By: Susan Price Miller

In 1919, the Art Institute of Chicago accessioned an appliquéd album quilt which had been donated by Emma Blanxius Hodge. Called the “Circuit Rider’s Quilt,” accompanying information described it as having been presented to G.C. Warvel as an iconic circuit rider of the frontier, and this romanticized story was repeated in print media throughout the twentieth century. Recent research, using a wide range of genealogical materials, local records and county histories,

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The Circuit Rider’s Quilt: Reality and Romance  »

By: Sue C. Cummings

Public attention to quiltmaking in Chicago during the 1930s-1950s usually focuses on the contributions of award-winning quiltmaker, designer, and artist Bertha Stenge. Little is known about lower-profile Chicago quiltmakers of this period. In 1996, the author purchased five quilts made by previously undocumented quiltmaker Irene Post, along with her collection of quilt-related ephemera. Post lived in Chicago from 1922-1951 and made more than thirty quilts in both traditional and original designs.

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Irene Post: Quilt Artist and Neighbor of Bertha Stenge  »

By: Marin F. Hanson

A comprehensive analysis of 650 quilts made between 1870 and 1945 revealed two related yet divergent trends.   On one hand, many quilts embody the anti-modern sentiments common to the era, in particular those of the Aesthetic Movement and the Colonial Revival. Reacting against the negative aspects of industrialized life, these two movements looked to exotic cultures and past eras for inspiration. The Aesthetic Movement influenced crazy quilts of the 1870s and 1880s,

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Modern, Yet Anti-Modern: Two Sides of Late-Nineteenth-and Early-Twentieth-Century America  »

By: Loretta B. Chase

A study of bedding textiles listed in one New Hampshire county reveals changes in the frequency and value of quilts between 1773 and 1849. During the mid-eighteenth century, inventoried estates included few quilts, but by the mid-nineteenth century, quilts were present in many households. Quilts became more common during this period, and their appraised values declined. This study analyzes samples of the estate inventories recorded in Strafford County,

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Quilts in Transition: A Study of Stafford County, New Hampshire, Probate Inventories  »

By: Arlesa J. Shephard

Although women in the United States were unable to vote in presidential elections before 1920, they made quilts that expressed their political sentiments. By the end of the nineteenth century women had access to a vast number and variety of campaign ribbons and other textiles which they incorporated into their quilts. These textiles allowed women to stretch the boundaries between the public and private spheres to express support for candidates and causes.

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Quilts for McKinley: Women’s Involvement in Politics  »

By: Aimee E. Newell

American women have given quilts as gifts for generations, yet little research that focuses on this aspect of women’s material culture has been published. An examination of quilts given as gifts by mature women between 1820 and 1860 demonstrates how these women used gift quilts to maintain family connections, express personal opinions, and pass on feminine traditions and values. Sometimes theses quilts served as stand-ins for family members living far away,

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More than Warmth: Gift Quilts by Aging Women in Antebellum America  »