December 21 – 30, 2004
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These restored messages come from the Quilt History List, an online forum where quilt historians, collectors, researchers, appraisers, and enthusiasts discussed antique quilts and related textiles. The archive dates from 1996 through approximately 2016 and is being restored gradually. Sign up in the form at the bottom of the page if you want to know when a new page is added. Original spelling, opinions, formatting, and inactive links may remain unchanged.
Primary topics of this QHL Digest:
- Die-Cut Applique Kits — Members recall die-cut applique kit sources and share tips for storing books with musty odors.
- Rainbow Quilt Block Co. History — Research into the history of the Rainbow Quilt Block Co. and its founder William Pinch of Cleveland.
- Silk Dye Weighting Practices — Continued discussion of historical silk weighting and dyeing practices, including mordants for black dye. (see the article on natural dyes)
- Masonic Symbolism in Quilts — Members research Masonic symbolism as it appears in historic quilts and point to a helpful exhibit catalog.
- Holiday Greetings & Year-End Notes — Members exchange New Year’s greetings and reflect on the year’s quilt-history finds as the digest year closes.
From: Xenia Cord
Perhaps not answering Darwin’s question, but here are other silk books (in addition to the excellent one Barbara mentioned):
Browne, Clare. Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (1996; ISBN 0-500-27880-6). 259 color illustrations, images of woven silks and gouaches.
Anquetil, Jacques. Silk (1996; ISBN 2-08015-6-6X). Origins of silk weaving, silk weaving in Europe, by country, and its revival. Color images of silk textiles, garments, and home furnishings.
Vollmer, John E., E. J. Keall, E Nagai-Berthrong.
Silk Roads – China Ships, An Exhibition of East-West Trade (1983; ISBN 0-88854-301-8). A history of the silk trade from ca. 300 BC to the 19th century, many images but mostly of period objects, maps, charts, and other supportive data.
A happy new year, filled with textiles, to all –
Xenia
From: anthony
Place them in an airtight container with some cat litter for a few days. Cat litter is an all-natural odor absorbent. For maximum air flow, place the fabric loosely in the container rather than folded. Be patient, it can take up to a week, depending on the amount of fabric.
Congratulations on your treasure.
From: Edwaquilt@
Just a comment on die cutters. A designer out in Arkansas used a die cutter in the mid 80’s to cut kits. The “clicker” she used came from a shoe factory and she had the dies made to her specifications. I saw the machines and they looked very much like what Gay described.
Holice
If it smells like mildew, it probably IS mildewed. You won’t be able to get mildew out unfortunately, and breathing the air around such items very much could get mold into your lungs, which is NOT something you want to have happen, so do be careful with them. You could take the thread off and save the spools. Those you could wash in warm soapy water and then allow them to dry naturally in the air. Then you can do something nice to display them. The other thing you could do if you are bent on retaining the thread on the spools is encase it behind plexiglass or glass so that it is totally sealed off from where you might end up breathing it. Keep in mind that mildew, once it starts, tends to spread. It IS a mold, and ANY mold is not healthy for you. Having had Valley Fever when I was on a dig (I have a degree in Archaeology), I know how utterly devastating any illness from mold can be. A friend’s son is in critical care right now in the hospital on life support, and not expected to live because he was doing some work under his house and breathed some mold.
Not to scare you unnecessarily, but any time you smell mold, either get rid of the thing, clean it immediately (unfortunately the cleaning required to even semi-stop mold is very harsh), or encase it in something so you won’t be breathing around it. Peace and blessings, Annie
From: “Bonnie Dwyer”
Would others who have been accepted to test in April and who wish to form a “virtual study group” please email me privately? Bonnie Dwyer in Maine
Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 15:23:13 | From: EMetcalfe@
I received the beautiful book on Amish quilts and quilters from Arthur, Il. today from the Illinois State Museum Society.
It is well worth the modest amount they charged for this amazing book. The pictures are top notch and the text excellent.
No affiliation, just happy that I caught wind of it from this great quilt list.
