content: Chinese
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Textiles
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content: Textiles
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content: Domestic Furnishings
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content: Quilts
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Nancy Cunningham MacDonald
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1986.0676.02
label: catalog number
content: 1986.0676.02
label: accession number
content: 1986.0676
objectType: label: Object Name
content: pillowcase, quilted
label: Object Name
content: pillowcase
label: Object Type
content: quilts
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: fabric, cotton (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: thread, cotton (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 21 in x 16 in; 52 cm x 39 cm