Object Details
- Caption
- The embroidered design on this linen towel reserves it for kitchen décor rather than for drying dishes. Stitched in cotton thread on a white towel is a woman biking to the “Super Market” to shop for groceries. The housekeeping task is scheduled for “Wednesday” on this towel, part of a days-of-the-week set made from a needlecraft kit, a popular creative endeavor in the 1940s, when smaller, single-family homes and new appliances eased the burden of housework for middle-class women. Colorful fruits and vegetables fill the bicyclist’s basket, perhaps prompting her smile. She rides a red bicycle in blue checked pants and a yellow top. A large tree with green branches towers above the Super Market, and an American flag waves atop the grey-and-red trimmed building. Mary Thompson Ford (1861-1960) was both college-educated and a proud homemaker in Jersey City, NJ. Her daughter Blanche Ford Hart (1897-1992) likely embroidered these towels for use in their family kitchen.
- Cite As
- Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Theresa Allen
- 1943
- Accession Number
- 2008.0002.0006b
- Restrictions & Rights
- CC0
- Type
- towel
- Medium
- linen fabric, cotton embroidery thread, thread
- Dimensions
- 26 5/8 × 17 3/16 in. (67.6 × 43.6 cm)
- See more items in
- Anacostia Community Museum Collection
- Anacostia Community Museum
- Record ID
- acm_2008.0002.0006b
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/dl8056238f5-7852-4d4a-b36a-bdbd7a57511b