Illinois State Museum Society 502 South Spring Street Springfield, IL 62706
In case anyone is interested in purchasing it. Best, Schultz in Ga.
Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 14:28:15 -0800 | From: “Newbie Richardson” <pastcrafts@>
Another name for silk like this is “crepe de chine”. It was used for lovely underwear in the teens and 1920’s. My mother still has all of my grandmother’s wedding trousseau lingerie ( (1919). Many of the night gowns and slips were pleated into tiny pleats at the “French” laundry. So when you see early 20th lingerie for sale in vintage shops and wonder how could such a lot of fabric have fit under those slim hipped dresses of the 1920’s, that is the answer! Newbie in frozen Northern Virginia – 16 degrees tonight- and 50 degrees forecast for the next day!Pneumonia anyone?
From: Anne Copeland
I think I remember the die cuts from about that time too, Holice. The colors, etc. of the textiles weren’t very exciting. In fact, they were downright dull if they are the same ones I am thinking of. There were Dresden Plates, and I can’t remember the others. Not many styles if I remember, but the colors of the tiny prints that were cut were very grayed. The die cuts came in shrinkwrapped packages with cardboard behind the fabric pieces. Would those be the same ones? And they WERE available in the 80s. I can’t even remember where I keep seeing them turning up but they did. I also continued to see the Rainbow kits–I’m pretty sure that was the company– (not die cuts but the blocks stamped for embroidery) sometime into the 90s. The material was now white poly-cotton, and one of the designs I bought just to have a record of it was a DWR embroidery pattern with little daisies around the central joiners, which were not square, but more the curved diamond shape. I also remember not too far back some quilt show vendor selling white poly-cotton stamped kits–many blocks and I seem to remember there were bigger kits too. They didn’t seem very appetizing, probably because of the poly-cotton, but they seemed to be selling a few. I didn’t think it was a kit company selling them but some couple. I always meant to ask them where they got the kits.
Peace and blessings, Annie
From: “Liz Lois” <loislane@>
Hi Anne, I think the couple you are referring to are from here in Wisconsin. There is a shop in Princeton Wisconsin that always had die cut kits, they have been in business a long time. I believe the name of the shop is” Quilts and Quilting”, their ad in the Quilters Companion book lists die cut kits. Liz Lois in wisconsin where there is no snow
From: Barbara Burnham <barbaraburnham@>
Anne, Rainbow Quilt Block Co. (I think that was the name) is on a package I have of stamped embroidery State Bird & Flower blocks. They are easy to date, if you know which bird/flower was the state symbol at the time (a few have changed over the years) and how many states there were (no HI or AK). All the blocks are spotless, the color chart and embroidery threads were included. I photocopied them to preserve the originals, and just for fun, traced a few, and stitched them up with new fabric and threads (much brighter and more accurate colors than the original threads). If you are interested, I will dig them out of the closet and send you a scan or two. Barbara Burnham Ellicott City, MD
Anne Copeland <anneappraiser1@> wrote: I think I remember the die cuts from about that time too, Holice. The colors, etc. of the textiles weren’t very exciting. In fact, they were downright dull if they are the same ones I am thinking of. There were Dresden Plates, and I can’t remember the others. Not many styles if I remember, but the colors of the tiny prints that were cut were very grayed. The die cuts came in shrinkwrapped packages with cardboard behind the fabric pieces. Would those be the same ones? And they WERE available in the 80s. I can’t even remember where I keep seeing them turning up but they did. I also continued to see the Rainbow kits–I’m pretty sure that was the company– (not die cuts but the blocks stamped for embroidery) sometime into the 90s. The material was now white poly-cotton, and one of the designs I bought just to have a record of it was a DWR embroidery pattern with little daisies around the central joiners, which were not square, but more the curved diamond shape. I also remember not too far back some quilt show vendor selling white poly-cotton stamped kits–many blocks and I seem to remember there were bigger kits too. They didn’t seem very appetizing, probably because of the poly-cotton, but they seemed to be selling a few. I didn’t think it was a kit company selling them but some couple. I always meant to ask them where they got the kits.
