Betsy Ross’ Sewing Table Donated to Philadelphia Museum on Flag Day

On June 14, Flag Day, Eric Conrad donated a small wooden table that once belonged to his great-great-great-great grandmother Betsy Ross to the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia. The table, which had been in Conrad's family for generations, was previously kept near his kitchen on Maryland's Eastern Shore. It is now on view at the museum, just in time for the nation's 250th anniversary celebrations. The table had a mismatched lower-left drawer, which the museum's conservator replaced with a new one matching the originals, and wooden knobs were swapped for custom-made batwing brasses. Through July 4, the table is displayed alongside Ross's snuffbox, petticoat, spectacles, and Bible at Flagmakers' Hall. After the holiday, it will move into Ross's bedroom inside the museum. The story of Ross sewing the first flag is considered by historians to be more myth than fact, popularized by her grandson William Canby in 1870 and reinforced by Charles Weisgerber's 1890s painting Birth of Our Nation's Flag. Historian Marla Miller notes that Ross's celebrity opens a window onto the lives of Philadelphia women during the Revolutionary era.