Quilt History Snippets - December 2024

 
Kathy Moore

What:      Review of Uncoverings 1993, Volume 14 of the Research Papers of the American Quilt Study Group, edited by Laurel Horton

Topic:       “The Smithsonian Quilt Controversy: Cultural Dislocation”

Author:     Judy Elsley

This will be a revisit of an old controversy for some and new information for others. It is one of those things that got my attention at the time (the early 1990s) and drew me into the orbit of quilt history scholarship.

 

Elsley establishes at the outset her goal of “explaining the debate and explicating the significance of the dispute in terms of the cultural and ideological issues it raises.” She will “argue…[that] the controversy speaks to how we perceive quilts, what purpose we think they serve, and what cultural meaning we assign to them.” Her issue is that the reproductions enact a series of “cultural dislocations” or “disturbing shifts in perceptions of quilts from control by those who make them…to control by commercial enterprise.” In other words, from the women who make them and the context in which they are made to the men who control the decisions as well as who, how, and where the quilts are made. As she says, each shift “represents a slippage that undermines the diligent efforts of quilt scholars and enthusiasts to give quilts, and the women’s culture they represent, their rightful place in American society.” [p. 119]

 

Elsley is careful to describe the “historical and cultural context of the controversy [p. 123]. She names the players beginning with the impact of the “1992 Christmas edition of the Lands’ End Coming Home Catalog” highlighting an American-made quilt, including prices listed. Also noted, follow-up advertising and its carefully worded descriptions of copy-cat quilts imported from China by license with Smithsonian Institution and a company called American Pacific Enterprises, Inc. Something I did not know: “each quilt was originally accompanied by a registration card, and a mock certificate of authenticity.” [p. 121] That suggests to me that the decision-makers at Smithsonian anticipated some controversy over this project.

 

The estimated sales statistics provided by Elsley are surprising and enlightening. An industry publication, Home Furnishings Daily, estimated that American Pacific would gross $100 million in 1992. That got the attention of the decision-makers at Smithsonian who, no doubt, imagined this a “profitable way to increase their revenues.” [p. 124] But it did not take long for the American quilting community to take notice and begin protesting. You will recognize many of the names given here as well as the arguments for and against this project.

 

Elsley does an excellent job of providing the context and content of this controversy as well as the players and their positions. She also gives ample attention to issues related to women’s history, textile history, and the relationship between them. As she says, “When quilts are stripped of their context what we lose is their textuality…women’s history and culture are muted and even silenced, obliterated as insignificant.” [p. 127]

 

There’s more in this worthy and well researched, well written article. I won’t reveal the specifics on how it ends. I want you all to read it and decide for yourselves how the end of the controversy holds up all these years later. Let me hear from you. You can reach me at kmoore81@austin.rr.com


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Quilt History Snippets for January 2026