Peace and blessings, Annie
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 12:07:14 -0500 | From: “Julie” <quiltappraiser@>
Schultz wrote: I received the beautiful book on Amish quilts and quilters from Arthur, Il. today from the Illinois State Museum Society.
It is well worth the modest amount they charged for this amazing book. The pictures are top notch and the text excellent.
No affiliation, just happy that I caught wind of it from this great quilt list.
Illinois State Museum Society 502 South Spring Street Springfield, IL 62706
In case anyone is interested in purchasing it. Best, Schultz in Ga.
I was away for almost a month. Must have missed this. Do you have more information so I could order? Phone, cost?
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 12:12:24 -0500 | From: Patricia L Cummings <quiltersmuse@>
Good afternoon:
Just got word that the new catalog for the current DAR quilt exhibit in Washington, D.C. has been published. Every quilt on display is represented. There are 49 pages, 10 pages of full page colorplates, and additional close-ups of whitework quilts. The book is wire bound. The cost is $12. plus $2. shipping and handling. For more information, please call: (202) 879-3208. Alden O’Brien curated this exhibit.
Pat Cummings www.quiltersmuse.com
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 15:46:09 -0500 | From: Patricia L Cummings <quiltersmuse@>
Any other questions about the DAR publication should be sent to the gift shop:
nagman@
Thanks, Pat.
From: Anne
I have often thought that not all silks were obtained here in the U.S. where many companies seemed to weight the silk. Possibly some people traveled to China or other countries and bought the silk directly there, or a friend sent it to them from that area. And the other possibility is that not ALL companies were doing the weighting. I too have run into silk on antique quilts during my appraising that was very soft and in perfect condition and I puzzled over it for a long time. It finally occurred to me that not ALL silk was weighted. I don’t know how anyone could ever find out which companies were weighting and which ones weren’t or how much silk was brought here from China and not weighted, but it apparently was happening from the number of quilts I have seen similar to the one you are describing.
A friend of mine who was a Mason once gave me an interpretation of all the Masonic symbols and I wrote an article on it that was published by the Professional Association of Appraisers of Quilted Textiles. The Masonic history is most interesting, and the symbolic interpretations were really interesting. At the time, the article on that was the first one out for quilts, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there have been other interpretations for Oddfellows, etc. Peace and blessings, Annie
From: Joan
Annie — prior to late 1880s-1890s silk was weighted chemically with the least damaging ingredients such as barium. In the late 1880s a German scientest developed metallic weighting by using stannic or tin salts, the most harmful and damaging application but one which gave the most scroop, luster and body to silk. The process was brought to America by the Helwig Silk Co. and other American silk manufacturers. Consumer demand for this type of silk created abusiveness so great within the industry that eventually the U.S. government passed a law in 1934 regulating the use of metallic weighting. Silk after the WWII was and is limited mostly to harmless resins for weighting; most silks today are not weighted. And you are correct, not all silk was weighted during the metallic era; most taffeta, brocades and the heavier silks lent themselves better to the process. Wild raw silks — shantung and pongee for instance — created from moths which feed on oak leaves rather than mulberry are much coarser and don’t require degumming and the subsequent replacing of lost weight by artificial weighting.
From: Jackie Joy
Dear Donald,
I never received the info on Home of the Brave. My addy is P O Box 9114, Reno, NV 89507. Thanks,
Jackie Joy
Donald Beld <donbeld@> wrote: Thanks for your notes Charlotte–the quilt you are talking about is posted at www.vintagepictures.eboard.com It is one of only five surviving Sanitary Commission quilts that I have been able to track down. There is the one at the Lincoln Shrine in Redlands, Ca, and can be seen in the article I wrote in the Winter 2002 issue of the American Quilters Society magazine; one up in Berkley that is a simple 9 patch that can be seen in Virginia Gunn’s article on the Sanitary Commission quilts; the one in Vt.; another one that used the Album Block like the Lincoln Shrine’s but has a center appliqued block of an American Eagle with the first verse of the Star Spangled Banner stitched on it with the words The Union Forever; and one that is basically the forerunner design of the Amish diamond in a square block.
