Pocketbook

Probably by Elizabeth Williams Ogle Brindley (ca. 1741–1816)

New Castle County, Delaware, 1757

Worsted wool tent stitch on linen

Sewell C. Biggs bequest; 2004.499

Historically a “pocketbook” was a flat, folded case for money or papers, though eventually the term came to mean a woman’s handbag. According to a note that accompanied this pocketbook, Elizabeth Williams Ogle Brindley made the item for her father, Charles Williams, in 1757. She was probably 15 years of age at the time. The Williams family lived in Christiana Hundred in northern New Castle County, Delaware.