Now and again I visit family in Bath and on my last trip I fulfilled a wish to visit the American Museum. So on a glorious Sunday I made it to Claverton Manor close to the University of Bath.
If you are at all interested in American history it really is well worth the trip. I went to see the textiles but there are many other rooms devoted to early American history. The lower level has a large screen explaining the early exploration of the country, displays about the Declaration of Independence, the American West and Native Americans. The ground floor has a lovely Country Store, a Folk art gallery and rooms set out in different periods. Many rooms include bed covers and clothing.
I saw a very nice embroidery sampler made by Hannah Taylor dated 1771.
The first floor has more period rooms but here you will find the textiles collection. The quilts range from the eighteenth to the mid twentieth century. They hold over 200 quilts and the collection is considered to be one of the finest of its type in Europe. The quilts are displayed in special hanging frames which you can turn like the pages of a giant book. You can only take photographs without a flash so apologies for the quality of my pictures.
This one is the Baltimore Album Quilt from 1850 and was made by a group of ladies and a close up next
This next one is called the Chalice Quilt for obvious reasons..
And this splendid black and white coverlet was made on a Jacquard loom
Finally I came across the Shaker Room with it's delightful slender furniture. The Shaker people wanted their communities to reflect their notion of heaven. since there is no dirt in heaven, there could be no dirt in Shaker villages. cleanliness was, therefore, an important part of everyday life.
"Clean your rooms well: for good spirits will not live where there is dirt. There is no dirt in heaven".
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