A Gift Within A Gift

Object: Pin cushion/pillow, c. 1755

Accession #: 1986.0008

One historian describes “maternity” pincushions as being “popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as a gift to new mother [and] were stuck with pins arranged to form a design or verse, and as pins were expensive, the great number that went into the arrangement were a welcome gift.”  Most pins, which were made by hand in the 17th century, sold in America had been imported until the 1830s, when the manufacture of one-piece pins began in Connecticut.  The invention of a machine to make pins in one piece was made in the 1820s whereas previously pins came in two pieces, the head having to be clamped onto the shaft.  One historian stresses the importance of pins by stating, “Aside from the needle, there was no more important tool, especially for plain sewing, than the ordinary straight or common pin.”

This small square pin cushion is decorated with pins that form initials and dates.  The pin cushion was probably made by or for Mary Scott Randolph who was the wife of Brett Randolph I, cousin of William Randolph III, of Wilton.  The pins form the initials of Mary and Brett’s children, “R.R.” (Richard Randolph II) born August 17, 1754 (on back); “S.R.” (Susanna Randolph) born December 8, 1756; “H.R.” (Henry Randolph) born October 7, 1758; “B.R.” (Brett Randolph) born February 17, 1760.  The pin cushion is off white satin. This pin cushion could possibly be a “maternity pincushion” made for the mother either before or after the child was born.  The gift was not in the decorative pillow or pincushion, but was the collection of pins which were used for various things such as fastening diapers. Pins, particularly new ones, were also thought to bring good luck.

As pins were easily lost, pincushions were made out of a variety of materials including paper and fabric. Scraps left over from dressmaking could have also been used to make the maternity pincushion. Popular shapes for pincushions were hearts, stars, spheres, and squares. One historian points out how pincushions made as gifts for newborns “typically bore a design as well as a message, like one described by Anna Green Winslow in her diary: ‘My aunt stuck a white sattan pincushion for Mrs. Waters. On one side, is a planthorn with flowers, on the reverse, just under the border are, on one side stuck the words, JOSIAH WATERS, then follows on the end, Decr 1771, and on the next side and end are these words, Welcome Little Stranger.’”

The pin cushion in Wilton’s collection most likely was made for decoration as its pins are still intact. However, the person who lovingly formed the initials and dates of Mary Scott’s children might have meant for her to have used the pins as well. Either way, the pin cushion has been preserved and was kept through the succeeding generations of the family and continues to show what these humble metal fasteners meant to everyday life in 18th century.
                                                                                              

Bibbliography

Kirsch, Francine. "The Beaded Pincushion Meant for showing, not sewing", The New England

Antiques Journal, March 2010.  28-32.  21 June 2012.

<http://www.antiquesjournal.com/flipbooks/NEAJMarch10/28.html>

Wiessman, Judith Reiter and Wendy Lavitt. Labors of Love: America’s Textiles and

Needlework, 1650-1930. Random House. New York, 1987.

Walton, Paula. “Pincushions”. A Sweet Remembrance. 21 June 2012.

<http://asweetremembrance.com/store/WsDefault.asp?Cat=Pincushions&isThumbs=No

&curpage=2&Thumbs=>

A Randolph Christening

Accession #: 1986.14A-B

Item: Christening Gown        

This cream colored christening gown made of silk, satin, and cotton was reportedly made by Mary Scott Randolph for her first child. She was married to Brett Randolph I of Warwick Plantation (a few miles south of Richmond).  Their first child, Richard Randolph II was born August 17, 1754. Brett Randolph was the first cousin of William Randolph III.  The gown was also worn by Richard’s siblings, Henry, Brett, and Susanna. The gown is plain but has hand knotted fringe. The fringe surrounds the square neck, down each front side, and around the bottom of the robe. A silk cord draws the gown closed at the front neck.

Parents arranged christening and baptisms-usually within a few weeks after birth to celebrate the birth of the new child. Christening or baptism of an infant marked the “beginning of [a] child’s religious beliefs” and followed closely after births because of the belief that “an unbaptized child is a child unprotected by God”. For many it was the “first public appearance for mother and new baby” and for those who had the money, a “special gown” was made for the occasion.  As Phillis Cunnington sustains in her book Costumes for Births, Marriages, and Deaths, “Whether it was to be wholly or only partly undressed for the actual ceremony, the baby in a well-to-do family was generally taken to church in rather elaborate robes”. The christening of Richard Randolph II, may have been held in the family’s church or their home. 

Baptism represented “the social birth of the child” as well as being done for the security of salvation if the baby were to die. Laymen stressed the responsibility of the parents to bring their child for christening or baptism.  Virginia layman John Page (1627-1692) wrote that the parent,

procure[s] it an early right in all those precious advantages which sacrament conveys to it. This you ought not to delay, it being reasonable that you who have instrumentally conveyed the stain and pollution of sin to the poor infant, should be very earnest to have it washed off, as soon as may be: besides the life of so tender an infant is but a blast, and many times gone in a moment.

In her book A Cheerful and Comfortable Faith: Anglican religious practice in the elite households of eighteenth century Virginia, Lauren Winner describes the gown presumably stitched by Mary Scott Randolph as “displaying the Randolphs’ wealth and taste”.  Winner goes on to tell how the gown would have shown that the Randolphs were keeping the latest styles. She also points out that the gown was fashioned to fit theological symbols. Winner affirms “in the eighteenth century, most christening outfits were white; the white cloth symbolized the purity of the soul after being cleansed by the baptismal waters”. Richard Randolph II, “was to be washed clean, made pure by the water and certified as such by his white gown”. The design of the gown enforced the beliefs behind the christening ceremony that Richard Randolph II and the succeeding wearers of the gown were involved.

For the past 257 years this gown has been passed down and used through the generations following Richard Randolph II emphasizing the importance of this intricately and thoughtfully designed gown. Its last use was on April 20, 1986 at the christening of a descendant of Susanna Randolph, sister of Richard Randolph II, through whom the gown was passed. It now lays to rest at Wilton as a generous gift of direct descendants of Susanna, Janet Randolph Turpin Ayers, Augustine Royall Turpin Jr., and Carter Mosby Turpin. 

Bibliography

Cunnington, Phillis and Catherine Lucas. Costumes for Births, Marriages, and Deaths. New York: Harper

and Row Publishers, Inc., 1972.

Chatham -Baker, Odette. Baby Lore: Ceremonies, Myths, and Traditions to Celebrate a Baby’s Birth. New

York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1991.

Baumgarten, Linda. What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America.

Williamsburg: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2002.

Winner, Lauren. A Cheerful and Comfortable Faith: Anglican religious practice in the elite households of

eighteenth century Virginia. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010.