On this day in 1867, the British North America Act (today called the Constitution Act) was passed by Great Britain, recognizing the Dominion of Canada, a group that included Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the future provinces of Ontario and Quebec, as a self-governing entity. Today Canada Day is a federal holiday celebrated by outdoor […]
On this day in 1964, Christopher Allen Eselgroth was born in Greece, New York, a suburb of Rochester. A typeface -knowing, ridge-conquering, rock and roll-playing, moon pie ice cream- devouring, basil-growing, family-loving man–he is. Happy Birthday, sweetheart. xo Amy This stunning signature quilt was started in 1900 as a fundraising effort by Mrs. Addis Elliot and […]
On this day in 1892, Pearl Bayley (nee Sydenstricker) was born in Hillsboro, West Virginia, to parents on break from missionary work in China. Buck’s novel “The Good Earth” (1930), describing peasant life in China, won the Pulitzer and Nobel Peace prizes and was translated into 30 languages. Buck received many awards for her humanitarian […]
On this day in 1950, the Korean War began when armed forces from communist North Korea attacked South Korea. A three-year war ensued with the United States, acting under the auspices of the United Nations, fighting in defense of South Korea. It is estimate that more than 2,800,000 people died during this war, including soldiers […]
On this day in 1901, Pablo Picasso, a nineteen-year-old Spanish artist little known outside of Barcelona, had his first major exhibition of paintings in a prestigious Paris gallery. Picasso was the son of a drawing professor who groomed his son to follow his career path. He began exhibiting his work at the age of 13, […]
On this day in 1887, the Rocky Mountains Park Act was enacted by the Parliament of Canada, which established Banff National Park (then known as Rocky Mountain Park), west of Calvary, in the province of Alberta. The act was modeled on the US’s Yellowstone Park Act of 1881. Canadian Mary Jane (Waters) Geddes began this […]
On this day in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the admission of West Virginia into the Union as the 35th U.S. state (or 24th when secession of the 11 Southern states is taken into account). Church members made this Applique Sampler Signature quilt for the Reverand Daniel Hitt Kincheloe Dix in 1860. The quilt […]
On this day in 1970, Manhattan native Carole King earned her first #1 single, a double-sided hit with two songs she wrote and performed: “It’s Too Late” and “I Feel the Earth Move.” Before this King earned her living as a songwriter for Aldon Music for whom she co-wrote hit songs like “Will You Love […]
On this day in 1923, the first Checker cab rolled off the assembly line at the Checker Cab Manufacturing Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The company with the familiar checkerboard graphic produced cabs in Michigan until 1982. Nellie (Shea) Neal, a Methodist homemaker from Hoxie, Kansas who learned to quilt from a friend, hand pieced this […]
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, […]