I consider them all to be national treasures and the second most important historical textiles because they represent the beginnings of the great movement by America’s quilters to make quilts for national causes, drives, and charities–one that has been going on now for over 140 years.
Sure would love to find more!! Best, Don Beld
From: anthony
Those shrinkwrapped die cuts are still available at Hancocks. And yes, they look like they’re from the 80s
🙂 anthony
From: Anne
Thanks for the good info, Joan. I knew the time frame in which the silks were weighted, but not that the process changed, so very good info. Now I received a brochure from the Silk Association, and I thought they noted that they were formed in 1920 and that one of their main purposes was to work to do away with the practice of weighting the silk. I read that the silk companies were allowed to weight color by only 10% and black by 15% since it required more dye. Does any of that sound correct to you? I still have that brochure around here somewhere. They sent me samples of all types of silk in its raw stage, and also sent me a cocoon for a class sample. I once gave a talk on the making of silk, and I remember ordering silk cocoons from somewhere here in the United States and they were not unreasonable either. It was awhile back, and I wish I could remember more about it. I know the people in the class sure did enjoy getting a cocoon. Thanks so much for the good information.
My goodness, it is really raining like it hasn’t rained here for years and years–perhaps more than 20 years. It is practically flood weather. Maybe it is flooding for all I know. This is a very violent storm and it is pounding down solidly and has been for hours. It went on like this for most of last night too. We need the rain, but it is very scary. It is thundering and making lightening, something we don’t get very often in Southern California. Peace and blessings, Annie
From: Anne
Thanks, Liz for the info. I do believe that IS the right name. i just couldn’t remember it.
And thanks Barbara for the good info on Rainbow Quilts. I would love to have some photocopies of them for my records. That is very kind of you. My address is Anne Copeland, 2350 W. 250th St. #14, Lomita, CA 90717.
Wow, this storm is getting even more frightening. I haven’t been in anything like this since I lived in Okinawa with my parents when I was a little girl right after WWII. We had typhoons there, and this really reminds me of one. I have never seen rain pound like this here. I thought it was bad a few minutes ago, but it has increased in fury, and I can’t hear a thing. Boy, good to be inside on a night like this! I looked out on the street in my mobile home park, and the street is flooded — I can’t tell how deep it is but it is covering the street. It sounds like hail, but I looked out and I can’t see hail–just water pounding really hard. Oooooh, I am going to go get under the covers I think! Peace and blessings, Annie
From: “Karen Evans”
More mordant for black sounds about right – it’s a tough color to fix, whether with natural or aniline dyes.
From: EMetcalfe@
For anyone who is interested in buying the book, the title is
Illinois Amish Quilts: Sharing Threads of Tradition, it is $24.95 plus $4.00 shipping and handling.
I was instructed to send a check, and note requesting the book by title, along with my name and address to:
Illinois State Museum Society 502 South Spring Street Springfield, IL 62706
Phone is : 217.782.6092
I hope that anyone who orders, will be a thoroughly pleased with the book as I am.
From: Joan Kiplinger <jkip@>
Ann — the figures you refer to were those set by the U.S. government about 1934. During the 1920s the entire American textile industry was the laughing stock of the world, noted for its poor quality manufacturing. Consumer demand for novelty fabrics of any kind pushed manufacturers to the straining point to meet this increasing output. There were no quality standards and controls. Most textile books as well as publications during that period urged the government to step in if the industry could not correct the situation. Some manufacturers looked to other solutions for silk, turning to experimenting with and refining viscose and cuppramonium [sp??] rayons and acetate processes. All in all a most devastating time in textile history with results that led to some of the finest goods by the mid to latter1930s.
