The McCarl Coverlet Collection is comprised of over 850 handwoven bed coverings from the nineteenth century. Most of the coverlets in the McCarl collection originated in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Maryland. The McCarl Gallery also houses several coverlets from Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa, and Tennessee. The bulk of the coverlet collection dates from 1820-1860. The majority of the coverlets in the McCarl Gallery feature “figured and fancy” patterns, which were woven by professional weavers with specialized equipment - either a drawloom, a barrel loom, or a jacquard machine. The jacquard machine manipulates threads one-by-one, using punch cards to program intricate patterns that portray flora, fauna, architecture, and words. A barrel loom makes similar patterns using a large cylinder “programmed” with pegs, much like a music box.

A smaller group of our coverlets have geometric patterns without representational imagery. These were woven with multi-shaft looms by either professional or domestic weavers. Geometric patterns show tremendous variation in color, pattern, and weave structure. The most common geometric weave structure is called “overshot” (historically “floatwork”), which enables large and showy patterns to be woven on a relatively simple domestic loom with only four shafts. By contrast, a professional weaver might have a loom with as many as 32 shafts capable of more complex patterns and weave structures.

The McCarl Gallery also houses a collection of over 100 pieces of textile and weaving equipment including looms, spinning wheels, a jacquard attachment, and many tools for processing linen, cotton, and wool fibers. Our textile equipment collection was transferred from the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, MA upon its closing in 2017. Artifacts not on display are available for research by appointment.

In addition to our physical collections, the McCarl Gallery also has extensive archives. Learn more about research at the Gallery here.