American Material Culture and Architecture
General
National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution
The Index of American Design consists of approximately 18,000 watercolor renderings of American decorative arts objects from the colonial period through the nineteenth century. Produced as part of a Works Progress Administration project from 1935 through 1942, this visual archive reflects the expanding interest in American material culture that began to emerge at that time.
Seventeenth Century
The Plymouth Colony Archive Project at the University of Virginia
This Plymouth Colony Archive presents a collection of searchable texts, including court records, Colony laws, 17th century texts, research and seminar analysis of various topics, biographical profiles of selected colonists, probate inventories, wills, maps, town and fort plans, architectural and material culture studies.
Eighteenth Century
Coming soon!
Nineteenth Century
American Memory, Library of Congress
This collection of approximately 2,800 lantern slides represents an historical view of American buildings and landscapes built during the period 1850-1920. It represents the work of Harvard faculty, such as Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., Bremer W. Pond, and James Sturgis Pray, as well as that of prominent landscape architects throughout the country. The collection offers views of cities, specific buildings, parks, estates and gardens, including a complete history of Boston's Park System. In addition to photographs, views of locations around the country include plans, maps, and models. Hundreds of private estates from all over the United States are represented in the collection through contemporary views of their houses and gardens (including features such as formal gardens, terraces, and arbors).
Twentieth Century
Quilts and Quiltmaking in America, 1978-1996
American Memory, Library of Congress
Quilts and Quiltmaking in America showcases materials from two American Folklife Center collections, the Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project Collection (1978) and the "All-American Quilt Contest" sponsored by Coming Home, a division of Lands' End, and Good Housekeeping. Together these collections provide a glimpse into America's diverse quilting traditions. The quilt documentation from the Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project, an ethnographic field project conducted by the American Folklife Center in cooperation with the National Park Service, includes 229 photographs and 181 recorded interviews with six quiltmakers in Appalachian North Carolina and Virginia. These materials document quilts and quilting within the context of daily life and reflect a range of backgrounds, motivations, and aesthetic sensibilities. The materials presented from the Lands' End All-American Quilt Contest collection include images of approximately 180 winning quilts from across the United States. The collection represents a wide range of quiltmaking, from highly traditional to innovative, and the quilts pictured exhibit excellent design and technical skill in a variety of styles and materials.
Twenty-First Century
Being made!