“America’s Tapestry” Comes to Seton Hill University September 14 to 27

A nationally touring exhibition of thirteen hand-embroidered panels — including a Pennsylvania panel that flies a Revolutionary flag born in Westmoreland County — will be on display this fall at Seton Hill.

Nearly two and a half centuries ago, one of the first military units raised west of the Allegheny Mountains marched beneath a rattlesnake flag stitched with the words “Don’t Tread On Me.” That banner - the Proctor Flag, the only known Revolutionary-era rattlesnake flag still in existence - was a Westmoreland County creation. This autumn it comes home, rendered in thread, as America’s Tapestry opens at the Seton Hill University Arts Center in Greensburg.

America’s Tapestry is a national exhibition commemorating the 250th anniversary of American independence through 13 hand-embroidered panels, one for each of the original colonies, each spotlighting a lesser-known story of the founding era. Seton Hill University serves as a presenting sponsor and historical partner of the America’s Tapestry project. 

The Pennsylvania panel, “Freedom’s Flag Makers in the Keystone State,” depicts two flags flown more than three hundred miles apart. On one side is Westmoreland County’s Proctor Flag, carried by a frontier militia and bearing the native Pennsylvania rattlesnake, among the earliest of the country’s political symbols. On the other, the Philadelphia flag maker Rebecca Young stitches a flag for the Pennsylvania Navy. One of many women who ran businesses in wartime Philadelphia, Young was commissioned to produce flags, military blankets, and drum cases for the state’s army and navy; in 1775 she fabricated a Grand Union Flag, making her one of the first verified makers of an American flag. 

The panel was embroidered by Pennsylvania volunteers under the direction of state directors Mary Van Tyne and Raven Fagelson at the Glenshaw Public Library in Allegheny County and at select venues throughout the state, including Valley Forge National Historical Park, the Hershey History Center and Seton Hill.

America’s Tapestry gathers 13 panels, one for each of the original colonies, each spotlighting a lesser-known story of the founding era. The panels were communally stitched by nearly 2,000 volunteers, ranging in age from 3 to 98, who together contributed close to 30,000 hours across 13 states. Anyone could take up a needle; the making of the exhibition was itself an act of public history.

The project was conceived by costume designer and textile historian Stefan Romero and debuted in June 2026 at the Muscarelle Museum of Art at William & Mary, where it was featured on NBC Nightly News. It is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Coby Foundation, Seton Hill University, Wichelt Imports and the Westmoreland County Tourism Grant, and endorsed by institutions including the Embroiderers’ Guild of America and the Atlanta History Center.

As part of the America’s Tapestry exhibit, Seton Hill University is also presenting selected embroidered works from the archives of the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. Threads of Charity will showcase the works of students of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton’s St. Joseph’s Academy in Emmittsburg, Md. More than classroom exercises, these embroidered works demonstrate the education young women received under the tutelage of the early Sisters of Charity. Through their stitching, students practiced artistic skill, patience, literacy, and attention to detail while recording the values and lessons of their time. These same young women became the foundational mothers, teachers, philanthropists, and citizens of a country in its infancy.

America’s Tapestry and the accompanying exhibit Threads of Charity are on view at the Seton Hill University Arts Center’s Harlan Gallery, located at 201 W. Otterman Street, Greensburg, PA, from September 14 to 27. Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, noon to 8 p.m.; Fridays noon to 4 p.m.; Saturdays 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays 2 to 5 p.m. Admission is free. A free gallery talk by the Pennsylvania co-directors will take place Saturday, September 19 from 1 to 4 p.m. with the talk occuring at 2 p.m. Registration is requested for the gallery talk. For more information about this exhibition and project, visit setonhill.edu/arts or americastapestry.com.