FLAGGED FOR CREATIVITY

Reconsidering Textile Photography

by Richard Ring, Deputy Executive Director for Collections and Interpretation

While only a small selection is on display, the RIHS holds an impressive textile collection, which numbers over 4,000 pieces and includes coats, dresses, handkerchiefs, quilts, hats, uniforms, gloves, banners, samplers, and material fragments of all sorts, to name a few Recently, two researchers came to look at quilted petticoats, and not only did this opportunity help their work, but it also educated us about aspects of our collections and led us down a path to make more of our textiles accessible online.

The researchers who visited us in November of 2022 were interested in the detailed artistry and imagery among our quilted petticoats. They needed high-resolution detail photos of the elaborate stitching and decorative design motifs for a publication But our normal studio setup (placing the petticoats on mannequins) was not sufficient they needed the garments spread and flattened out so that they could take the images and trace out the stitching.

Our Imaging Specialist, photographer J D Kay, determined that he needed to shoot them from above, so he devised a special rig for the job and commandeered the Washington Wallpaper Room in the John Brown House Museum to get the job done.

Once the petticoats were photographed, RIHS Cabinet Keeper Dana Munroe suggested taking advantage of the setup to photo-document our flag collection, since flags are often so difficult to photograph for the same reasons. And so, over three days of shooting in December, J.D. took 367 photographs of 44 items, all of which have also been rehoused. We hope that you will be able to see them all, but for now, here are two to whet your appetite

Second, is a rare twelve-star Confederate flag (stars and bars), from 1861, the gift of Mrs. Edgar Sayles Potter in 1965. One source claims that the 12-star version is a naval ensign, and not the official flag another says that it was used by Nathan Bedford Forest, who swore not to include the star for Georgia, "as long as a Yankee remains on Georgia's soil." Potter donated the flag to the RIHS just after her husband's death, with the notation in the accession book of “found in a barn in Chepachet.”

First, we have the Lincoln and Hamlin presidential election political banner, ca. 1860, which was a gift from Mr. Stuart Coleman in 1961. This was likely made during Lincoln’s second of three visits to Rhode Island, when he was a member of the newly formed Republican Party, campaigning, and visiting his son Robert Todd who was, at the time, a student at Phillips Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire.

When asked about his experience photographing the flags, Kay said, "Photographing the flags, many of which are very large, was an exciting challenge. While using an overhead system seemed to make the most sense, it was not something we'd done before, so there were definitely technical issues that needed to be worked out. It was quite rewarding when the pictures started coming in and we were able to see some great results! We now have high quality images of flags that had never been photographed before. What we learned along the way will also help us when we revisit photography of large textiles going forward."