Pillow
Object number2018.72.1
Date1864
MediumSilk; Paint; Unknown filling material; Paperboard
Credit LineGift of John F. Leach
DescriptionIvory-colored silk wedding pillow. Rectangular pillow with internal paperboard backer and unknown soft filling material. Ivory-colored fringe around perimeter. Front of pillow has hand-painted pink and white flowers and green leaves with blue bride name diagonal across center with blue flared cross shapes flanking name.DimensionsLength x Width x Depth: 9.625 × 7.75 × 1.25 in. (24.4 × 19.7 × 3.2 cm)InscriptionsFront has hand-painted blue text diagonal across center "BESSIE".
Historical NotesWedding pillow from the union of Alexander Filson Dalzell and Elizabeth "Bessie" Linton Williams in Pittsburgh in 1864, donor John F. Leach's great-great-grandparents. Alexander Filson Dalzell lived in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, and worked in his father’s, Robert A. Dalzell, wholesale business. Bessie was the daughter of William Haslett Williams, once a dry goods merchant, then co-founder of a wholesale grocery business, and finally a private banker in Pittsburgh (and eventually President of the Philadelphia Company). They lived somewhere in the eastern end of the city. Before the marriage he served two short-term tours of duty in the Union Army. After their marriage Dalzell became a partner with his father in the Crescent Tube Works, later Evans, Clow, Dalzell & Company. In 1873, he became one of twenty to incorporate the Pittsburgh Evening Telegraph. The Crescent Tube Works was sold during the 1873 recession. An active community member, Dalzell served on the board of managers for the Pittsburgh Gymnastic Association, was an auditor for the Mercantile Library Association, on the board of the City Fire Insurance Association, was part of a business leaders committee to suppress the 1877 riots, and led a veterans' group of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Previous owner
Alexander Filson Dalzell
Previous owner
Elizabeth Linton Williams
Related institution
Crescent Tube Works
Related institution
Evans, Clow, Dalzell and Company
Related institution
Pittsburgh Evening Telegraph
Related institution
Pittsburgh Gymnastic Association
Related institution
Mercantile Library Association
Related institution
City Fire Insurance Association
Related institution
Grand Army of the Republic
On View
Not on view
1881
c. 1900
c. 1886
1880-1889
c. 1900
