On This Day in History Quilt for March 7:

On this day in 1876 Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for his newest invention—the telephone. Bell was born in Scotland and first worked in London with his father, who developed a system to teach speaking to deaf people. In the 1870’s the family moved to Boston, where Bell started working on a device that would combine the telegraph and a record player so people could speak to each other from a distance.  With the help of Thomas A. Watson, a Boston machinist, Bell developed a prototype that carried its first message three days after the patent was filed (beating the submission of a similar patent application by only 2 hours).

This wool embroidered telephone quilt was made in 1930 by unknown quiltmakers in Clay County, Nebraska. The record states, “Quilt maker did not quilt it. Quiltmakers were friends or neighbors. Quilt pieced by three or more persons…Made for special person, Friend/Neighbor.” It appears to be a signature quilt although the record does not confirm this. The quilt was documented as part of the Nebraska Quilt Project in 1988.

View this quilt on The Quilt Index to read more about it’s history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view.

Sources:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/alexander-graham-bell-patents-the-telephone

Posted by Amy E. Milne
Executive Director, Quilt Alliance
amy.milne@quiltalliance.org