Signature Quilts

by Xenia cord
published: 30/08/2001
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SIGNATURE QUILTS

BY XENIA CORD

PART I

Quilts of the British Isles (Janet Rae,1987) and Quilt Treasures, The Quilters’ Guild Heritage Search (Various authors,1995) both contain interesting sections on quilts with names and other writing on them, a tradition seen both in UK and in the US. While form and function are similar on both sides of the Atlantic, there are some differences. Both British books divide the quilts according to apparent function: autograph quilts, bazaar quilts, Bible quilts, friendship quilts. Of these, the Bible quilt, with printed biblical texts and homilies, appears to be unknown in the United States. The other forms are known, and may have wider currency than in Great Britain

In the United States, quilts on which names have been inscribed in ink or embroidery have been called signature quilts; they have a number of private and public uses beyond the utilitarian and decorative. They may have been created cooperatively by friends, family, congregation or affinity group and given to one of their members as a token of friendship or kinship; they may have served as a fundraising focus for church, philanthropy, or cause; they may even have provided a visual statement in support of some event, campaign, or agency. There are private quilts, conceived as gifts for someone close to the givers, and intended just for the use of the recipient. And then there are public quilts, which have a broader audience and a broader application.

Friendship quilts are the earliest of the private quilts with multiple names on them, and they can be found in the United States from at least the late 1830s to the present. Embroidering initials on textiles to indicate ownership and inventory was a housekeeping task, and inscribing sentimental messages, genealogies, verses, and alphabets was done on samplers, usually in counted cross stitch, working over one or 2 threads. But other than minutely worked names or initials, this sort of threadwork has not commonly been seen on quilts. One factor contributing to the early popularity of friendship quilts was the appearance of permanent ink that did not run on cloth, and a tool with which to do the writing. The steel penpoint, or nib, was invented in 1803 and was being mass-produced in Manchester, England, by 1830. It seems no coincidence that inked messages and signatures on quilts began to appear shortly after the creation of the appropriate tools.

Amish Friendship Quilt made for Henry Otto, Arthur, Illinois, 1948. Embroidered. Xenia’s collection.

Friendship quilts are the earliest of the private quilts with multiple names on them, and they can be found in the United States from at least the late 1830s to the present. Embroidering initials on textiles to indicate ownership and inventory was a housekeeping task, and inscribing sentimental messages, genealogies, verses, and alphabets was done on samplers, usually in counted cross stitch, working over one or 2 threads. But other than minutely worked names or initials, this sort of threadwork has not commonly been seen on quilts. One factor contributing to the early popularity of friendship quilts was the appearance of permanent ink that did not run on cloth, and a tool with which to do the writing. The steel penpoint, or nib, was invented in 1803 and was being mass-produced in Manchester, England, by 1830. It seems no coincidence that inked messages and signatures on quilts began to appear shortly after the creation of the appropriate tools.

Friendship quilts or album quilts, given when one of the group or family moved away or married, were frequently made from fabrics left from the dressmaking tasks of each named contributor - “cut from the same cloth,” as it were - and served as a visual reminder of past associations. Family quilts might even include fabrics from deceased as well as living members, making the quilt into a form of poignant genealogical record. As the mobility of the population in the United States increased throughout the 19th century, with most people moving west, the very real possibility existed that those who migrated might never return to their family homes, and might not see friends and family again. And so the presentation of quilts with blocks contributed by those close to the recipient became common practice and invested the presentation with emotional and very personal feelings.

To a large extent the practice involved women making memories for other women, and sometimes for men. Signatures, affecting messages, bible verses, sometimes addresses, all found their way onto quilts; usually each block was signed by its maker. As the recipient, and her descendants, migrated across the country, the quilts often ended up far from their point of origin. However far she (or occasionally he)might be from family and friends, the quilt owner could take comfort from the memories inspired by the visual images evoked by the quilt. Among the Amish, the giving of a friendship quilt made of blocks from family and friends is still common practice when the recipient marries and moves to another community. These are usually intensely embroidered and contain addresses as well as names and messages of inspiration.

