by Quilt Alliance | Jun 5, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1832, Queen Regent Ka’ahumanu of Hawaii, died after a brief illness. Ka’ahumanu was the most powerful wife of King Kamehameha and after his death she was named Queen Regent, a title similar to a modern-day prime minister. The Queen embraced Christianity and right before her death, missionaries presented her with the first copy of the New Testament printed in the Hawaiian language, bound in red leather with her name engraved in gold letters. This Kapa Hae Hawaii (Hawaiian Flag Quilt) was made in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s in Hawaii. It was machine pieced, hand appliqued and hand quilted and although the maker’s name is unknown, there is an inscription that reads “E.K.C.” The quilt was documented by its owner, who inherited it, during the Hawaiian Quilt Research Project in 1993. View this quilt on The Quilt Index to find out! Read more about its history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view or click the “See full record” link to see a larger image and all the data entered about that quilt. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka%CA%BBahumanu Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Jun 4, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1862, Confederate forces evacuate Fort Pillow, Tennessee, leaving a clear path for the Union capture of Memphis. Two years later, the Fort Pillow Massacre was one of the bleakest battles of the Civil War, with nearly 300 surrendered black Union soldiers killed by Confederate forces. Agnes Mushet of Methuen, Massachusetts, made this Octagon Crazy Quilt pillow cover from cigar silks around 1890. Noted in this Quilt Index record: “husband Frank probably collected the silks when he worked at the Glen Forest Amusement Part on the Merrimack River in Methuen as head of concessions in the late 1890s.” The pillow cover is now owned by the New England Quilt Museum who documented it in The Quilt Index. View this quilt on The Quilt Index to find out! Read more about its history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view or click the “See full record” link to see a larger image and all the data entered about that quilt. Source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/confederates-evacuate-fort-pillow http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Pillow Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Jun 3, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1906, world-famous dancer, singer and actress Josephine Baker (Freda Josephine McDonald) was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Baker, who ran away from home to dance in vaudeville and on Broadway at age 13, was the first African American woman to star in a major motion picture (Zouzou, 1934). Baker moved to Paris in 1925 and there became one of the best-known entertainers in France and Europe. Baker died in 1975, two days after her last performance in Paris. Noted quilt historian, Cuesta Benberry of St. Louis, made this quilt top with the help of Annette Ammen, Lois Mueller and George Ammen (Annette’s husband), who drew many of the designs. Each block signifies something of importance in African American women’s quiltmaking experiences. Cuesta Benberry’s son donated this quilt, along with the rest of Benberry’s quilt ephemera collection, to the Michigan State University Museum when she passed away in 2008. View this quilt on The Quilt Index to find out! Read more about its history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view or click the “See full record” link to see a larger image and all the data entered about that quilt. Source: http://womenshistory.about.com/od/bakerjosephine/p/josephine_baker.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephine_Baker Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Jun 2, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1868, African American educator and race leader John Hope was born in Augusta, Georgia. His father was Scottish-born and his mother was a free African American woman born in Hancock County, Georgia. The couple lived openly as husband and wife, although Georgia law prohibited interracial marriage until 1967. At age 38, Hope became the first black president of Morehouse College—the alma mater of Martin Luther King Jr., and twenty-three years later became president of Atlanta University. Young John Drake of Atlanta, Georgia, made this Lord’s Prayer quilt in 1928. Drake was around 9 or 10 years of age when he hand pieced and hand quilted the piece with a “little help from his grandmother.” Drake’s sister inherited the quilt and she documented it during the Michigan Quilt Project. View this quilt on The Quilt Index to find out! Read more about its history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view or click the “See full record” link to see a larger image and all the data entered about that quilt. Source: http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/education/john-hope-1868-1936 Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | May 30, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1913, a New York socialite named Mary Phelps Jacob received a patent for her invention of the modern brassiere, a streamlined alternative to the unhealthy and painful corset. Mary Givens Pickel of Bloomsbury, New Jersey, hand pieced and hand quilted this Crazy Quilt in 1930 from a variety of fabrics including scraps from fabric used to make her corsets. The record in includes this note: “Quiltmaker had a back problem and had her corsets made by a seamstress. This quilt was made from the corset fabric scraps.” The quilt was documented by Pickel’s son in 1997 as part of the Heritage Quilt Project of New Jersey, Inc., and was included in the book “Herstory:Quilts of Hunterdon County,” p. 30. View this quilt on The Quilt Index to find out! Read more about its history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view or click the “See full record” link to see a larger image and all the data entered about that quilt. Source: http://inventors.about.com/od/bstartinventions/a/brassiere.htm Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | May 29, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1848, Wisconsin entered the union as the 30th state. The territory had passed from French to British to American control starting in 1634, when the area was a major center of fur trade. Wisconsin citizens finally approved statehood so they could gain from federal programs that were helping neighboring Midwestern to prosper. This Mexican Rose Variation quilt was made by an unknown quilter around 1870 in Wisconsin. According to the Quilt Index record: “It was donated to the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts by Nancy Stecker. Her husband found it inside a trunk he took from the Town of Cedarburg Dump in the 1970s. The appliqued border on this quilt is very similar to the border on the other quilt found in the trunk.” It was documented by the museum during the Wisconsin Quilt History Project in 2009. View this quilt on The Quilt Index to find out! Read more about its history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view or click the “See full record” link to see a larger image and all the data entered about that quilt. Source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/wisconsin-enters-the-union Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
