Museum Textiles Services recently conserved a signature quilt that piqued our curiosity due to its lack of a date, place of origin, or occasion for which it was made. Using our research skills, we were able to answer two of these questions, and pose a theory for the third.
Signature quilt, after conservation. Courtesy of private collector.
We determined date range for the quilt by dating the fabrics and the design, and then used historical information to confirm our hypothesis. Signature quilts became a favorite way of defining a community or family in the mid 19th-century and remained popular into the early 20th century. MTS Director Camille Myers Breeze states in her article Harvard signature quilts that by the 1840s quilts of all types were popularly made to commemorate events such as presidential elections, marriages, strong friendships, or fundraising efforts. Signature quilts get their name from the fact that they were inscribed with names, verses, poems, or important dates. Sometimes individuals made and inscribed their own block. Other times a single person made all or many of the quilt blocks and had different people sign each one. This quilt appears to have been inscribed by just one person, another common practice. We further narrowed the probable time frame during which this quilt was made to between the last quarter of the 19th century to the early 20th century using Eileen Jahnke Trestain's invaluable book Dating Fabrics: A Color Guide.
| Each block has a basket pattern with white ground and a contrasting colored basket. The earliest document use of the basket motif that we found in Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns dates to the 1850s, and they remain a common pattern today. Finally, we cross referenced some of the names on the quilt after its owner told us that it originated in Dublin, New Hampshire. Using the book The History of Dublin, NH, we found that many of the signers, with surnames such as Allison, Mason, and Fisk, were among the important families and officials in the town prior to 1852. Cemetery records then provided a birth date for the youngest person represented on the quilt, Ethel Piper, who was born in 1884. This quilt, therefore, could not have been made before 1884. We don't yet know what connects the names on the quilt and we can only speculate why it was made. Blocks reading simply "Mama" or "Aunt Lizzie," lead us to believe that the quilt was made by a family and honored an event meaningful in all of their lives. We continued to ponder the lives of the people inscribed on the quilt as conservation work began. One of the most damaged blocks was signed "Hannah Harrington," the sister of Eva and Clarence Harrington, also on the quilt. The three siblings lived on a farm that George and Martha Harrington purchased when they moved to Dublin, NH in the 1860s. Hannah's block contains a brownish blue fabric that shows extensive chemical deterioration. In order to prevent further loss and provide color compensation, navy blue cotton fabric was inserted behind the damage and then overlayed with nylon net. |  Hannah Harrington block before under and overlay  Hannah Harrington block before inserting fabric for underlay  Hannah Harrington block after under and overlay stitched down |
 Back of Dublin, New Hampshire, signature quilt back. Photo courtesy of private collector | The red sashing on the front of the quilt was also in an extremely deteriorated state and required stabilization using an overlay of red nylon net. Throughout the treatment, MTS conservators paid special attention to our stitching by only sewing into the batting. This way we were able to preserve the appearance of the distinctive red and white backing, which we discovered was pieced by machine rather than printed, as we first believed. Even when repairing the dark brownish blue fabric in the Hannah Harrington block we were able to use only tiny stitches in white or red thread within the "ditches," or seams, so that the graphic impact of the striped quilt back would not be spoiled. |
This signature quilt is a rare historic document listing many prominent Dublin families. Why these people are commemorated on this quilt still remains a mystery. Once the quilt is returned to New Hampshire, perhaps its origins will be revealed.
 | Gretta Hempelmann is a graduate from The University of Missouri with a MA in Clothing and Textiles. She has a BA in Fashion Design and Merchandising from West Virginia University. She received a certificate for Care of Special Collections for Textiles from the International Preservation Studies Center in the summer of 2016. |
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