Adeline Harris Sears (American, 1839–1931)
Autograph Quilt, ca. 1856–63
Rhode Island
Silk with inked signatures; 77 x 80 in. (195.6 x 203.2 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, William Cullen Bryant Fellows Gifts, 1996 (1996.4)
Curator Comment
In 1856, seventeen-year-old Adeline Harris, the daughter of a well-to-do Rhode Island mill owner, conceived a unique quiltmaking project. She sent small diamond-shaped pieces of white silk worldwide to people she esteemed as the most important figures of her day, asking each to sign the silk and return it to her. By the time all the signatures were returned and ready to be stitched into a "tumbling-blocks" patterned quilt, Adeline had amassed an astonishing collection of autographs. Her quilt features the signatures of eight American presidents; luminaries from the worlds of science, religion, and education; heroes of the Civil War; such authors as Charles Dickens and Ralph Waldo Emerson; and an array of prominent artists. Today, the autographs displayed in this beautiful and immaculately constructed quilt provide an intriguing glimpse into the way an educated young woman of the mid-nineteenth century viewed her world.
While Philippe de Montebello would never admit to being a true quilt aficionado, during his tenure he has supported the growth of this popular collection and has overseen four exhibitions of American quilts. A catalogue of the collection was published in 1990 and an enlarged edition appeared in 2007. In 1977 there were forty-nine quilts in the collection—today there are almost one hundred.
Amelia Peck, Marica F. Vilcek Curator, Department of American Decorative Arts