This door curtain was designed by Margaret Whiting (1860-1946) and embroidered by a member of the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework of Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1899. In the late 19th century, curtains or “portieres” commonly enclosed the doorway of a room, both for physical and visual warmth. The Society usually imported fine grades of handspun and home-woven linens from Kentucky, Georgia, and Vermont, but as in the case of this door curtain, they occasionally made use of old linen sheeting.