From: “Lucinda Cawley”
The following is from Alden O’Brien curator of the current quilt and sampler exhibit at the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) Museum in Washington. Enjoy! Cinda on the Eastern Shore
“Just a quick note to inform you that the catalogue of the quilts in the current exhibit “Home and Country: Quilts and Samplers in the DAR Museum” is now available for $12 plus $2 postage. (I’ve priced UK shipping, and that’s $6 for one copy; more, we’ll figure out if we’re lucky enough to be asked…)
The catalogue is produced in-house, so it’s not a glossy full-scale production, but a seviceable wire-bound one; but it’s 49 pages, with 10 full-page color plates of 8 of the 14 quilts, plus one whitework, and one quilt not at the DAR that is a “twin” of one of ours, made by our quiltmaker’s mother. There are also detail shots in color or black and white of the remaining 7 whitework quilts in the exhibit, and 3 images of quiltmakers (2 daguerreotypes, one portrait). Extensive notes on stitches per inch, fabrics used, quilting thread and designs, biographical info on the quiltmakers, notes on the motifs and so on, are all included in the entries.
If you’d like one (or more), please call 202-879-3208 for the Museum Shop (9:30-4 weekdays, 9-5 Saturdays, Eastern Time; closed Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 and generally, closed Federal holidays–which will include Inauguration Day, Jan. 20th) or email Nicole Agman at nagman@ to place an order. (Visa, Mastercard, Discover and AmEx accepted.)”
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2004 16:34:10 +0000 X | From: deedadik@
Hi Anne, Could you please send me a copy privately of the article you wrote for PAAQT on the symbols of the Masons. Thanks, Dee — Dee Dadik
From: Barbara Burnham
Here is a scan of the leaflet included with the State Bird/Flower preprinted embroidery blocks: http://home.comcast.net/~bluebars/RainbowQuiltBlocks.jpg
The leaflet says to wash the finished quilt with Fels-Naptha soap–anyone familiar with that? Perhaps that product would remove the stamped design? (Not that I want to in this case!) I found that it is still available, and has been used for laundry, poison ivy treatment, lawn fertilizer, insecticide, and household cleaner!
There is no date in this kit. However, the New Jersey block has a Bluebird and Violet. New Jersey officially adopted the goldfinch as state bird in 1935, so I suppose we can date this kit at least pre-1935. Several state symbols have changed over the years. Comparing state bird/flower patterns that I have collected, I think some birds were chosen by the designer, and not necessarily considered “official.” It would be a fun study—-maybe someday.
Anyway, as promised, here is the NJ block: http://home.comcast.net/~bluebars/RainbowNJBluebird.jpg
California Quail and California Poppy: http://home.comcast.net/~bluebars/RainbowCAQuail.jpg
New York and Maryland I have traced and stitched up with new fabric and my own thread choices. NY Bluebird and Rose: http://home.comcast.net/~bluebars/RainbowNYBluebird.jpg
MD Oriole and Black-eyed Susan: http://home.comcast.net/~bluebars/RainbowMDOriole.jpg
Barbara Burnham Ellicott City, MD
From: Xenia Cord
The Rainbow Block Co. was the creation of William Pinch of Cleveland; blocks were sold through a number of outlets, including Needlecraft Magazine (Needlecraft/Home Arts) from Augusta, Maine. As far as I know, his daughter survives in Florida and still owns the rights to the designs and sells them.
There is information in the QHL archives on the company, and Cuesta Benberry is the leading authority on William Pinch.
Xenia
From: “Newbie Richardson” <pastcrafts@>
Dear List, One of the best resources for masonic symbolism is the catalog of an exhibit from 1976 at the Museum of Our National Heritage ( now called the National Heritage Museum) in Lexington, Mass. “Masonic Symbols in American Decorative Arts” Library of Congress #76-16690, put out by the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum and Library, Inc. It has lots of good articles plus the catalog of the exhibit. I have an zeroxed copy – but I bet you could find it on a used book search. Well worth the effort, as all kinds of fraternal symbolism permeates the Decorative Arts of the 19th century.
Dies are still widely used in the garment industry. I worked for a designer who did a lot of applique work in Ultra Suede in the 1970’s and ’80’s. We die cut belts, as well as decorative motifs. Each die is VERY expensive to commission, about $1000 or more depending on the design. So we only had them made for designs we used a lot in different forms. And they had to be sent out for sharpening.
