The DAR museum is grateful to the many members and friends who during the year generously donate their valuable family heirlooms. The following is just one pair of the many objects given to the museum each year.

A Signed and Dated Star Quilt

Made in 1853 by Mary Macubbin Waters Waters (1817-64) of Montgomery County, Maryland, this masterpiece quilt was worked 36 stitches to the inch. The design is made up of thirteen eight-pointed stars set on point separated by a sashing of a narrow rainbow green rococo cotton print. The white reserves between the pieced designs are filled with quilted floral bouquets, cornucopias, fish, birds, butterflies, and trees covered with birds. Mary Waters expertly rendered her name and the date in a quilted cartouche above the center block.

The quiltmaker was a member of a prominent Montgomery County family living on a farm now known as Sycamore Hollow. It is located near Goshen, Maryland. Two miles down the lane, is Woodbourne, the home of Mary's aunt, Harriet Dorsey Blunt, the maker of a quilt that shares similar quilting patterns. The Blunt quilt, along with the patterns for both bedcovers, was given to the Montgomery County Historical Society.

Gift courtesy of Joyce Hawkins

18th Century English Violin

This violin is an example of a centuries-old tradition of crafting stringed instruments. Maker Benjamin Banks (1727-1795) of Salisbury, England studied the craft in London under the direction of Peter Wamsley. Banks' instruments were modeled on the work of Nicolò Amati and known for their solid construction, delicate lines and agreeable tone. He also made several large-sized violas, double-basses and guitar-shaped fiddles. This beautiful violin came to the museum with its original label intact. It reads Benjamin Banks, Sarum, 1774. Sarum is the old Latin name for Salisbury.

Ms. Christine L. Burnette donated this violin along with a melodeon made in Concord, New Hampshire.

Rare and Unique Manuscript Globe

The DAR Museum is proud to announce the gift of a rare and unique manuscript globe made by Samuel Clapp of Athol, Massachusetts about 1825. This lovely globe is the generous gift of Mrs. Eleanore Marcy of Pinehurst, North Carolina, in whose family the globe has descended.

The extensive family history states that the globe was painted by Mr. Clapp between 1815 and 1828. On its beechwood stand the 16 1/4" globe stands 38" high. The wooden horizon band is divided into months of the year, the signs of the zodiac, each section of which is in turn, divided into 30 degrees, and directions. The hour circle at the top of the globe is wood, not metal.

Among the notations written on the globe at the appropriate places are:
New Holland — now Australia; New Zealand — A kind of flax-like silk grows on this island; Sumatra Java — The interior inhabitants are cannibals — when a man is Old he invites his Friends to come and eat him; St. Helena, South Atlantic — This isle was the Prison of N. Bonaparte from 1815 till his death 1821; Juan Fernandez Island — Robinson Crusoe or Alexander Selkirk, a Scotch sailor, lived 4 hears on this island. Marquasas Island — The inhabitants are said to be the handsomest people in the world; Bahama Islands — First land discovered by Columbus.

The cartouche reads, A Globe or the World, as taken from Geography, and Delineated by S. CLAPP, Athol. Feb. 13th 1828