by Quilt Alliance | May 9, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issued a presidential proclamation making the Mother’s Day holiday official, to be celebrated on the second Sunday of May. Many U.S. states celebrated Mother’s Day as early as 1911, and the idea for a day of peace in honor of mothers is credited to both Julia Ward Howe (1872) and Anna Jarvis (1907). Viola Haeline Dollar Lake of Macon, Georgia made this Mother’s Choice quilt in the 1940’s. Lake was a homemaker and mother of eight children who learned to quilt as a teenager for necessity. Her great granddaughter inherited the quilt and documented it during the Florida Quilt Project in 2007. 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/woodrow-wilson-proclaims-the-first-mothers-day-holiday Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | May 8, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1945, Great Britain and the United States celebrated Victory in Europe (VE) Day. The Nazi’s surrendered on this day and more than 13,000 British Prisoners of War were released and sent home. Mary Gasperik of Chicago, Illinois made this Victory Garden quilt in the mid 1940’s. The description in this Quilt Index record, provided by Gasperik’s grand-daughter Susan Salser: “This quilt is Mary’s personal expression of her hope for future peace in the world and for the survival of her native Hungary. To a traditional pattern, she added symbols to honor her two countries: V for Victory of the Allied Cause and the Oak and Olive Branch Wreath, a symbol found surrounding the coat of arms on historical flags of Hungary.” The quilt is part of the Mary Gasperik Private Collection, documented by author and researcher Susan Salser. 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/v-e-day-is-celebrated-in-american-and-britain Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | May 7, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1919 Maria Eva Duarte de Peron, the First Lady of Argentina (1946-1952), was born in the village of Los Toldos in rural Argentina. At age 15 Eva, nicknamed Evita, moved to Buenos Aires to pursue a career as an actress and there she met Colonel Juan Peron. Peron was elected President of Argentina in 1946, and Eva’s outspoken advocacy for labor rights and women’s suffrage won her the love and admiration of working class Argentinians. The musical “Evita” popularized her life, which ended sadly at age 33 when she died of cancer. “Mamaw” Eva Colvin of Louisiana made this cheerful red cotton Square Dance quilt in 1900. It was documented in 1997 by Eva’s granddaughter, who now owns it, during the Louisiana Quilt Documentation Project. She wrote, “The quilt was my grandmother’s and was given to my mother, who gave it to me.” View this quilt on The Quilt Index to read more about its history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Per%C3%B3n http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Cry_for_Me_Argentina Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | May 6, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1933, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an executive order to enact the Works Progress Administration (WPA), one of several Depression-era relief programs that put unemployed people to work in 1935. Three million were employed by WPA jobs alone. Civil projects like building bridges, highways, schools, hospitals, and public arts work like murals, literary publications and plays were all funded by WPA funds. Minnie Benberry of Western Kentucky, mother-in-law of quilt historian Cuesta Benberry made this “W.P.A. Tulip” quilt around 1930. From this Quilt Index record: “Mrs. Benberry (Cuesta) noted that this quilt was one of the WPA quilts from the Great Depression era. She explained that the government hired artists and craftspersons to make quilts during that time of economic hardship. This program served two purposes: These quilts were something of use, utilitarian, yet beautiful and also gave work to talented Americans who had no other means of employment. This quilt is part of the Cuesta Benberry Quilt and Ephemera Collection, donated to Michigan State University Museum in 2008 by Benberry’s son. 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/fdr-creates-the-wpa Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | May 5, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1824, American poet and author Lucy Larcom was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, then a rural town north of Boston. Larcom’s autobiography, A New England Girlhood (1889), is about the age of industrialization and her role in it as a textile mill worker – beginning at age eleven. Here is an excerpt from her poem “Weaving:” So up and down before her loom She paces on, and to and fro, Till sunset fills the dusty room, And makes the water redly glow, As if the Merrimack’s calm flood Were changed into a stream of blood Jenny Jones of Spray, North Carolina made this Brick pattern quilt for her mother in 1915 using samples from the Spray woolen mill. The edges of the pieces are all pinked (from a sample book) and briar stitched together to the backing fabric. The quilt was documented by it’s owner in 1985 as part of the North Carolina 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.nwhm.org/education-resources/biography/biographies/lucy-larcom/ Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | May 2, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1844, inventor and engineer Elijah J. McCoy was born in Canada to two fugitive slaves who escaped from Kentucky via the Underground Railroad network. The saying “the real McCoy”, meaning the real thing, has been associated with McCoy’s invention of an oil-drip cup that railway engineers asked for by name to avoid inferior versions of the product. Mary McCoy of Iowa hand pieced, appliqued and quilted this Whig Rose quilt between 1840-1860. McCoy, originally from Ohio, was the wife of a farmer and the mother of 10 children. The family member who inherited the quilt documented it in 1988 as part of the Iowa Quilt Research 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://blackinventor.com/elijah-mccoy/ Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
