While doing a Cruise & Use tour of the browsing categories in The Quilt Index this week, I came across one of my favorite quilt collections documented in the Index–the Waldvogel Archival Collection. This is one of the first private collections contributed to The Quilt Index and currently includes 86 records of quilts and quilt-related ephemera. From the collection description page:
Merikay Waldvogel has collected and researched quilts since the mid 1970s. Although she has also written about older quilts, her primary interests are in the 20th century: the 1933 Sears Quilt Contest, Depression Era Quilts, as well as quilt designers, authors and companies that propelled the 20th century quilt styles.
Waldvogel became an outspoken advocate for saving quilt ephemera such as quilt catalogs, newspaper columns, batting wrappers, advertisements, contest fliers, etc. when she wrote Soft Covers for Hard Times: Quiltmaking and the Great Depression and Patchwork Souvenirs of the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. The ephemera served as reliable primary sources to authenticate the quilts she was researching.
I found 8 stunning quilts from the Waldvogel Archival Collection, all entries for the Sears Quilt Contest at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, to share with you today. You can find these quilts and more Challenge or Contest Entry quilts by browsing the Index by Purpose/Function.
Tip: you can easily generate a citation for any image documented in The Quilt Index by clicking on the How to Cite This Record link at the bottom of each record’s basic or full display page. Just click this link and copy and paste the citation, as I’ve done with images below.
Longsworth, Jeannette Morgan. Nineteen Hundred Thirty Three. 1933. From Waldvogel Archival Collection, Sears Quilt Contest 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. Published in The Quilt Index, http://www.quiltindex.org/basicdisplay.php?kid=5B-9D-E. Accessed: 04/29/2015
Matthews, Edith Morrow. The Spectrum. 1933. From Waldvogel Archival Collection, Sears Quilt Contest 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. Published in The Quilt Index, http://www.quiltindex.org/basicdisplay.php?kid=5B-9D-C. Accessed: 04/29/2015
Rowley, Richard Henry. Bird’s Eye View of the Chicago World’s Fair. 1933. From Waldvogel Archival Collection, Sears Quilt Contest 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. Published in The Quilt Index, http://www.quiltindex.org/basicdisplay.php?kid=5B-9D-28. Accessed: 04/29/2015
Fitzgerald, Mary O’Halloran. Fort Dearborn Quilt (Green Merit Ribbon). 1933. From Waldvogel Archival Collection, Sears Quilt Contest 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. Published in The Quilt Index, http://www.quiltindex.org/basicdisplay.php?kid=5B-9D-1F. Accessed: 04/29/2015
Wiegand, Elizabeth M.. I Will. From Waldvogel Archival Collection, Sears Quilt Contest 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. Published in The Quilt Index, http://www.quiltindex.org/basicdisplay.php?kid=5B-9D-1A. Accessed: 04/29/2015
Fitzgerald, Elizabeth Skelly. Transportation Quilt (Commemorative Quilt-Green Merit Ribbon). 1933. From Waldvogel Archival Collection, Sears Quilt Contest 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. Published in The Quilt Index, http://www.quiltindex.org/basicdisplay.php?kid=5B-9D-19. Accessed: 04/29/2015
Andres, Emma Mary Martha. Woman Spinning (Green Merit Ribbon). 1933. From Waldvogel Archival Collection, Sears Quilt Contest 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. Published in The Quilt Index, http://www.quiltindex.org/basicdisplay.php?kid=5B-9D-17. Accessed: 04/29/2015
Wetzel, Olive Thomas. State of Illinois (Commemorative Contest Category). 1933. From Waldvogel Archival Collection, Sears Quilt Contest 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. Published in The Quilt Index, http://www.quiltindex.org/basicdisplay.php?kid=5B-9D-15. Accessed: 04/29/2015
To start your browsing journey, visit the home page of The Quilt Index, www.QuiltIndex.org, locate the Browse menu at the top and click on Main. You’ll find six different options for browsing:
Click on each image to view these quilts on The Quilt Index to read more about their 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 each quilt.
Posted by Amy E. Milne
Executive Director, Quilt Alliance
amy.milne@quiltalliance.org
I have a Quilt that was handed down to me…1933. Quilt that was handmade b y. My ancestors. It was in the 1933 worlds fair and was top. 3…can u get entouch with
Hi Tracy, my apologies for taking so long to reply. Can you email us (to: information@quiltalliance.org) some photos and we will share them with Merikay Waldvogel, a quilt historian who wrote a book about the Sears National Quilt Contest, held as part of the 1933 World’s Fair (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1558532579/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1).