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This door curtain was designed by Margaret Whiting (1860-1946) and embroidered by the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework of Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1899. In the late 19th century, curtains or portieres commonly enclosed the door opening of a room, both for physical and visual warmth. A door curtain as well as window curtains were hung in every well-equipped parlor or dining room. The Deerfield Society usually imported fine grades of hand-spun 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. Their embroidery threads are linen and cotton.

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