America's Quilting History

Home and Country: American Quilts and Samplers in the DAR Museum

A major exhibition of American needlework and quilts will be presented at the DAR Museum in the Main Gallery from October 8, 2004 through April 30, 2005. Home and Country: American Quilts and Samplers in the DAR Museum features 38 samplers and silk embroideries and 14 quilts that reflect the meaning of home and country in the nineteenth century through a shared design vocabulary. All displayed works are from the museum's renowned collection of textiles. The tree of life, the overflowing fruit basket, floral swags and meandering vines, sheaves of wheat and laurel branches were popular designs that reflected the promise of America's bounty and its significance to a rapidly expanding republic. The fierce eagle, the liberty cap, the flag, and the Great Seal are found in abundance on early nineteenth century textiles and symbolize the pride of a new nation. All speak to American dreams and aspirations in the early- to- middle-nineteenth century.

A highlight of the show includes a rarely-exhibited needlework picture "Liberty." Liberty was made by an unknown schoolgirl between 1800 and 1815, and was based on an engraving made by Edward Savage called, Liberty, In the Form of the Goddess of Youth; Giving Support to the Bald Eagle. Liberty's creator distinctively stitched the Trenton Arches in the background of her work, honoring for posterity the celebratory arches erected in Trenton, New Jersey for President-elect George Washington as he journeyed through the city on his way to New York for the country's first inaugural. This masterpiece illustrates the pride ordinary Americans felt for the new country and its first president.

Artridge Priscilla Jackson of Georgetown, District of Columbia worked her sampler in 1829 with images of home and simple domesticity. She carefully stitched into her sampler her two-story home and her pets, as well as four bountiful baskets. This work attests to the importance of home to young girls in the nineteenth century.

One of the most remarkable bedcovers made in the nineteenth century is a virtual textbook of symbols of patriotism, liberty and prosperity. The Baltimore Album Quilt Top represents the pinnacle of the Baltimore album quilt style, a distinctive type of quilt which emerged in mid-nineteenth-century Baltimore and its environs. This quilt, maker unknown, contains representations of the US Capitol, the Baltimore Battle Monument, another unidentified civic building and nine open-work fruit and flower baskets. It is breathtaking in its display of patriotism and the seemingly infinite bounty of America.

Home, family and friends were revered in an era of ever-increasing mobility and in a society that some have called "the cult of domesticity." In the last decade of the nineteenth century the Daughters of the American Revolution harkened back to the cult of domesticity by using "Home and Country" as the motto for their newly-founded organization.

The DAR Museum is open Monday - Friday from 9:30 to 4:00 and Saturday from 9:00 to 5:00. Closed Sundays and federal holiday weekends. Guided tours of the 31 period rooms are given from 10:00 to 2:30 Monday through Friday and 8:30 through 5:00 on Saturdays. Self-guided tours are available. To reserve a group tour or school tour call: (202) 879-3241. Admittance is free. The museum is handicap accessible. Please call to make arrangements.

Nancy Gibson
Media Relations Manager
Daughters of the American Revolution
www.dar.org

MORE INFORMATION HERE

19th Century Quilts: an Exhibition at the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore

American Fancy: Exuberance in the Arts, 1790-1840, the visually magnificent and critically acclaimed exhibition, was organized by the Milwaukee Art Museum and curated by Sumpter Priddy. Sponsored by the Chipstone Foundation, American Fancy will open at the Maryland Historical Society (MdHS) in Baltimore on December 4, 2004 and will be on display until March 20, 2005, its last stop on a limited national tour.

Furniture painted with wild abstractions, kaleidoscopes, light-casting pierced lanterns, dizzying quilt patterns, elaborately decorated ceramics, glass, metals and paintings, and more comprise this fabulous and visually stimulating exhibition. The show brings together, for the first time, over 200 ornamental and domestic objects that embody the "Fancy" style from numerous private collections and some of the nation's leading history and art museums, including the MdHS, New York's Museum of American Folk Art, Colonial Williamsburg, Winterthur, the National Gallery of Art, and the Shelburne Museum.Quilt lovers will delight in the 4 kaleidoscope inspired antique quilts and 6 coverlets.

For more information on American Fancy: Exuberance in the Arts,1790-1840, download this pdf including lovely pictures and information about the show.

Admission to the museum is $12 for adults and $10 for seniors. This includes entrance to the museum which now has three floors of history, including the original manuscript of the Star Spangled Banner, paintings and furniture as well as the American Fancy exhibit.

Would your quilt guild or other interested group like to enjoy a special tour and discounted admission? Reservations are currently being accepted for groups of ten or more people who wish to visit and tour American Fancy and enjoy opportunities to view the MdHS's renowned collections on display in the Society's stunning new galleries. When you visit, you can choose to:

· Enjoy a guided tour of American Fancy, arranged just for your group.
· View the MdHS exhibitions on your own or on a guided tour, including the chance to see the original manuscript of "The Star-Spangled Banner," the largest collection of Peale family paintings in the world, and some of the nation's finest examples of 18th and 19thcentury furniture and silver.
· Tour the MdHS's satellite museums in downtown Baltimore, the Baltimore Civil War Museum and the Fells Point Maritime Museum.
· Explore the MdHS's neighborhood, historic Mount Vernon, on a guided history and architecture walking tour offered by the Mount Vernon Cultural District.
· Visit some of the nearby cultural and historic attractions, including the Walters Art Museum (just two blocks away), the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Homewood House Museum, and other sites.
· Have lunch or stay overnight at one of several neighborhood restaurants and hotels offering special rates for visitors to American Fancy.

For more information or to schedule your group's visit, please contact Beverly Cihan, American Fancy Group Tour Manager, by telephone at (410) 685-3750 Ext. 336 or by e-mail at bcihan@mdhs.org.

