Handkerchief

Object Name:

Handkerchief

Object ID:

1975.506

Place of Origin:

United States

Date:

circa 1917

Description:

Handkerchief. Commemorating World War I. Square of warp-dominant plain-woven silk. Printed border of national flags with name underneath, ordered clockwise and listed alphabetically. Top row, horizontal: "ARGINTINE REPULIC, AUSTRALIA, AUSTRO HUNGARY, BELGIUM, BOLIVIA, BRASIL, CANADA, CHILE, CHINA, COLUMBIA, CONGO". Right row, vertical: "COREA, COSTA RICA, CUBA, DENMARK, ECUADOR, FRANCE, GERMANY, GREAT BRITAIN, GREECE, GUATEMALA, HAYTI, HONDURAS, IRELAND, ITALY". Bottom row, horizontal: "JAPAN, LIBERIA, MEXICO, MONTENEGRO, NETHERLANDS, NEW ZEALAND, NICARAGUA, NORWAY, PANAMA, PARAGUAY, PERSIA, PERU". Left row, vertical: "PERU, PORTUGAL, RUSSIA, SALVADOR, SAN DOMINGO, SCOTLAND, SIAM, SPAIN, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, UNITED STATES, URUGUAY, VENEZULA". Four American 48-star flags, one on the diagonal in each corner. Center oval etching of military camp with tents and U.S. soldiers, underneath oval patriotic poem of eight lines: "By the camp fire they are dreaming of the little home they love / While the quiet stars are beaming like dear watchful eyes above; / A nations joys are its beautiful boys, with their brave and smiling faces; / In them you will find the unconquerable mind, that doubt and despair diplaces. / O, the boys of Yankee land, you'll find them good and true! / They're ready at command and where theres work to do / He'll never drop and he will never stop, it takes a good lot to do him, / He learns at school the unbreakable rule of never evading duty." Three sides machine hemmed 0.125", one side selvedge.

Material:

Textile
Silk

Dimensions:

H-16 W-16 inches

Provenance:

Found in collections.

Credit Line:

New Hampshire Historical Society Collection

Subjects:

World War I, Patriotism, Soldiers, Military, Handkerchiefs, Silk, Printing, Textile printing, Flags, Flagpoles, Poems