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Kitchen Towel, Wednesday, Super Market

Object Details

Caption
The embroidered design on this linen towel reserves it for kitchen décor rather than for drying dishes. Stitched in cotton thread on a white towel is a woman biking to the “Super Market” to shop for groceries. The housekeeping task is scheduled for “Wednesday” on this towel, part of a days-of-the-week set made from a needlecraft kit, a popular creative endeavor in the 1940s, when smaller, single-family homes and new appliances eased the burden of housework for middle-class women. Colorful fruits and vegetables fill the bicyclist’s basket, perhaps prompting her smile. She rides a red bicycle in blue checked pants and a yellow top. A large tree with green branches towers above the Super Market, and an American flag waves atop the grey-and-red trimmed building. Mary Thompson Ford (1861-1960) was both college-educated and a proud homemaker in Jersey City, NJ. Her daughter Blanche Ford Hart (1897-1992) likely embroidered these towels for use in their family kitchen.
Data Source
Anacostia Community Museum
Date
1943
Cite As
Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Theresa Allen
Medium
linen fabric, cotton embroidery thread, thread
Dimensions
26 5/8 × 17 3/16 in. (67.6 × 43.6 cm)
Type
towel

Featured In

  • Bicycles
This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Open Access page.
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