Object Record
Images
Metadata
Object Name |
Housewife |
Catalog Number |
0985.13.01183 |
Date |
ca. 1862 |
Description |
Housewife: The roll-up style housewife consists of a brown/gray cloth (believed cotton) exterior. The interior has two green cloth (believed cotton) pockets containing four buttons (two fancy decorative black,one plain decorative black, and one plain white), and and two cardboard spools of thread, as well as two metal pins and one sewing needle threaded with black thread pinned into the pockets. A roll-up area at the bottom exposes several swatches of fabric in alternating red and green wool swatches; the swatches are covered with flaps on either side, constructed of black leather exterior and multicolored silk plaid on the interior. Black velvet edging is around the interior and the leather swatch flaps. |
Dimensions |
W-4.5 L-12.5 inches |
Owned |
Channing Moore Southal Smith |
Owner Regiment |
13th Battallion Virginia Light Artillery, Co. A, "Otey Battery" |
Made |
Kinnie E. Smith |
Provenance |
Pvt. Channing Moore Southal Smith used this housewife during the war. He served in the "Otey Battery." He carried the housewife from fall 1862 until his return home after six weeks imprisonment at Fortress Monroe. Smith was suspected of knowing about the assassination of President Lincoln. His sister Kinnie made and gave the housewife to him with the buttons inside. |
People |
Smith, Channing Moore Southall Smith, Kinnie E. |
Search Terms |
Fortress Monroe assassination of Abraham Lincoln, April 1865 |
Subjects |
Sewing Needlework |