Collect: Americana

Provenance:

The first coverlet: Mrs. C. L. McCoy [Davison and Mayer-Thurman 1973, 161],

Given to the Chicago Historical Society (later the Chicago History Museum), by 1967 [incoming receipt RX5851, February 20, 1967; copy in curatorial object file],

Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of the Chicago Historical Society, 1967.

The second coverlet: Mrs. Ben J. Taylor, Fairfield, Iowa, by December 1971 [incoming receipt RX8365, December 2, 1971; in registrar file],

Art Institute of Chicago, Purchased with funds provided by Mildred Davison, 1972.

Display and Loan History:

Art Institute of Chicago, American Coverlets, July 14–October 14, 1973.

Publication History:

Mildred Davison and Christa C. Mayer-Thurman, Coverlets: A Handbook on the Collection of Woven Coverlets in The Art Institute of Chicago, exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1973), 161 and 220.

Note:

"Daniel Stephenson was born in 1823 in Huddersfield, Yorkshire County, England. He came to America in 1840. His father was a weaver in a factory at Geneva, on Seneca Lake, New York. It is known that Daniel was in Canada in 1850 as an employee for Messrs. Clark and Roblett, as head weaver. Thereafter he went to Springfield, Ohio, as an apprentice to a weaver named Robert Crossley for two years. Some records say he came to Iowa in 1845, but did not stay. He returned from Ohio to Fairfield, Iowa, in 1852 and set up his shop. His early coverlets made 1854 carried his name and the name of the county all along the outer border as an inscription. In later years he changed this way of signing his coverlets in that he placed his name, date and place in the traditional place-the corner.

Stephenson continued to weave until the outbreak of the Civil War at which time the demand for coverlets diminished. In 1877, he moved to a farm, where he lived until he died in July 1892.

He is said to have brought his loom from Ohio, and the flying shuttles he used were shipped from England by an uncle. His designs were his own. His customers made their selections. The cost of weaving was between $3.50 and $5 per coverlet. To weave the name of the customer and the date in the corner was 25 cents extra. Many of his clients grew their own wool and some did even their own spinning. Others took their wool to Bonaparte, Iowa, to the woolen mills to have it prepared. As far as the dyeing was concerned, Stephenson did much of it himself. He wove in blues, greens and reds and one coverlet found was colored in lavender." Quote from Mildred Davison and Christa C. Mayer-Thurman, Coverlets: A Handbook on the Collection of Woven Coverlets in The Art Institute of Chicago, exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1973), 220.