"Oregon-Mexico" pictorial embroidery; Pennsylvania; ca.1846
date: label: date made
content: 1846-1847
notes: label: Description
content: This plushwork pictorial embroidery was probably made in or near Pottsville, Pennsylvania, presumably by a girl or woman who was interested in the question of westward expansion - the design commemorates the Oregon territory and the Mexican War. Schuylkill County was in the anthracite coal mining region, and home to many thousands of German immigrants. The eagle and other patriotic images such as flags and shields surface occasionally in their decorative arts. The Goschenhoppen Museum holds a wool embroidered quilt made in about 1860 with patriotic motifs, including a small eagle. The Schwenkfelder Museum in Pennsburg holds a fraktur with a large multicolor eagle holding arrows, branches, and a banner inscribed “Glorious Triumph”, with another banner celebrating General Zachary Taylor (a hero of the Mexican War) above the eagle, so there is some corroboration that the issue of westward expansion was of concern in the area. The wool cross stitch and plush-work embroidery features an image of an eagle with a Stars and Stripes shield; clutching arrows and flags, head and wings outstretched, in a shell "boat", against a turbulent sea, with unidentifiable landscape scenes at each side in the background. Across the top is a banner with plushwork floral motifs at the corners, inscribed "Oregon Mexico" and at bottom another banner inscribed “E Pluribus Unum”. When the embroidery was removed from its frame for cleaning, it was noted “Upon removing the original backboard we were pleased to find a newspaper page, with its partial title visible enough to identify. It is an obscure mining newspaper whose whole title is "Pottsville Emporium And Schuylkill Mining Register", Vol I, No. 9, February 27, 1847. This paper was issued in Pottsville only from early January 1847 until April 10, 1847. (for the newspaper history see: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87062131/). From the look of the reverse, the frame had not been opened since the date of framing, probably in early 1847.” NMAH has a small plate in the ceramics collection that has the same image of the eagle with the seashell boat and landscape behind. The banners and text do not appear on the plate.
place: label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Pottsville
topic: label: web subject
content: Mexican War
label: web subject
content: Needlework
label: related event
content: Mexican War
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Textiles
label: See more items in
content: Textiles
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2015.0218.01
label: accession number
content: 2015.0218
label: catalog number
content: 2015.0218.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Pictorial embroidery
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: linen, wool, silk, glass beads, cut steel beads (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cross stitch; plushwork (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 18 11/16 in x 21 in; 47.4345 cm x 53.34 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 27 1/4 in x 29 1/2 in; 69.215 cm x 74.93 cm