Sometimes the process of creation was reversed; a woman might write home to her family, begging signed blocks of family and friends in an attempt to alleviate loneliness and isolation. And as a further note, women did not only go west with their husbands and families; some went east as missionaries, or as missionary wives, dedicated to spreading Christianity to the heathens in Asia, Africa, India, Hawaii, and Polynesia. Many of these women not only carried friendship quilts with them, they impressed quiltmaking skills upon their converts, whether quilts were practical in those locations or not.

Woodmen of the World fraternal group, womens’ auxiliary, national president’s presentation quilt. California 1940. ‘Broken Star’ and embroidery. Author's Collection.

With private quilts, if no inscribed notation gives the purpose, and if no one remains who can give the significance of the pattern, the fabrics, the circumstances, then the quilt may later have to stand alone without its personal references. Out of this tradition we have such efforts as Baltimore Album quilts, where elaborate blocks, usually signed only with initials, became a part of greatly admired works of art which were originally friendship offerings. The designers are often unknown, the symbolism obscure, the participants and recipients unrevealed - but the quilts still attract tremendous notice for their artistry. The same is true of crazy quilts from the late Victorian period, which are often composed of blocks on which contributors lavished their best fancywork as well as their first names or initials. There was a basic conflict between modesty, which frowned on promoting one's abilities, and the need to leave one's name on a quilted work of art. Initials or names are often very small, and tucked away in the design unless inscription was the focus of the block.

Another form of friendship quilt was one in which women living at a distance from each other solicited blocks in some way. In 1920, an Italian immigrant named Carlo (Charles) Ponzi electrified Americans with a get-rich-quick scheme in which he promised (and paid) a 50% return on investment within 60 days. In so doing, he lent his name to the old scheme of Robbing Peter to Pay Paul, now known as a Ponzi pyramid. More benign forms of the scheme include the chain letter, an aspect that quilters were quick to make their own in the period following Ponzi's rise and fall. Before the post office outlawed the practice, quilters using the classic chain letter system sent quilt blocks to names in a letter, removing the top name and adding their names to the bottom. They sent blocks to the top name in anticipation of receiving quilt blocks from other participants. Other women participated in block exchanges aired on the radio, or through their newspapers.

Commemorative or presentation quilts are often those from members of a semi-public group such as a church congregation to their departing pastor and/or his wife, from patients of a retiring physician, from children or families to a favorite teacher - recognizing that individual's contribution to the group and giving something of value back. In these cases, it is the act of creating a permanent memory, coupled with the act of bestowal, that allows public participation in the event by a group of some size. The participants share by signing the quilt, or by having their names inscribed in ink or thread by the organizers of the effort. The participants and audience may represent a voluntary association such as a religious, social, fraternal, political, or affinity group. Quilt guilds in the US today still do this - they may contribute signed blocks to their outgoing president, in recognition of her service.

1930 block exchange through Chicago radio station WLS, owned by Sears and Roebuck. Initials stand for World’s Largest Store. Author's collection.

PART II

In the years following the Civil War, which had been disastrous in moral as well as personal and civic terms, the impulse to heal, to redirect the nation's energies toward self-betterment, resulted in the development of social movements for the welfare of the less fortunate. The public school movement, war relief efforts, Sunday schools, settlement houses, asylums for the poor and afflicted, temperance groups, orphanages and orphan resettlement programs, and other examples of public welfare efforts were the creation of philanthropic Americans who had internalized the pervasive message from the pulpit: The Lord loveth a cheerful giver.

Women began to use quilts more publicly as a means of endorsing some social or moral issue, focusing their convictions and commitments by creating a quilt containing their names, and then selling or auctioning it to raise funds for the cause. Especially before women were enfranchised, their avenues for political and social involvement were limited to those activities that were an extension of their homemaking and nurturing skills. Fundraising quilts represent a refinement of the concept of domestic textiles created for public consumption and public good. Their stated intent was to raise money for some effort which would benefit the group on whose behalf the quilt was made. The extension of the practice of placing names on quilts was to sell spaces on the quilt, or to charge by the name and by its location on the quilt. These quilts were often referred to as dime quilts, because of the 10¢ charge per name. Those who requested prominent positions on the quilt, or who wished to advertise their businesses, would be requested to pay from 25 cents to a dollar for the privilege. Unless the format included pieced block work, the names were often embroidered in a redwork format, with embroidery forming all or the greater part of the design.

