On this day in 1885, the Statue of Liberty, a copper and iron statue given as a gift of friendship by France to the people of America, arrived in New York Harbor in 350 individual pieces packed in more than 200 crates. The words of American poet Emma Lazarus were used for the statue’s plaque, including the now-famous line: “Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
Carol Anne Grotrian made this quilt, titled “Light of Liberty” in 1986. The quilt was Grotrian’s prize-winning entry in The Great American Quilt Contest with the theme “Expressions of Liberty,” commemorating the Centennial of the Statue of Liberty in 1986. Rather than a literal image of the Statue of Liberty, Carole Anne Grotrian presents an abstract view of the Statue, Bedloe’s Island, and the light emanating from Liberty’s torch from above. Gotrian donated the quilt to the New England Quilt Museum.
View this quilton 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/statue-of-liberty-arrives
Posted by Amy E. Milne
Executive Director, Quilt Alliance
amy.milne@quiltalliance.org