Textile Travels
A visit to: The National Museum of the American Coverlet
By Nancy Ebner
This summer my husband and I drove to Maine to visit our oldest son and his family. Although we usually fly across the country to visit, a driving trip was needed to safely transport my great aunt’s fine china to its new home. We enjoyed the Scenic Byways of Vermont, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania and were pleasantly surprised by the vast forests of the Northeast.
One of our stops along the way was: The National Museum of the American Coverlet in Bedford, Pennsylvania. The museum houses both “geometric” and “figured and fancy” American-woven coverlets dated between 1771 to 1889, as well as a variety of textile production equipment.
While my husband explored the town, I phoned the number on the museum door to alert the director that I was there and asked to be let in. Founder Melinda Zongor greeted me warmly and was prepared to tell me all about their historical coverlets and the museum. As a former antiques dealer and collector of coverlets, she was a wealth of information and enthusiasm.
A bit about coverlets derived from Melinda’s, 2005 exhibition booklet: Coverlets at the Gilchrist, American Coverlets 1771-1889:
A coverlet is a woven bedcover that is used on top of a bed. It is often composed of two or three woven panels sewn together to achieve the needed width to cover the bed. Cotton warp and wool weft were the most common fibers used in weaving American coverlets.
The “geometric” patterned coverlets, based on circles and squares, were made on harness shaft looms using primarily overshot, summer and winter, turned twill and double weave techniques. These were typically woven in the home and rarely present with a name or date.
The” figured and fancy” coverlets denote a coverlet with realistic patterns such as animals, flowers or buildings. These are the coverlets that often contain names and dates and were woven on looms with a jacquard attachment, barrel looms or drawlooms. These loom types were too large and expensive for the home, so figured coverlets were woven by professional weavers.
The museum was established in 2006 to house the collection owned by Melinda and her husband Laszlo with its primary mission: “To maintain a full-time living institution devoted to coverlet exhibition, study education and research.” The exhibit changes annually and when I visited, a new set of coverlets had just been put up for display. The title for this year’s exhibition is: BIG NEWS, Life in the Time of Coverlets. Its focus is coverlets with dates, displayed in the context of events that occurred in the US around the time they were woven. Colorful catalogs of the current and past exhibitions can be purchased at the museum or online at coverletmuseum.org/books.
Thanks to many donors, the museum collection has grown over the years to around 1000 works. It is a gem of a museum and well worth the visit!
PHOTO Bench surrounded by coverlets
PHOTO Framed “figured” coverlet at the renowned Bedford Springs Resort
PHOTO Giant spinning wheel with coverlets in background
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