Setting the Table

This patterned tablecloth once belonged to Desire Nye (1782–1872) of Sandwich. Its intricate design was likely woven in a textile mill using a Jacquard loom—an early automated machine that used punched cards to control complex patterns. Machines like the Jacquard loom were part of the Industrial Revolution that was changing how Americans produced—and lived with—the objects of everyday life.

By the mid-19th century, textiles like this were increasingly produced in factories rather than woven entirely at home. The edges of this cloth appear to have been finished by hand, suggesting that Desire Nye may have hemmed the tablecloth herself before using it at home.

In Sandwich households, cloth like this might have been spread across the table beneath glass goblets and serving dishes made at the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company.

As we mark America’s 250th anniversary, objects like this remind us how national change—from new manufacturing technologies to expanding consumer markets—reached all the way to the family table.