Table runner with cross stitch bird and flowers made by a Jewish immigrant
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 54.750 inches (139.065 cm) | Width: 16.750 inches (42.545 cm)
Creator(s)
- Edna Eckstein (Artist)
- Edna Eckstein (Subject)
Biographical History
Yetta (Yitke) Kwasznik was born approximately June 26, 1885, in Ratno, Russia (Ratne, Ukraine) to a Jewish family. She had a younger brother Motel, born in 1888. On June 15, 1906, she married Shlomo (Samuel) Eckstein, who was born in Ratno around January 15, 1878. A son, Edmund (Edward), was born in the fall of 1907. The next year, Samuel immigrated to the United States, sailing from Hamburg, Germany, and arriving in New York on May 25, 1908. He settled in Denver, Colorado. Yetta and Edmund joined him there in 1912. Yetta began to use the name Edna. Samuel was a laborer and eventually a driver with the Teamsters union. The couple had four more children: Rebecca, (April 16, 1913- September 12, 1971), Annie born 1915, Isadore, born 1918, and Abraham, born 1922. Edna received several letters from her brother Motel pleading for financial support, but after 1931, she received no more letters and had no further contact with her family in Eastern Europe. Rebecca (Betty) married Leo Veta and they adopted an infant girl and, in 1950, an infant boy, whom they named Samuel. Samuel’s biological mother, Ruth Haneman, had fled Nazi Germany with her family for Shanghai, China. Both her parents died in Shanghai in 1943, leaving sixteen year old Ruth responsible for her younger siblings. Samuel, age 68, died on March 9, 1946. Edna, age 92, died on January 12, 1977.
Archival History
The table runner was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2012 by Samuel Veta, the grandson Edna Eckstein.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Samuel Veta
Scope and Content
Table runner with a cross stitched bird design and floral border made by Edna (Yetta) Kwasznik Eckstein, who immigrated with her young son from Ratno, Russia (Ratne, Ukraine) in 1912. They joined her husband, Sam, who had left Ratno in 1908 and settled in Denver, Colorado. The table runner, and a similar companion runner, 2012.72.3, may have been brought with her, but it is likely that it was made in the US.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Long, narrow, discolored white, woven cloth with a cross stitched design in black and red thread, repeated on both ends. The design features two birds facing each other, sitting on perches. Between the birds is a horizontal base with a vertical linear design; stitched on the right and left are amorphous shapes. Below the birds is a floral border with a row of six stylized flowers with long stems with 1 square shaped leaf on either side. Below are two cross stitched bands with an alternating x and o pattern. Both ends are fringed.
Subjects
- Immigrants--Russia--United States--Biography.
- Russia--Emigration and immigration--History--20th century.
- Jews--United States--Biography.
- United States--Emigration and immigration--History--20th century.
Genre
- Object
- Furnishings and Furniture