Corded Whitework Quilt – Cotton and flax
Unidentified member of the Owsley family – 1790-1815, Lincoln County, Kentucky
Filson Museum Collection [2021.20.1] – Gift of a member of the Owsley Family

This quilt, made during the early republic period of America, is the Filson’s oldest quilt. Flax was a cash crop in Kentucky, and early homesteads also cultivated small cotton crops for their own use. During the American Revolution and the War of 1812, young women were encouraged to boycott fabric imported from England and use locally made cloth as a patriotic act, showing their support for their new nation and its developing economy.

This quilt descended through the family of Daniel Owsley (1765-1835), who established a home in 1789 near the Wilderness Road and Crab Orchard, south of Lancaster, Kentucky. After the death of his first wife, Ann Slade (ca. 1765-1809), he married Nancy Ann Pearl (1776-1853). The quilt may have been made by one of these two women or by Louisa A. Foster Owsley (1799-1877), who married Daniel’s nephew Nudigate Owsley (1780-1862).

Suggestions for treatment:
After careful study in a conservation lab, treatments may include gentle wet cleaning and delicate hand-stitched overlays to protect fragile areas, all while preserving the quilt’s raised, stuffed detail. This work is very labor-intensive and time-consuming.