Object Number 2009.0009

Object Name

Quilt

Category

Textiles (Furnishing)

Credit Line/Donor

Museum purchase with funds drawn from the Centenary Fund and with funds provided by Samuel Pettit in memory of his wife Sally Pettit

Creator (Role)

Joanna Southcott (Quilter)
1750-12/27/1814
A Millinarian prophetess, Southcott published approximately 60 pamphlets of her own writings and claimed to be pregnant at the age of 65 with "the Shiloh." According to believers the baby was born on December 25, 1814 and ascended to Heaven immediately, thus accounting for the lack of a physical body. Two days later Southcott died and an autopsy revealed she was not pregnant at the time of her death. Though the church refused to recognize her writings she had thousands of followers. She was also ridiculed as a religious fanatic and an imposter in print and cartoons. Prior to her conversion in 1792 she worked as a domestic and an upholsterer. She was born the daughter of a farmer and a Methodist.

Place of Origin

England, United Kingdom, Europe

Date

1808

Mark or Signature or Inscription or Label

1. Mark; Center; "Joanna Southcott 1808"

Materials

Cotton

Techniques

pieced

Dimensions (inches)

106 (H) , 96 (W)

Dimensions (centimeters)

269.24 (H) , 243.84 (W)

Object Description

Text available soon.

Bibliography and Bibliographic Notes

[Book] Hopkins, James K. 1981 A Woman to Deliver Her People: Joanna Southcott and English Millenarianism in an Era of Revolution.
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[Book] Osler, Dorothy. 06//2001 North Country Quilts. 950-955.
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[Book] Eaton, Linda. 2014 Printed Textiles: British and American Cottons and Linens 1700-1850.
• Published: p. 354, C364
[Thesis] Frisch, Janice Elizabeth. 2013 English, Welsh, and Irish influences on the development of the block-style quilt in the United States. M.A. Indiana University Bloomington
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