Historic Treasure of the Week - August 22, 1982
By Dorothy W. Jerse
Curator, Vigo County Historical Society
Historic Treasure of the Week - August 22, 1982
By Dorothy W. Jerse
Curator, Vigo County Historical Society
The coverlet collection of the Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 South Sixth Street, holds special meaning for the visitors interesting in weaving and design.
The one pictured here was woven sometime between 1842 and 1860 by Frederick Augustus Kuehn (Kean), the only professional coverlet weaver to live and work in Vigo County.
The identification is found in the corner signature block containing the woven motifs and name. The Kean mark is a flower basket with a tree on either side.
Kean created some of his own designs and the Society is fortunate to have one of the original diagrams in its collection. The pattern in this particular coverlet is "Double Roses and Stars" and is woven in the bright colors of blue, tomato red and olive-green for which he was noted.
This coverlet is a heavy, single jacquard type. Fringe is tied on three sides. Kean's loom was equipped with a jacquard attachment which utilized a system of "punch cards" controlling the production of the design.
Kean, a German immigrant from Culton, Saxony, lived in Ohio and Kentucky before moving to the Wabash Valley in 1842. His shop was located east of Terre Haute on the National Road where Calvary Cemetery is now located.
Mrs. David W. (Orrelle Fidlar) Cornelius is the donor of this special item. The great-grandmother of David W. Cornelius had the coverlet woven by Kean. It will be featured this week in the Francis Vigo Room of the Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley. Open hours are 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday through Friday.