Silk is still being weighted, silk satin especially – only now it is weighted with starch. So NEVER wet clean a silk satin garment before wetting a swatch – or your dress could end up looking like a silk charmeuse night gown! Happy New Year to all Newbie Richardson
From: “Karen Evans” <charter.net>
Y’know, all this Masonic talk makes me wish they’d used a quilt for one of the clues in National Treasure…*snicker*
Karen Evans
From: CarylSchuetz@
I ordered the book and received it several weeks ago. It is a gem! Caryl
From: anthony <quiltmasterbigfoot.com>
Philadelphians of a certain vintage would have fond memories of the aromas emanating from the Fels plant. That’s probably where those stories sending horses to the soap factory came from.
Womenfolk.com reports it being used to remove labels from feedsacks. Before detergents were invented, Fels made millions by adding benzene (naphtha) to their soap formula. Benzene is a cleaning fluid and it really hyped-up the soap’s cleaning power.
Dial Soap owns it now so I suspect the original formula has changed; we’re pretty much run out of horses and benzene has been found to be a carcinogen. So anything you buy today is likely to be very different from what grandma would have had around the house.
anthony in Tampa
From: Anne Copeland
Hard to believe the New Year is here already. It seems like the time just flies by so fast, sometimes it feels like a few minutes instead of a whole day!
I wanted to thank everyone who has responded with so much really excellent information about die cuts, silks and Masonic Symbols. I went through some of my files looking for the article, but as yet, I haven’t located it. But I am majorly distracted right now receiving all the quilts for the traveling exhibits of Myths and Legends. The first opening at a gallery in San Pedro is February 3, and I am hanging all the quilts and setting up displays of the other items on January 29, so I needed to get everything ahead so I could start mentally placing the pieces in my mind. I also have to get the placards made up with the myths and other appropriate info, and so many other things to think about. The gallery opening is in a historic building and we are going to have a cellist playing and have a wine and cheese, etc. opening I want everything to be just right, so I will be staying up very late a lot of nights as I am tonight.
Now horrors of horrors! When you are shipping a piece of value, I am not sure whether you should use Fed Ex or UPS because I am having big time problems with both! I told all the fiberartists to ship their pieces with tracking and also to request delivery confirmation on this end–i.e. a signature minimally! And they have done so as I requested. The problem is, it has, as you all know, been raining so really hard here, and tonight I come home, and they left two really large quilt packages on my doorstep! Now of course I am going to go to the Post Office in the morning and complain mightily, but I thought I would warn you if you are shipping something of value. I’ve had Fed-Ex do the same thing. I have heard these horror stories from others too. Now fortunately in my case, I live in a senior mobile home park at the back end of the loop, and all my neighbors look out for each other, and none of them would EVER take anything that belonged to someone else. But I still have more quilts coming, and I am so worried if they leave one out and it rains. I can’t stay home from my little job every day, and as it is, I wait as long as I can before going off to work.
Be well and thank you kindly again for sharing all your good information. It is much appreciated. I wish each and every one of you the very best life has to offer for the New Year and all the years to follow. Peace and blessings, Annie
From: Judy Kelius
I think the safest and most economical way to ship something of value is via registered mail – when you register it, you specify a value and don’t have to buy additional insurance, and it must be signed for every step of the way plus when it is delivered. The piece must be totally sealed so it would be obvious if it has been tampered with. I think a lot of postal workers don’t mention it because they don’t want to deal with the extra work. It is not as expensive as you might think – it can actually cost less than UPS or FedEx. You pay postage (first class or Priority only) plus the registration fee, which goes from $7.50 to $17.35 (for $10,000). After $10,000 you pay $.85 per $1000 of value, limit of $25,000.
It is also a good idea to avoid shipping things around the holidays if you can . . . all the carriers are so stressed that there are more problems. The only time the post office has lost a package shipped to me was in December!
