Historical Handkerchief

Reproduced on this cotton handkerchief is the United States Declaration of Independence. Portraits of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and John Adams command the top of the image with scenes of the American Revolution in the lower corners. A framework of state seals surrounds the historic text. Charles Carroll (1737–1832), the last surviving signatory of the declaration, is also memorialized. One of the three inscriptions printed under the portraits reads, “The last of the 56 signers of the great charter has at length followed his illustrious brethren.”

Handkerchiefs and bandanas commemorating important events, issues, or people were printed in England and France by the 1770s. As the number of new national heroes increased, so did the ability to produce commemorative textiles. Though textile printing was underway in America by the 1830s, England printed many earlier versions of this textile.