The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) has been collecting quilts since the National Society was founded in 1890. The museum has hundreds of quilts that tell the story of America, particularly the women of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Each quilt tells a story of the lives of the women who created them.

The Mary Mannakee Quilt is signed and dated with, "Mary Mannakee remember me, 1851 and 1852." Mrs. Mannakee lived her entire life in Rockville, MD, a suburb of Washington D.C. After her death in 1916, her estate ended up in a junk shop where a woman found this quilt and disassembled it to hang in her dining room. The outer panels were used as window curtains and the center section was used as a wall decoration. When she donated the quilt to the DAR Museum during WWII, she left a note explaining its condition. The museum put the pieces back together, and it is now a staple of the quilt collection.

Mrs. Sturtevant hand stitched the quilt, and is now working on a Hawaiian quilt. The design in this quilt is all one piece and took 6 yards!

Gwen describes the Eliza McKee Quilt in which the floral designs are indicative of the Germanic design tradition seen on 19th century decorative arts in Western Maryland.

The unveiling of the Mary Mannakee Quilt.