Object Record
Images
Metadata
Object |
Quilt, Bed |
Date |
ca. 1853 |
Description |
Signature quilt, tied, six blocks high by five blocks wide. "Odd Fellow's Patch" or "Wild Goose Chase" pattern. Predominately in greens and blues with some yellow. Names include Clarks, Kinneys and Brooks with locations of Royalton East Randolph, Bellows Falls, Waterbury and Barnard, Vermont and one Walpole, New Hampshire. |
Width (inches) |
80.000 |
Height (inches) |
84.000 |
Information |
"Odd Fellow's Patch" was a good design for a friendship quilt, since the open center of the block provided space for the signature of a friend or family member. Friendship or Signature quilts were particularly popular in the mid 1800s, a time period notable for movement of the Vermont population. Limited opportunities and available land combined with harsh climate led many families to seek greener pastures in the western frontier states. Friendship quilts were often made as a gift for people moving away, but could also made to celebrate a marriage or other family event. We do not know the exact history of this quilt. Several blocks are dated to the early 1850s and the names include members of the Clark, Kinney, Glidden, Dutton and Brooks families (many of these families were related by marriage). Most are from the Randolph or Royalton, Vermont area, but others are from Bellows Falls or Walpole, New Hampshire. Ages range from the 83 year old Grandmother Clark (probably Abigail Clark, mother of Laura and Martha Clark who are represented in blocks beside and below her) to 9 year old Mary Brooks. Although not quite as interactive as today's social media, signature quilts served a similar purpose of connecting friends and family who lived down the road or across the country. |
Related People |
Blodgett, Mary L. Brooks, Abigail Brooks, Mary O. Brooks, Ruth E. Brooks, Sarah Clark, Abigail Clark, Laura Clark, Martha E. Clark, Mary E. Dutton, Altha Hazen Dutton, Diana Harriet Walbridge Dutton, Sarah P. Glidden, Annette W. Glidden, Susan Kinney, Tempe S. Skinner, Julia A. Kinney Stevens, Abbie S. Whitcomb, Harriet P. Wright, Lavinia H. |
Credit line |
Gift of Robert and Barbara Levine |
Catalog Number |
2010.20.2 |