By: Marla R. Miller
In 2009, Historic Deerfield acquired an indigo blue wholecloth quilt, probably shalloon, associated in family tradition with Hadassah Chapin Ely (ca. 1767–1808) of Springfield and West Springfield, Massachusetts. Though little is known about the artifact, placing the ca. 1785 quilt in a series of contexts can provide insight into the object and the world in which it was created. This foray into “object biography” uses other quilts with comparable design features,