On this day in 1969, “Sesame Street,” the educational television show for young children conceived by documentary producer Joan Ganz Cooney, debuted. Cooney hired puppeteer Jim Henson to create diverse characters with positive social messages to help underprivileged 3-5-year-olds prepare for kindergarten. Bert and Ernie, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster and friends have aired in more than 120 countries and today, an estimated 8 million people watch the show each week in the U.S. alone.
Letha Lundquist of Port Sanilac, Michigan, hand pieced, hand appliqued and hand quilted this original design of scenes from her childhood, titled “A Village Street” in 1978. Lundquist documented her quilt as part of the Michigan Quilt Project in 1984.
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/sesame-street-debuts
Posted by Amy E. Milne
Executive Director, Quilt Alliance
amy.milne@quiltalliance.org
Sesame Street premiered when I was already reading, but, luckily for me, I had younger siblings and a reason to watch it 🙂
Such great memories for me too, Sandi. I was in that first demographic of littles who benefitted from Sesame Street. Was thinking about the letter sponsors, “Today’s Sesame Street was brought to you by the letter D!” :)–Amy Milne