Altar and Vestments

Altar Guild member, Mrs. Ralph Bingham, sets up for the Eucharist service in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 1958.

During the 19th century, women's roles as caregivers extended far beyond the confines of their homes. As members of the Altar Guild, and later the National Altar Guild Association, women became caretakers of church buildings, tasking themselves with the care, cleaning, and arrangement of the altar cloth, vestments, and plate. If there was not an active Altar Guild, these duties often fell upon the rector's wife, if he had one; if not, the women of the parish community fulfilled the role. In remote parishes, where worship often took place in a private home or public hall rather than in a church or chapel, women took on the responsibility of storing sacramental items in their homes and arranging them in the worship space prior to the arrival of the priest.

In many cases, less affluent parishes also relied on women to create altar cloths and linens, vestments, sanctuary banners, flower arrangements, and choir robes. Through their expertise in sewing, needlework, and lacemaking, Episcopal churchwomen had a significant influence on the liturgical expressions and styles of their congregations. During the 19th century, a growing High Church sentiment was reflected by an increase in robed choirs, more complex vestments, and changes to the altar furnishings. As historian Joan R. Gundersen emphasizes, "the church was literally remade into a home that women proceeded to decorate with their handiwork."

In remote churches, decorating the altar for services required creative solutions, often utilizing seasonally available natural materials, as with this Alaska mission church altar decorated with Pine boughs and Pussy Willow branches, c. 1916.