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Before the widespread availability of sewing machines, hand-sewing was a valued skill, and decorative sewing accessories such as needle books and pincushions were common household items. This needle book consists of an embossed card cover with a fashionable Greek key border, pinked fabric \u201cpages\u201d inside to hold the needles, and silk ribbon ties, all held together by tiny, neat stitches. Deborah Ferris Bringhurst (1773-1844) saved this item as a keepsake from a young relative, Elizabeth P. Fowler (b. 1822). The wrapping paper that contained the needle book bears a penciled note by Deborah: \u201cFrom dear little Elizabeth P. Fowler 1st Mos. [month] 29th 1833.\u201d It is possible that Elizabeth made this needle book herself, as books and periodicals of the time often recommended such crafts to girls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elizabeth was the daughter of Francis Martin Fowler (b. 1785) and Mary Ann Fowler, n\u00e9e <\/em>Pole (1786-1867); Mary Ann was a cousin of Deborah\u2019s husband, Joseph Bringhurst, Jr. (1767-1834). The Fowlers traveled frequently from Baltimore, Maryland to visit the Bringhursts at their home in Wilmington, Delaware. Deborah\u2019s almanacs from the 1830s contain memoranda about these visits, including records of the families sledding together and a list of the Fowler children\u2019s birthdates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, iron and steel were important Mid-Atlantic industries, and, at their height, Delaware manufacturers like the Tasker Iron Works in New Castle and the Edge Moor Iron Company in Wilmington employed hundreds of people. On occasion, workers were permitted to use pig iron scraps to make figural door stops as a way to hone their craft and then sell them for a bit of extra money. This is likely how the frogs on display here were created. A label on the underside on one frog links it to the Deemer Steel Casting Co. in New Castle; the others likely came from other regional iron and steel works.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n These six frogs came from a collection of 91 that were once owned by Ronald M. Finch (b. 1934). Finch gifted them to the University of Delaware Library in 2015 as part of his remarkable Delmarva Collection, which consists of more than 6,000 items related to the history and people of the state of Delaware and the Eastern Shores of Maryland and Virginia. According to Finch, his friend Allaire du Pont gave him his first frog as a housewarming gift in 1963.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/p>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the name suggests, butter pat dishes are little dishes used to hold individual pats of butter and were a staple of table settings during their heyday from circa 1850 to 1920. After their decline in popularity, butter pat dishes became popular vintage collectibles frequently gifted as keepsakes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n The butter pat dishes in the Patricia D. Brown Collection are mementos of affection between Brown and her domestic partner, Anne Preston, but they also represent a piece of local Delaware history. The collection includes 74 commemorative Spode brand dishes that Anne Preston, a crystal restorer and business woman from Wilmington, gifted to Patricia Brown (b. 1929), a retired Air Force Colonel, Vietnam veteran, and University of Delaware alumni. Preston and Brown were friends with Grace Lloyd Collins Walsh (1896-1992), a Delaware native and businesswoman who owned a shop in Wilmington that sold luxury English pottery and other fine gifts from 1930-1950. Preston purchased the Spode brand butter pat dishes she gifted to Brown from Walsh\u2019s store. Notably, several of the dishes feature historical buildings in Wilmington, such as the Old Swedes Church and the Old Town Hall. These keepsakes tell a story of attachment between Brown and Preston and also reveal a history of women-run Delaware businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Henry Morris (1925-2019) operated his private Bird & Bull Press for fifty-five years (1958-2013). Born out of Morris\u2019 interest in handmade paper, the majority of his books were devoted to the art, craft, and history of printing and papermaking. Throughout his career Morris also made a concerted effort to preserve the history of his own bookmaking projects, saving many of the papers and materials that went into the work of his private press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Both the train set and logo sculpture seen here were made for Leonard Schlosser (1925-1991), a paper historian who partnered with Henry Morris on A Pair on Paper<\/em> (1976) and Practical Remarks on Modern Paper<\/em> (1981). Schlosser had intended to write an introduction for Three Lions and the Cross of Lorraine<\/em> (1992), but died before it could be completed. Morris regarded Schlosser as one of America\u2019s \u201cgreatest scholars and collectors of papermaking history.\u201d After Schlosser\u2019s death, his widow gifted them to Morris, for whom they then became mementos of his work and friendship with Schlosser.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [[INTRO PARAGRAPH]] Sewing Needle Book, circa 1833 [UD_EXHIBITION_ITEM] Before the widespread availability of sewing machines, hand-sewing was a valued skill, and decorative sewing accessories such as needle books and pincushions were common household items. This needle book consists of an embossed card cover with a fashionable Greek key border, pinked fabric \u201cpages\u201d inside to hold […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"parent":60,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-exhibition.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-158","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/what-they-saved\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/158"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/what-they-saved\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/what-they-saved\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/what-they-saved\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/what-they-saved\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/what-they-saved\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":798,"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/what-they-saved\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/158\/revisions\/798"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/what-they-saved\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/60"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhibitions.lib.udel.edu\/what-they-saved\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n\n\nCast Iron Frog Door Stops, circa 1900s-1920s<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nButter Pat Dishes, circa 1930s-1950s<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nBird & Bull Press Train Set, March 1974<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n