Charlotte Baker
Family Register
1821-1824
Physical Qualities
Linen ground, silk embroidery threads, 19 × 16 1/2 in. (48.3 × 41.9 cm.)
Credit Line
Purchased as the gift of Phyllis Meyerhoff, Baltimore, MD.
Object Number
2008.28
As the oldest daughter and guardian of family history, Charlotte Baker neatly embroidered the names and birth dates of her parents and siblings on her "Family Register." She returned to her embroidery in 1825 to enter the birth of her baby brother Erastus Emmons. She also reserved a section for recording deaths, including a miniature mourning embroidery. The Baker family, however, was unusually fortunate in that no deaths were ever listed, each child having lived well into adulthood.
Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 2008; M. Finkel and Daugher, Philadelphia, PA; Steven Rowe, New Hampshire; unknown private collection.
Anita Jones, Baltimore, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Jean and Allan Berman Textile Gallery, "Mournful Maidens: Love and Loss in American Embroidery," (September 9, 2009-February 21, 2010), no catalog.
M. Finkel and Daughter. Samplings, Vol..., Philadelphia, PA, ...
Inscribed: Top, embroidered in large script letters, uppper and lower case: "Family register" Embroidered in small upper and lower case lettters: "Names/ Births/Deaths" "David Baker born June 5, 1782/ Jemima Richardson borm August 7 1784/ They were married November 29, 1804/ Their 1st child Abijah Richardson August 30 1805/ Their 2nd child Charlotte Jan. 12 1807/ Their 3rd child Abigail August 4 1810/ Their 4th child Jemima July 3, 1815/ their 5th child David Parker June 9, 1817/ Their 6th child Julia October 23, 1821/ their 7th child Erastus Emmons July 28, 1825/ Wrought by/ Charlotte Baker/ Franklin 1822"
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