Ruth Culver Coleman

These drawings were likely made by Margaret Whiting or Ellen Miller, founders of the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework in Massachusetts. The society’s mission was to revive the craft of needlework and create an industry to boost the local economy. Beginning in the 1890s, Whiting and Miller documented historical embroideries across the Northeast, making hundreds of sketches to preserve each textile and its methods of construction. Drawings were labeled with the embroiderer’s name and type of object. Some contained detailed notes about color, shading, and technique, as seen here.

These drawings were made from an embroidery by Ruth Culver Coleman, who also used similar motifs in embroidering this valance, which would have hung at the top of a four-poster bed. More than a century after Coleman’s death, her designs—as captured by Whiting and Miller—may have served as inspiration for the Deerfield Society needleworkers. [see also 45.006.7, 45.006.12, 45.006.13].