CRAFTING CULTURE, FABRICATING IDENTITY Gender and Textiles in Limerick Lace, Clare Embroidery and the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework
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CRAFTING CULTURE, FABRICATING IDENTITY Gender and Textiles in Limerick Lace, Clare Embroidery and the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework by Susan Elizabeth Cahill A thesis submitted to the Department of Art in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada (September, 2007) Copyright © Susan Elizabeth Cahill, 2007 Abstract My thesis examines how identity was constructed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century amidst the growing possibilities of the cross-cultural transfer of ideas and products by analysing case studies of women-owned and -operated craft organisations: Limerick Lace and Clare Embroidery (Ireland) and the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework (United States). I contend that the increased accessibility of print culture, travel and tourism, and World’s Fairs enabled the women responsible for these craft organisations to integrate a pastiche of artistic influences – those recognised as international, national, and local – in order to create a specific and distinct style of craft. The Arts and Crafts movement, with its ideas about art, craft, design, and display, provided a supra-national language of social and artistic reform that sought to address the harshness of industrialisation and to elevate the status of craft and design. The national framework of revival movements – the Celtic Revival in Ireland and Colonial Revival in the United States – promoted the notion that Folk and peasant culture was fundamental to each country’s heritage, and its preservation and renewal was essential to fostering and legitimising a strong national identity. I critically access the way these case studies, which were geographically separate yet linked through chronology, gender, and craft, operated within these international and national movements, yet they negotiated these larger ideologies to construct identities that also reflected their local circumstances. My intention is to unite social history with material culture in order to investigate the ways in which the discussion and display of the crafts, and the artistic components of the textiles themselves operated as a vehicle for establishing identity. ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Janice Helland, who provided much encouragement, enthusiasm, and expertise throughout the research and writing of this project. I would also like to thank my thesis committee, Dr. Peter Thompson, Dr. Lynda Jessup, Dr. Jeffrey Brison, and Dr. Katherine Romba, whose comments and critiques were insightful and constructive. David Bosse at the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association Archive and Suzanne L. Flynt at the Memorial Hall Museum in Deerfield, Massachusetts offered support and involvement that went far beyond the call of duty, and I am very grateful for their help during my time doing on-site research. Friends and colleagues in the Art History department provided infinite support and wisdom throughout this process, and I would particularly like to thank Rebecca Ehlert, Erin Morton, Andrea Terry, and Kristy Holmes (among others). Finally, I would like to thank my mom, dad, and brother Andy, who kept me anchored in reality and constantly reassured me that not everyone’s happiness and peace of mind depended on whether I had a productive work day or not. iii Table of Contents Abstract ...........................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents ...........................................................................................................iv List of Figures.................................................................................................................vi Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................1 Chapter 2 LIMERICK LACE AND CLARE EMBROIDERY ...................................................17 Overview of Organisations International Influences Arts and Crafts Movement in Ireland National Influences Home Arts and Industries Celtic Revival Local Applications Craft and Philanthropy Reform and Education Division of Labour and Class Object and Design Chapter 3 DEERFIELD SOCIETY OF BLUE AND WHITE NEEDLEWORK..............................68 Overview of Organisation International Influences Philadelphia Centennial, 1876 Arts and Crafts Movement in the United States National Influences Colonial Revival Local Applications Gender, Craft, and Heritage Division of Labour and Cultural Inheritance Moral Environmental Imperative and Production Display and Tourism Object and Design iv Chapter 4 CONCLUSION .........................................................................................119 Works Consulted .........................................................................................................124 Figures ........................................................................................................................137 v List of Figures Figure 1. Photograph of Florence Vere O’Brien and Robert Vere O’Brien, 1883 (137). Figure 2. Limerick lace scarf, designed by Florence Vere O’Brien, worker unknown, 1887 (137). Figure 3. Class photograph, Limerick Lace School, c. 1899 (138). Figure 4. Ballyalla House, c. 1900 (138). Figure 5. Class photograph, Clare Embroidery, c. 1914 (139). Figure 6. Detail of smoked yoke, Dress, Clare Embroidery, designed by Florence Vere O’Brien, date unknown (139). Figure 7. Detail, Scarf, Limerick lace, designed by Emily Anderson, 1886 (140). Figure 8. Apron, Clare Embroidery, designed by Florence Vere O’Brien, c. 1900 (140). Figure 9. Hungarian apron with Folk motifs, designer unknown, nineteenth century (141). Figure 10. Detail, Hungarian tablecloth with Folk motifs, designer unknown, early 1900s (141). Figure 11. Tea cosy, designed and worked by Jessie Newbery, early 1900s (142). Figure 12. Cushion cover, designed and worked by Jessie Newbery, c. 1900 (142). Figure 13. “Holly,” “Lily of the Valley,” “Periwinkle,” Drawings and embroidered samplers, Clare Embroidery, designed by Florence Vere O’Brien, early 1900s (143). Figure 14. Pillowcase, Clare Embroidery, designed by Florence Vere O’Brien, early 1900s (143). Figure 15. Hand-drawn map of Old Deerfield, artist unknown, date unknown (144). Figure 16. Cover page, Flowers of the North-Eastern States, Ellen Miller and Margaret Whiting, 1895 (144). Figure 17. “Pasture Rose,” Flower design, Flowers of the North-Eastern States, Ellen Miller and Margaret Whiting, 1895 (145). Figure 18. “Knotweed,” Flower design, Flowers of the North-Eastern States, Ellen Miller and Margaret Whiting, 1895 (145). vi Figure 19. Pomegranate, Embroidery on linen, Wallhanging, the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework, designed by Ellen Miller and Margaret Whiting, 1908 (146). Figure 20. Two Red Roses Across the Moon, Embroidery on linen, Wallhanging, the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework, designed by Ellen Miller and Margaret Whiting, 1919 (146). Figure 21. Untitled, Cross-stitch on linen, Table runner, the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework, designed by Ellen Miller and Margaret Whiting, c. 1907 (147). Figure 22. Detail of logo, Untitled, Cross-stitch on linen, Table runner, the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework, designed by Ellen Miller and Margaret Whiting, c. 1907(147). Figure 23. Advertisement Pamphlet showing logo, the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework, designer unknown, date unknown (148). Figure 24. Entrance to Miller home with mounted wheel, the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework, photographer unknown, date unknown (148). Figure 25. Embroiderers working in their own home, the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework, photographed by Mary and Frances Allen, 1900 – 1903 (149). Figure 26. Display of embroidery, the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework, photographed by Mary and Frances Allen, 1899 – 1905 (149). Figure 27. Rose Tree, Embroidery on linen, Wallhanging, the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework, designed by Ellen Miller and Margaret Whiting, 1910 – 1916 (150). vii Chapter 1 Introduction This thesis seeks to examine the way in which identity is constructed through the dialogic relationship between international, national, and local frameworks by analysing case studies of women-owned and -operated craft organisations in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century: Limerick Lace and Clare Embroidery (Ireland) established by Florence Vere O’Brien and the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework (United States) founded by Ellen Miller and Margaret Whiting.1 The project aims to engage critically with the way in which each association managed to balance a pastiche of artistic influences – those recognised as international, national, and local – in order to create a specific and distinct style of craft. My intention is to unite social history with material culture in order to investigate the ways in which the discussions and displays of the crafts along with the artistic components of the textiles themselves operated as vehicles for establishing identity. I frame these craft organisations around the triangular interconnection of the international, the national, and the local;2 this methodology, however, must be implemented cautiously as each of these components are complex and multifarious. I aim