On This Day in History Quilt for March 12:

On this day in 1883 pioneering pediatrician Ethel Collins Dunham was born in Hartford, Connecticut. Dunham and her life partner, Martha May Eliot, were the first and second female recipients of the American Pediatric Society’s highest honor, the John Howland Medal, for their work in improving the health of premature and newborn infants. She founded programs to bring health care into the homes of new mothers after their discharge from the hospital.

Mary Ann Rogers of New London, Connecticut made this “Temperance Tree Quilt” in 1886. Made as a wedding gift, the inscription reads: “To William and Rebecca, Please accept this Temperance Tree Quilt containing 2,094 pieces pieced by me in my 77th year. Your mother, Mrs. Mary Ann Rogers New London Conn. Jan. 1886.” “The Tree of Temperance” was a popular print by Nathaniel Currier published in 1849, and was preceded by “The Tree of Intemperance,” printed almost 25 years earlier.

Documented by the Rhode Island Quilt Documentation Project in 1992.

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.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_90.html
http://www.teachushistory.org/second-great-awakening-age-reform/resources/tree-temperance

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