January 8, 2026
What: Review of Uncoverings 1995, Volume 16 of the Research Papers of the American Quilt Study Group, edited by Virginia Gunn Topic: “The Origin of Mountain Mist® Patterns” Author: Merikay Waldvogel This is a trailblazing and jam packed article full of revealing information based on primary sources to which Waldvogel had, in 1995, recently been given access. The letters dating from the late 1920s to very early 1930 between a Tennessee artist and the sales manager of Stearns & Foster Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio (producers of Mountain Mist batting) revealed previously unknown details and answered questions for not only Waldvogel, but many others who had been looking for information on why and who designed and produced the “wrapper patterns” enclosing Mountain Mist batting. Reading this article was a bit like reading a Nancy Drew mystery, and great fun it was. One wonders if she felt the same way at the time. Waldvogel notes that “Collectors have long prized the wrappers as well as the other printed matter, which, until now, have been the only sources of information about the company.” And the discovery of the correspondence “provides a detailed record of the company’s plan to promote quiltmaking (and the sales of its cotton batting) through the distribution of high-quality quilt patterns. [p. 95] Later in the article, Waldvogel notes that the sales manager even directed the artist to make her illustrations display the designs in solid-colors rather than prints. [p. 125-126] The manager was Frederick J. Hooker, Sales Manager of the Putnam-Hooker Batting Department of Stearns & Foster Co. The artist was Margaret Hays of Chattanooga, Tennessee. “They shipped watercolor sketches and finished pattern layouts back and forth between Ohio and Tennessee for eight months from July 1929 through February 1930.” [p. 96] Hays’ niece, Evelyn Hays Banner, “inherited the materials and contacted Waldvogel thinking they might be important to quilt research.” [p. 96] And this is the key to why it was so important. There were no known extant records about this business relationship between Hooker and Hays. The company’s current staff believed “such records were discarded when a series of new owners took over the company in the mid-twentieth century.” [p. 96] Waldvogel describes in interesting detail how she validated the information she found in the correspondence. She provides images of letters and designs. Importantly, she states, “The company’s efforts impacted the quilt revival of the 1930s.” And, that the “new information suggests that the changes in style, color, and construction associated with Depression Era quilts did not happen by chance.” [p. 98] It can all be credited to the marketing practices at Mountain Mist! Waldvogel traces the history of the company from its founding in 1846 when they began experimenting with ways to make a batting that “would not tear or stretch.” [p. 98] Packaging was but one of the ways the company’s employees experimented and innovated and promoted their products and packaging. And there were many product names used over the years. Also, there were multiple designer names used in the promotion of Mountain Mist designs over the years. Hay’s name apparently was not one of them! There is so much good and interesting information in this article that I cannot recommend it enough to all of you. The End Notes are extensive. There are several appendices with trademark names and dates, quilt pattern names and dates, as well as company publication names and dates. If you are looking for information on Depression Era quilt patterns/designs and dates, or information on the Mountain Mist patterns this is the source for you. Best wishes for the new year. We’ll review another article next month. You can contact me at kmoore81@austin.rr.com for more information and comments.

Quilt History Snippets for December 2025

December 2, 2025
What: Review of Uncoverings 1995, Volume 16 of the Research Papers of the American Quilt Study Group, edited by Virginia Gunn Topic: “Marion Cheever Whiteside Newton: Designer of Story Book Quilts, 1940-1965” Author: Naida Treadway Patterson Born in 1902 into a wealthy, well-educated East coast family, Marion Cheever Whiteside Newton was educated in East coast schools and abroad. She studied art and was a successful watercolorist and muralist before becoming a successful designer of more than fifty applique quilt designs. Between 1940 and 1965 she “established and operated a cottage industry which produced quilt kits and ready-made quilts…through such magazines as Ladies’ Home Journal and Good Housekeeping.” [p. 67] Author Patterson’s extensive research and documentation of Whiteside Newton’s career covers a lot of material and highlights in detail many of Whiteside Newton’s design successes from paintings to quilt making. Her designs were in demand by celebrities from the movies as well as politicians as highly placed as the White House (notably, the Eisenhower era). [p. 74, 76] Patterson notes that Whiteside Newton’s “fascination with people in the process of daily life was reflected in her art, setting the stage for her future work.” [p. 71] She became particularly known for her Story Book Quilts which she copyrighted in 1941 and which were broadly inclusive of bible stories as well as popular literature like Little Women, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Rabbit, and others. [p. 73-77] Patterson notes that Whiteside Newton produced over three thousand Story Book quilts [p. 86] though most of these were likely made by a crew of skilled needleworkers, some of whom worked for her for many years. [p. 76] Patterson discusses and describes Whiteside Newton’s design methods and the organization of her research and development materials for each project. It is clear that Whiteside Newton was meticulous in her approach to each project, spending untold hours doing deeply-involved research to ensure her representations were as authentic as possible. Patterson also suggests several aspects to Whiteside Newton’s work that could do with further research. Having just returned from the 2025 AQSG Seminar in Portland, Maine, I can say that one of the study centers focused on the work of Marion Cheever Whiteside Newton’s work. Those present for the study center may have learned more about this interesting designer and producer’s work. Maybe some of them will speak up and enlighten us in a future Snippet’s column. Please feel free to contact me about what you learned. I’ll be glad to share your thoughts with readers. There are extensive Endnotes, and there are three appendices with lists of dates and publications in which patterns were featured or published, a list of photographs of completed story book quilts, and a list of additional pattern sketches.

