1876: A Party

  

In a post a few days ago we looked at quilts date-inscribed

1875 and I concluded it was a dull lot.

Cindy's Antique Quilts

Echoes of past styles with a trend to pink if any design trends

were apparent.

Did that trend continue?

https://quiltindex.org//view/?type=fullrec&kid=11-37-5843

Laura A.B. Loring, New York

Massachusetts Project

"April 26 1876"

Aida Overton Walker

Was there nothing new?

How About a Party!

1876 was the hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of

Independence, the birthday of the United States.

A year-long party that had an influence on quilt style.

From the Ohio project and their book

 Quilts in Community: Ohio's Traditions

The main site for celebration was Philadelphia, which put on "The International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine or Centennial Exhibition" in Fairmount Park. Thirty-eight nations showed their wares in the fair, which was open May to November.

A two-sided quilt of fabrics printed to celebrate the anniversary.

Women, denied exhibit space in the other buildings, organized their own.

But NO patchwork quilts...well, maybe one allowed.

Boston Evening Transcript 1875

Eliza Hoskins Farris, always eager for a little publicity for her

quilts, told the Lexington, Kentucky paper that her

Henry Clay quilt was going to the fair. (Doubtful.)

Read more about her:

https://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2023/07/eliza-hoskins-farris-her-name-in.html

Merikay Waldvogel and I have been studying quilts at large fairs and international exhibitions and have found fairly consistently that newspapers often carried articles about quilts that were going to the fair. We've also heard family memories about a quilt that wowed them in Chicago, St. Louis or Philadelphia. When we checked official records we find most of those never made it to any exhibit hall. As you might notice, the people who managed these events did not hold quilts in high favor.

President of the Women's Committee Elizabeth Duane Gillespie was

 Benjamin Franklin's Great-Granddaughter.

Official exhibits aside, the Centennial anniversary led many quiltmakers to celebrate with original designs.

American Museum of Folk Art
By Gertrude Wendling Knappenberger (1815-1888), Pennsylvania

Top from an auction

From a Dana Auction

Monmouth County Historical Association/ New Jersey Project

Made from flag bunting.

Note says: "This bunting decorated the residence of ? 

M. Pemberton, 39 Bleeker St., Newark, NJ 1876".

https://quiltindex.org//view/?type=fullrec&kid=20-16-2424

Shelburne Museum Collection

By Minnie Burdick, North Adams, Massachusetts

Pictorial quilt with two views of the fair. Is the one on the left a view

of the Women's Pavilion?

Barbara F. Menasian found this sampler in Manchester, Connecticut.
Today's quilters have made many copies. Do a web search
for Centennial Quilt Project

The world of quilts was no longer as dull or sparse as it had been a year earlier. Somehow that 100th anniversary party sparked a revival of interest and many new looks. About which--- more in the next post:

Read more about Centennial Quilts at these posts:

Quilts were Quaint:  https://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2020/04/visiting-1876-centennial-fair.html

https://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2020/03/ephrena-wagners-eagle-quilt.html