Quilters Hall of Fame 2005 Honoree & Contest

The Quilters Hall of Fame
Marie Webster House, A National Historic Landmark
926 South Washington Street - P.O Box 681, Marion, IN 46952

Bets Ramsey Honoree for 2005

The Quilters Hall of Fame is pleased to announce Bets Ramsey of Nashville, TN, as its Honoree for 2005. Ramsey's formal training includes a B.A. in Art, with honors, from the University of Chattanooga in 1950, and an M.S. in crafts and design from the University of Tennessee in 1972. She is a founding member of the American Quilt Study Group and the Tennessee Association of Craft Artists, and is a member of the American Crafts Council, the Southern Highland Craft Guild, and other related professional organizations.

A 40-year retrospective of her work will be on exhibit in Marion, Indiana, at The Quilters Hall of Fame during Celebration 2005, the Annual gathering to induct new nominee into The Quilters Hall of Fame. It will also include vendors; lectures & workshops by well-known quilt teachers and quilt historians; quilt exhibits in The QHF/restored Marie Webster House and other venues.

The Quilters Hall of Fame is open to the public March - December during the following hours:
a) Tuesday thru Saturday 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
b) Closed Sunday and Monday
c) Closed January and February for maintenance purposes (Staff will be working)
d) Special hours on an "as needed basis". Special Bus, group or school tours can be scheduled at anytime by special arrangement, even when the museum is closed to the public.

Through the month of December The Quilters Hall of Fame is decorated for the Holidays with appropriate quilts throughout. In early March our exhibit "Crazy Patchwork" will go up. In addition, the Marie Webster Room and Founder's Room offer wonderful quilting history. And don't miss the Museum Shop with its selection of quilt books, handmade quilted items and other quilt-related gift items, such as our quilt-wearing-Santa series ornaments by Cat's Meow. Our new book published July 2004 ("The Quilters Hall of Fame") about our 34 Honorees, and the Santa series and memberships, can be ordered directly from our website.

Quilters Hall of Fame To Host Multiple Quilt Exhibits

Annual gathering to induct new nominee into The Quilters Hall of Fame. Our 2005 nominee is quilt artist, author and curator Bets Ramsey of Nashville, TN; vendors; lectures & workshops by quilt teachers and historians Pat Nickols, Merikay Waldvogel, Laurel Horton, Patricia Cox; quilt exhibits in The Quilters Hall of Fame (located in the restored historic Marie Webster House) and other venues.

The Quilters Hall of Fame is pleased to announce a series of quilt exhibits that will hang in Marion, Indiana, in conjunction with the induction of its 35th Honoree, Bets Ramsey of Nashville, TN. Ramsey’s formal training includes a B.A. in Art, with honors, from the University of Chattanooga in 1950, and an M.S. in crafts and design from the University of Tennessee in 1972. She is a founding member of the American Quilt Study Group and the Tennessee Association of Craft Artists, and is a member of the American Crafts Council, the Southern Highland Craft Guild, and other related professional organizations.

Exhibits that will hang concurrently in various locations in Marion, Indiana during Celebration week:

"Bets Ramsey: A Retrospective 1972-2005" (July 14-17, 2005) at the Marion Public Library Carnegie Gallery

“Florence Peto's Challenge: Little Quilts by Bets Ramsey" (July 5- Oct 31, 2005) - at The Quilters Hall of Fame. Fabric for these small quilts came from the fabric stash of Honoree Florence Peto (1881-1970).

“The American Quilt Study Group’s Two-Color Challenge” (July 5- Oct 31, 2005) - at The Quilters Hall of Fame. These wall hanging-size quilts are reproductions of antique originals.

“Quilting Arts Magazine’s 2004 Trading Card Challenge” (July 5- July 17, 2005) – at The Quilters Hall of Fame. A selection from Quilting Arts Magazine’s 2004 Trading Card Challenge. (see their Winter 2004 issue)

“Botanical Beauties: 1850-1950” (July 14-17, 2005) at Kendall Elementary School. Quilts from the collections of members of the Midwest Quilt Study Group. We are also pleased to announce that The Midwest Quilt Study Group has once again chosen The Quilters Hall of Fame Celebration week in Marion as their gathering point for their July meeting.

"Quilts From the Heartland" (July 14-17, 2005) at Kendall Elementary School – a selection of quilts from today’s quilters.

“Time Began in A Garden” (July 14-17, 2005) - The Quilters Hall of Fame 2005 Contest Exhibit at the Marion Public Library, Co-sponsored by Primendia’s Quilters Newsletter Magazine and FreeSpirit Fabric. Entries for the contest may contain any theme or pattern pertaining to a garden but the top must contain at least 50% of Bannister Hall Summer House, a newly released chintz fabric collection by Xenia Cord for FreeSpirit. The exterior edges of the quilt must measure no larger than a total of 225 inches. This fabric will be available in quilt shops by late January 2005. Contact your local Quilt Shop now to request it.

For additional information about The Quilters Hall of Fame's Celebration 2005 at which Ramsey will be inducted, and our 2005 Juried QUILT CONTEST, please send a self-addressed stamped envelope to P.O. Box 681, Marion, IN 46952-0681 or e-mail us at quilters@comteck.com and request that your name be added to our mailing list.

PRESS SECRETARY: Karen B. Alexander KareQuilt@aol.com
E-MAIL: quilters@comteck.com
QHF OFFICE PHONE: (765) 664-9333
QHF WEBSITE: www:quiltershalloffame.org

Additional Information:
    - For an article on the Webster House and the Quilters Hall of Fame go to http://www.historyofquilts.com/halloffame.html.
    - For more information on the Quilters Hall of Fame go to http://www.quiltershalloffame.org/.