If you get a lot of packages, another suggestion is to get a Post Office box . . . that way you can pick up your packages on your schedule. —
From: Joan Kiplinger <jkip@>
You all bring back memories with this cleanser. I remember my mother in the late 30s-40s using this soap for heavily soiled items. She would shave on chips, put them in a jar to soak overnight so they would be dissolved in the morning, thus yielding sudsy water. This was dumped into hot water in laundry tray or wringer washer. Later Fels was available in chip form.
From: “Jan Drechsler”
If you search AddALL books on google, you will find about 10 copies of ‘Masonic Symbols in American Decorative Arts.’
The price starts at about $36 up to $50. Too much money for me, but I hope some of you can take advantage of the books. — Jan Drechsler NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS: quiltdoc@
Quilt Restoration; Quilting teacher www.sover.net/~bobmills
From: “Rosie Werner”
Thank you to whoever posted the information about the Mary Barton collection at the Iowa Historical Museum. I just came back from a trip to DesMoines, having spent a morning with the collection. It’s a HUGE collection. The curator, Michael Smith, was very helpful and pleased that someone was using the collection. I just scratched the surface, looking for anything to do with quilt kits. There must be over 100 3-ring binders full of clipped articles, catalogs and catalog pages, fabric samples, booklets from shows and exhibits, and, I don’t know what else. 4 cabinets were full of folders and books. Each was piled high with boxes of fabric samples on top of them. The curator told me that Mary would take apart damaged quilts and make a booklet with mounts of the fabrics so she could use the quilt as a reference for dating. In the collection I saw booklets on dyes, bedding, beds, rugs, fashion, household hints, anything related to domestic life in the 19th and early 20th century years. There are a few quilts in the collection, but I didn’t see them. There are also panels of muslin that Mary would attach pieces to as visual aids for her lectures. She didn’t have slides. There seemed to be quite a few of these – each on a particular topic. I will be making quite a few more trips there. It’s worth a stop if any of you travel through the DesMoines area. Other parts of her collection were donated to the Iowa Living History Farm (the family quilts) and the University of Iowa (costume and fashion collection.) Rosie Werner ——_
From: “Newbie Richardson”
Anne and List I do a certain amount of historic/art shipping and have nothing but good luck with Fed Ex. Here in Virginia, the UPS guy ALWAYS places the box in a huge, heavy plastic bag if it is raining and he leaves the box on the front steps. I cherish those bags and hoard them! Your problem may be the aberant weather you all have been experiencing. I have also had nothing but good experiences with very valuable packages when shipped through the US Postal Service. But I always insist on the tracking/sign for it type of service, not to mention adequate insurance. Note: when you do insure something, be sure you have documentary proof of the existence and condition of the item before you ship it. I have had to do “retroactice” appraisals when all the information the owner had was “the quilt was made by my great grandmother and it was gorgeous and it was red and green”! Happy New Year to all Newbie
From: DDBSTUFF@
In a message dated 12/31/2004 12:10:55 AM Eastern Standard Time, qhl@ writes: Masonic Symbols in American Decorative Arts Here is a list of other books dealing with Masonic Symbolism:
Horne. Sources of Masonic Symbolism, 1981 Mackey. Symbolism of Freemasonry, 1921 Museum of Our National Heritage. Masonic Symbols in American Decorative Arts, 1976 Roberts. The Craft and Its Symbols, 1974 Steiner. Masonry Illustrated, 1953 Street. Symbolism of the Three Degrees, 1922
Darwin
From: “Kathleen Reyes”
HAPPY NEW YEAR PEACE & JOY & PROSPERITY for all — Kathleen Reyes
From: “Rosie Werner”
There is an ABC Crib quilt in Mary McElwain’s catalog, Romance of the Village Quilt. It is also in Boag Co.’s catalog. Boag carried McElwain patterns, and McElwain carried Boag patterns, so I’m not sure who the designer is. This quilt has an airplane for the A block. I wish I had written down all the letter pictures, but time was running out. I found these catalogs in the Mary Barton collection in the Iowa Historical Museum. Rosie Werner
