'The blood of murdered time': Berlin wool work in America, 1840-1865

Berlin wool work is a type of counted fancy needlework typically employing a published pattern and zephyr woolen yarn on canvas. This canvas work reached its height of popularity in America from 1840-1880. Since the 1840s, Berlin work has endured criticism which asserts that its aesthetic is unattractive and that executing Berlin work is a waste of time. This criticism continues today and has resulted in observers failing to give Berlin work the same level of academic scrutiny enjoyed by other types of needlework. Therefore, Berlin work is misunderstood by curators and collectors alike. To diffuse this misunderstanding, this thesis synthesizes connoisseurship of a collection of Berlin work patterns and worked samples saved by Ann Warder (1824-1866) with analysis of Warder's personal papers, other Berlin work collections, and nineteenth-century Berlin work print culture. This study defines Berlin work and explores how it fits into a mid-nineteenth-century design aesthetic, how it relates to needlework trends that predominated in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century America, and how cultural and socio-historical concerns threatened Berlin work's legitimacy in the nineteenth-century.;Modern and contemporary critics suggest that Berlin work was anomalous in comparison to past needlework. Ann Warder's Berlin work legacy challenges these unfounded generalizations, suggesting that Berlin work represents change, continuity, and versatility regarding American needlework materials, motifs, and techniques. Warder's Berlin work practices diverge from those of the typical “busy” Berlin woolworker as Berlin work was executed by women representing various economic strata for pleasure, profit, and education. Thus, Ann Warder's Berlin work practices represent the diversity of mid-nineteenth-century individuals who engaged in this needlework. Despite its popularity, Berlin work faced polemical criticism. To combat this criticism, Berlin woolworkers invoked artistic values and aristocratic associations inherent in tapestry to legitimize Berlin work as a needle craft. This thesis asserts that understanding Berlin work's material legacy provides a crucial link between traditional early American needlework and late-nineteenth-century needlework while presenting a more sophisticated understanding of a genre of needlework that enjoyed widespread popularity as a component of nineteenth-century American material life.