in the museum's collection. Early boxes were covered with printed and handpainted paper imported from England and Europe. Wallpaper from American printers became available in the 19th century and was quickly adopted by hat and bandbox makers. Patterns and colors for the papers were influenced by current decorating styles. The images of classical architecture, griffins, and chariots pulled by birds were inspired by the mid-19th century interest in Greek and Roman history. Common and exotic creatures such as cows, beavers, anacondas, and giraffes were inspired by zoos, traveling animal exhibitions, illustrated bestiaries, and geography books. Finally, hatbox makers often copied illustrations of American city and rural scenes, historic landmarks, new modes of transportation, or important people and events published in popular books and magazines. Popular paper designs include the New York City Deaf and Dumb Asylum, a duck hunt, a sidewheel steamboat, President Harrison's log cabin and a balloon ascension. Quilts and bedcoverings Embroidered bed-rugs and blankets, coverlets, and quilts were a critical necessity in poorly heated early American homes. The making of bedcovers provided women with an important creative outlet and often served as the primary source of decoration in sparsely furnished 17th- and 18th-century homes. As America's economy grew in the 19th century, the increase in leisure time and the availability of inexpensive factory-woven cloth encouraged thousands of women to embroider, sew, and quilt bedcovers for their families and friends. Shelburne Museum was one of the first institutions to collect and exhibit American textiles which possess bold graphic patterns, clarity of line, intense colors, and the imaginative combinations of human figures, animals and vegetation which is often whimsical and out of scale. The still-growing collection at the museum is remarkable in its size and quality. Over seven hundred quilts, coverlets, blankets, and bed-rugs from the 18th and 19th century illustrate the different types of bedcovers, the diversity of designs and fabrics, and the many methods of manufacture used by creative men and women. Although the collection predominantly represents New England and the northern states, it also includes examples from the southern and mid-western regions, as well as from such distinctive groups as the Amish, Pennsylvania Dutch, and native Hawaiians. Bed-rugs, a traditional northern European bedcover, were brought to America from northern England and widely used until the early 19th century. Now quite rare, these thick, heavy bedcovers were embroidered with handspun and dyed yarns on wool fabric to