Deerfield Arts & Crafts home page
Deerfield has an old academy, a very famous institution in early days....In it is housed a collection of relics of pioneer days in the Pocomtuck [sic] valley, and among them certain old pieces of embroidery, done by the skilful[sic] needles of Colonial women. In spite of glass coverings and almost reverential care, stout homespun foundation and imperishable indigo dye, these rare bits of needlework were fading and falling to dust. It was a feeling of patriotic affection that first led miss Margaret Whiting and Miss Ellen Miller to copy them, so that the work of the Deerfield foremothers should not perish from the earth. The admiration aroused by these copies resulted in the formation of the "Society of Blue and White Needlework," whose little "D," inside its spinning wheel, has within six years become known in every state in the Union.
Minnie J. Reynolds, "A revival of feminine handicrafts," Everybody's Magazine, July 1902, p. 32.