Leather multi-compartment Wallet. Some remnants of a red printed logo on interior flap. Contained the Civil War discharge papers of William Sweigart, Private, 195th Regiment.
Colorized print depicting the violent 1763 attack by the Paxton Gang against the local tribe of Susquehannock peoples, called "Conestogas" by the English. This print was created in 1841, for Events of Indian history by James Witmer.
Pieced quilt of silks, cotton batting, glazed cotton back, cut in 2 halves, made by Quaker Deborah Simmons Coates, wife of Lindley Coates (1794-1856). Has 19 horizontal bands of dress silks (many produced by Harmonist Community) in alternating triangles arranged in Birds in the Air or Flying Geese pattern using the template method. Large triangles of varying patterns alternate with large triangles with 3 smaller appliqued triangles of contrasting patterns. Colors are browns, tans, beiges, electric and royal blue, peach and green. Each quilt half has a green silk binding on the three outside edges, and tan silk on the inner vertical cut edge. Quilting patterns are clamshell, diamond, cross in a square and diagonals.
At quilt center is a cream-colored triangle with an abolitionist stamp depicting a kneeling enslaved Black male in chains over the words: "Deliver me from the oppression/ of man." This stamped triangle was cut in two when quilt was divided; image now hidden by modern binding. According to Cuesta Benberry research, this image of a kneeling enslaved person originated with the English ceramic firm of Wedgwood in the late 1700s. See items 08.242 and 42.76.11 in the collectiosn of Metropolitan Museum of Art for seals with a similar motif. The Wedgwood family were ardent abolitionists, decorating various ceramics with this image, resulting in its rapid adoption by American anti-slavery groups. Used in many forms and media over the years, it remains the logo of the still-existing Pennsylvania Abolition Society and appears on organization's official publications.
Lindley and Deborah Coates, of West Grove, Chester Co., married there on 12/16/1819 but lived near Christiana in Sadsbury Twp., Lancaster Co. They attended Sadsbury Friends Meeting House near Christiana. Ardent abolitionists, their home was what is now designated station #5 on the Underground Railway. Lindley became President of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1840, before William Lloyd Garrison. Deborah Coates became a Hicksite Quaker minister according to historian Beverly Wilson Palmer. Hicksites were the more radical Quakers, named after leader Elias Hicks.
Provenance
Quilt passed to son Simmons (1821-1862) & wife Emeline Jackson. (Deborah Coates lived w/ widow Emeline on her Chester Co. farm (Evergreen Hall in West Grove) for many years following Simmon's 1862 death. See census records). Descent to their daughter Elizabeth Jackson Coates who married Marriott Brosius, U.S. congressman from Lancaster. The quilt was then divided between their two daughters, donor's maternal grandmother Graceanna Brosius Biddle and her sister Gertrude Coho Reinhartson. The two halves were then reunited when given to donor, Marjorie Ayars Laidman. Deborah S. Coates was donor's great great great grandmother.
Overall good condition. Two halves of quilt (with recent inside binding on cut edges) are "mounted" on cotton muslin, side-by-side. Silks show significant deterioration -- cracking, splitting and abrasion -- with some losses. Binding also has deterioration with some losses. (See 1985-86 condition report by conservator Linnea Davis.)
Documented in Quilt Harvest #448-B (records in Archives).
Object ID
G.86.05
Place of Origin
Sadsbury Twp.
Credit
Gift of Marjorie A. Laidman, Heritage Center Collection
Foldable eyeglasses with D-shaped blue-tinted lenses and similar side panel lenses. Worn by Amos Ellmaker (1787-1851) and are seen in portrait.
Provenance
Amos Ellmaker (1787-1851) wore these glasses, including during his sitting for accomplished Lancaster portrait painter Jacob Eichholtz. Amso graduated from Princeton before embarking on a long and successful career as both an officer in the army and a lawyer; rising to positions such as State Representative and Attorney General of the Commonwealth. Amos almost became a state senator as well, but lost to the future president, James Buchanan.
Epaulets (2) and case. Object ID changed to 1956.009.3
Case: Sheet iron construction, bean shaped case with internal support for epaulets, painted black. Central bail handle on hinged lid with hasp type clasp at front.
Epaulets A & B: Gold, brass, silk.
**** Note: Appears to be epaulets described in 1956.009 and belonging to General John Fulton Reynolds. See object file for additional information.
Reproduced copies of seals of citizens of Lancaster County, Casts were taken from documents of the Lancaster County Courthouse - deeds, justice of the peace, notary public, personal. Includes Penn's Grant seal.
Traveling trunk. Large chest-shaped with metal sheet strips at corners. Studded wooden bands at front, back, and top over canvas-covered wood. Two metal catches on lid, remains of leather strap. Lid is rounded. Exterior has remnants of travel destination stickers and one end cap has Henry Elliot Johnston's initials stenciled 'HEJ'.
