Album Book of Textile Swatches by Annie Hayslip

Date1850-1895

Maker Ann Lee Eubank Hayslip (1835 - 1898)

OriginAmerica, Kentucky and Texas

MediumPaper, cotton, wool, silk, and linen

Dimensions13 1/8" H X 8 3/4" W X 2 3/4" thick

Credit LineGift of Derek Manov

Object number2016-124 (S)

DescriptionThis is a bound book covered with a red and black printed textile imitating pieced quilting. The interior of the book contains 174 paper pages with over 3000 textile swatches glued on, many with inscriptions and dates. Colors of swatches are black, brown, grey, green, orange, pink, purple, red, white, yellow, and multicolor. Patterns and weaves include calico, diaper, dimity, plain, eyelets, fur, lace, netting, felt, velvet, and brocade. Two hundred-eighty-six unique names of friends and family appear in the book. The book is inscribed on the front leaf: “Annie L. Hayslip’s Sample Album Made 1880. It contains many samples of the dresses of friends and kindred, also many pieces accidentally saved and the dresses unknown.”

Label TextA collage of nineteenth-century fabrics, this swatch book contains over 3000 fabric samples spanning from 1789 to 1891 and almost 300 unique names. Ann Hayslip likely treasured this book as a type of album book to represent and remember her family, friends, and events, much like a modern-day scrapbook. Rather than verses and signatures, Hayslip's album book contains small visual reminders of what her loved ones wore. The book provides a snapshot into the life and relationships of a nineteenth-century American woman in addition to representing the variety of textiles available in Kentucky and Texas at this time.
ProvenanceThe donor informed Janea Whitacre of the Millinery Shop that he purchased the album book at a flea market at the Rose Bowl in California. No further provenance is known.

History of Maker:
Ann “Annie” Lee Eubank Hayslip was born in Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky on July 23, 1835 to James B. White Eubank (1806-1886) and Mary Jane Bransford Eubank (1815-1907), the oldest of eleven children. Ann married Deewitt Clinton “DWC” Hayslip (1829-1899) on January 20, 1853. They had ten children: John Eubank Hayslip (1855-1855), James Jean Hayslip (1856-1922), Mary Ellen Hayslip Miller (1858-1936), Alice Clinton Hayslip (1861-1867), Beverly Eubank Hayslip (1863-1911), Louis A. Hayslip (1866-1891), Albert Walter Hayslip (1868-1928), Dee Amonette Hayslip (1870-1930), and Annie Lillian Wilette Hayslip McFeely (1874-1946). She created this sample book throughout her life, collecting fabric scraps from her family (including all her children) and friends. Between 1853 and 1855, Ann and Deewitt moved to Circleville, Williamson County, Texas and died there on November 4, 1898.