Quilt History Snippets for November 2025

November 6, 2025
What: Review of Uncoverings 1995, Volume 16 of the Research Papers of the American Quilt Study Group, edited by Virginia Gunn Topic: “Ruth Finley and the Colonial Revival Era” Author: Ricky Clark Clark’s abstract for this paper notes that Ruth Finley was born in Akron, Ohio, in 1884 and raised in Ohio’s Western Reserve. This region was originally a part of Connecticut’s 1662 charter that granted it land stretching west to the Pacific Ocean. After the Revolutionary War such land grant claims by Connecticut and other states were ceded to the U.S. federal government but Connecticut reserved a 120-mile strip of land in Ohio along Lake Erie as compensation. It was settled by New Englanders beginning in 1796 and the Reserve was incorporated into the state of Ohio upon statehood in 1803. [from Google search “Ohio’s western reserve” 10-25-25] It is Clark’s thought that having been raised in the Western Reserve by a large family of New Englanders, many of whom remained in New England, but exchanged visits frequently over the years, gave Ruth Finley a unique perspective on the Colonial Revival movement. Clark believes Finley’s early experiences and background and family influences “shaped the pattern and depth of scholarship that resulted in her classic book, Old Patchwork Quilts and the Women Who Made Them, first published in 1929…” [p. 33] Finley’s college career was short, only three semesters. In 1910 Finley became an investigative reporter for the Cleveland Press and made a name for herself investigating working conditions for Cleveland’s working class women. Into adulthood Finley followed the inclinations of her parents who had involved her in their own activities in national politics at an early age. She remained actively involved in Republican politics all her life, even editing the Women’s National Republican Club magazine, “the first national political review directed to women.” [p. 36] Finley also married Emmet Finley in 1910. He was also a reporter at the Press. Interestingly, both Ruth and Emmet participated in some paranormal work with Ruth being the receiver of messages from the beyond and Emmet being her transcriber/note taker. This is something they kept to themselves until she revealed it in her autobiography begun in 1951. [p. 37] Ricky Clark describes in great detail the professional and personal lives of Ruth and Emmet. She goes into particular detail about Ruth’s research and information-collecting practices as she began to delve into the Colonial Revival movement and quiltmaking. She had a strong preference for early quilt block patterns. She and a couple of family members and friends would take day trips “through the countryside looking at quilts airing on clotheslines, and buying some.” She also interviewed the women from whom she bought, probing for more information about quilt block names and stories about quiltmaking from earlier days. [p. 39] Clark details the development of the Colonial Revival movement noting that “The term ‘colonial,’ never historically accurate, could be seen as a code word for anti- or non-Victorian, anti- or non-modern…also profoundly anti-urban.” [p. 41] There is discussion of Finley’s interest in architectural styles of the region. And there are extensive descriptions of Finley’s deep interest in collecting “personal stories of the history and traditions associated with quilts, especially “sentimental stories.” [p. 45-48] Clark describes the family’s collection of letters, diaries, and artifacts from their earliest days in New England. These are the primary sources Finley was able to plumb for her scholarly research on Ruth Finley and there was much for her to plumb! The family was deeply interested in the lives of their ancestors, and they kept a lot of primary documents and artifacts. [p. 48-50] There is even reference to the fact that Ruth Finley owned Elizabeth Keckley’s Lincoln Quilt. It is a revealing story from which we get the cringe-worthy tale that well after Finley died, her grand-niece and -nephew took that quilt to their classroom show-and-tell. [p. 50] There is so much more interesting information in this well-researched and -written article. Clark’s scholarship is commendable. I recommend it to you all. And don’t fail to check out the Endnotes section. There are no less than 82 citations! Best wishes as we begin the holiday season. Talk to you again in December.
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