Catalog Record:
The collection consists of twelve rugs hooked with hand-dyed wool on
12-thread-count linen titled the
Mary Sheppard Burton was born in 1922 in Salisbury, Maryland. Burton, who became a textile artist and teacher, was no stranger to the art as a child since both her great grandmother and grandmother were rug hookers. From 1973 to 1988 Burton taught classes on designing, dyeing, color theory, hook art and traditional hooking techniques at various schools and colleges throughout the United States. Occasionally Burton also taught private classes at her home in Maryland. Her students were diverse, from ninth-grade students to adults as well as the mentally challenged. The individuals who studied under Burton were not only based in the United States but also came from England and Israel. During this period she lectured extensively and exhibited her pieces throughout the United States, Canada, and Japan. Burton was instrumental in developing the guidelines and standards for rug hooking and judging hooked rugs at local and international competitions.
In 1981, Burton’s dedication and love for the art led her to research the hand dyeing of textiles and the color retention of dyes by experimenting with vegetable dyes used by earlier generations. She experimented with the different effects that light has upon yarn. Burton used dyeing techniques that were not commonly used by textile artists. Burton studied the historical origins of rug hooking, starting her research at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, continuing at the Textile Museum in Canada in 1996, and in Nova Scotia in 1997.
In 1994, Burton co-founded the International Guild of Hand-hooked Rug Makers (TIGHER) and in 1996 was awarded an antique pewter loving cup for outstanding devotion and service to the organization.
For her outstanding accomplishments in the art, Mary Sheppard Burton has received many awards. She was the first non-Canadian recipient of two of the highest awards given by the Ontario Hooking Craft Guild: Best in Show for Creativity and Craftsmanship and Best in Show for Artistic Presentation of Work and Originality.
In 2002, she co-authored a book on creativity in textile arts,
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or title listed alphabetically therein.
The manuscripts and photographs (PH01-PH25) are housed in Box 1.The rugs, with the exception of the two rugs on display, are housed in customized boxes.
The manuscripts, photographs, and reference copies of videotapes MV01
and MV02 are available upon request in the Folklife Reading Room. MV03 is
damaged and unplayable. The original hooked rugs are stored offsite for
preservation. Consult reference staff in the Folklife Reading Room about
viewing the rugs. As of Febrary 2011, two rugs from the collection are on
display in the American Folklife Center in the Jefferson Building: Rug 3,
The twelve hooked rugs were donated to the American Folklife Center by Mary Sheppard Burton on March 2, 2006.
Cite as: Mary Sheppard Burton Collection (AFC 2006/005), Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Mary Sheppard Burton. Undated. 6 pages.
Photographs taken by David A. Taylor on March 2, 2006. 25 color photographs, 25 color negatives.
The rug displays an image of Mary Sheppard Burton’s grandfather,
Edward Sampson Phipps, skating across the Chesapeake Bay.
The rug displays an image of Edward Sampson Phipps, Mary
Sheppard Burton’s grandfather, who dove into the Susquehanna River retrieving
the tools that had been dropped into the river by the workmen who were
constructing the bridge above the river.
The rug displays an image of Alice Phipps, Mary Sheppard
Burton’s mother, in a tree with an apple and reading a book. This was her
mother’s secret place.
The rug depicts images from the town of Pittsville, Maryland,
where Burton’s father John Raymond Sheppard grew up.
The rug depicts the image of a two-year-old Charles Burton, Mary
Sheppard Burton’s husband, head first in the snow. He was accidently given
grape wine instead of grape juice.
The rug displays the image of Alice Phipps, Burton’s mother, as
she flew upside down in a plane in a bushel basket hat. The rug also displays
the image of the hat as it falls from the sky.
The rug displays Charles Burton, Mary’s Sheppard Burton’s
husband, as he climbed a tree to witness the inauguration of Herbert Hoover.
The rug also displays images of chickens and roosters. The rug refers to
Hoover’s famous promise of “a chicken in every pot.”
The rug depicts images of men on horses at Sycamore Hollow in
Montgomery County, Maryland. In the center Burton weaves a landmark barn which
dates back to 1838.
Nellie Blaine Lankford was Mary Sheppard Burton’s mother-in-law.
The rug depicts the images of Nellie and her sister Anna in Tyaskin, Maryland.
The two would feed the chickens kernels that were attached to the end of a
fishing line.
Alice Phipps, Mary Sheppard Burton’s mother, would deliver food
to the sick. This rug shows Alice on a bike along with other landmarks in
Salisbury, Maryland.
Richard Dale, a relative of Mary Sheppard Burton, is depicted
steering a sailboat on the Maryland coast. Richard Dale fought against pirates
and also assisted in defending the island of Bermuda against the British.
The rug depicts images of the Model A Ford, along with pigs on a
farm and a little girl who represents Mary Sheppard Burton’s mother.
Interview with Mary Sheppard Burton at her home in Germantown, Md. Undated. 1 VHS videocassette.
Interview with Mary Sheppard Burton at her home in Germantown, Md. Undated. 1 VHS videotape.
Interview with Mary Sheppard Burton at her home in Germantown, Md. Undated 1 VHS videotape. [Unplayable - Damaged]