Collections record Beta

Collection Record Detail

Object Name

Quilt - Litchfield Female Academy

Object Number

1970-02-1

Description

Appliqued quilt with "Rose of Sharon" or "Whig Rose" design at center and Rosebud design border on white cotton ground. Large repeats of red and white flowers surrounded with leaves and each with four angular branches pin wheeling around. The patterns are printed calicoes - predominately green, then red and a white one with yellow design. The calicoes were cut out and appliqued to the ground, then cotton batting and backing of cotton, hand quilted all over.

Provenance

Label sewn to quilt: "This quilt was made by the pupils of Miss Pierce's school, Litchfield, Conn. for Jerusha Clark when she became engaged to Henry Peck of New Haven." Mrs. Ralph Kruse (Julia Howell) (donor) was Jerusha Clark Peck's great-great-granddaughter.

Comment

There is some discrepancy about the date of the quilt. A handwritten label sewn to the quilt suggests it was made for Jerusha Clark(e) by her classmates at Pierce's Litchfield Female Academy on her engagement to Henry Peck, which would date the quilt between 1813 (when Clarke attended) and 1818 (when she married Peck). The "Whig Rose" variation design was not popular until the 1830s. It is possible that this is a variation of the earlier "Rose of Sharon" design that eventually developed into the "Whig Rose."