Betsy Ross is one of the few female figures to emerge as a compelling character in stories about the American Revolution. Among the early flagmakers of the rebellion, Elizabeth Griscom Ross Ashburn Claypoole also fabricated cartridge cases for American soldiers and was among the most important professional flagmakers of the new republic. As a working woman all her life, she labored for more than six decades as an upholsterer, crafting chair cases and covers and curtains and blinds as well as fabricating thousands of yards of fringe and tassels. Other members of her family made stays and gowns, clocks and canns; they built houses, scoured and dyed cloth, and wove rugs.

Together, Ross and her family “made” America, both figuratively and literally. This exhibition recovers the life of Betsy Ross and explores the work of Betsy and other Philadelphia artisans from before the Revolution through the eve of the Civil War.

Presented by