Because they traditionally represented a group united in common interests and goals, most often churches were and are the focus of this sort of activity, with quilts serving in a number of ways. In addition to quilts donated outright to a church's fundraising efforts, money might be raised by asking members of the congregation to subscribe to a space on a quilt. While groups other than church groups may organize in this way, traditionally the church has endorsed the extension of women's functional needlework into the public sphere. In addition to supporting their churches, women used them as agencies through which to affect public good in orphanages, poor farms, infirmaries, and other public welfare agencies.

A quilt on which the names of the subscribers were written showed the benefiting group who had participated, and conversely, who had not. Obviously there was subtle pressure for 100% participation, especially within a church congregation. When the quilt top was fully subscribed, it was finished according to its traditional format and then offered for sale by the sponsoring group, often by auction or raffle. In this way funds were generated twice. Funds might be used for building or repair projects, for mission outreach, or for some other church-supported charity. Ironically, subscription quilts often come on the market because, having been won in a raffle or purchased at auction, they have only tenuous meaning to the owner. Once the occasion, the group, and the new owner have passed from memory, so does the importance of the quilt fade, and these quilts are often released for sale.

1853 Pennsylvania ‘Rolling Stone’ wedding quilt for Rachel Ditt. Inked names and embellishments. Author’s collection.

On a broader scale American quiltmakers supported national groups and issues. At the outset of World War I, the American Red Cross found itself faced with monumental expenses for ambulances, blankets, medical supplies, and other supportive materials for war relief. Turning to the established practice of fundraising quilts, the Red Cross published in Modern Priscilla magazine in December 1917 a set of instructions detailing how to make a Red Cross signature/fundraising quilt. By following the suggestions in the article as to number of signatures, placement, and subscription charges, a quiltmaker or group could raise as much as $1000 for the Red Cross. The article offered the encouraging information that $1000 would buy an ambulance, or 280 pounds of yarn, or bedding for 129 beds. The article was directed toward church auxiliaries, women's clubs, and organized groups of women in small towns. The suggestions also included a sample ticket form for selling signatures, and suggested that names could fill the back as well as the front of the quilt.

As public quilts have become more common, and as women who are also quiltmakers have become more outspoken in their support of causes, other issues have received the benefit of fundraising quilts. A contemporary quilt that bridges the space between commemorative and fundraising is the AIDS quilt, clearly made in support of an cause, but made not to raise money but to raise awareness and to memorialize those who have died. Many football fields wide, the quilt contains hundreds of 3' x 6' panels, and has been made almost entirely for men, by their loved ones. Quiltmakers in the United States have become especially dedicated to issue quilts supporting breast health, and are using their efforts to fund mammography and research. The extension of quiltmaking into the public realm, combined with an object that becomes an endorsement of a social or moral stance, or a pledge of support for a critical issue, provides an important avenue through which women continue to focus their convictions and commitments.

© Xenia E. Cord
Kokomo, Indiana, USA
xecord@netusa1.net

Further reading:

Clark, Ricky. "Mid-19th Century Album and Friendship Quilts, 1860-1920," in Lasansky, Jeannette( ed.), Pieced By Mother. Lewisburg, PA: Oral Traditions Project of the Union County Historical Society, 1988, 76-85.

Cory, Pepper, and Susan McKelvey. The Signature Quilt: Traditions, Techniques and the Signature Block Collection. Saddle Brook, NJ: Quilt House Publishling, 1995.

Cozart, Dorothy. "A Century of Fundraising Quilts 1860-1960." In Horton, Laurel (ed.), Quiltmaking in America, Beyond the Myths. Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill Press,1994. 157-163.

Cozart, Dorothy, "The Role and Look of Fundraising Quilts 1850-1930," in Lasansky, Jeannette( ed.), Pieced By Mother. Lewisburg, PA: Oral Traditions Project of the Union County Historical Society, 1988, 86-95.

Erickson, Rita, and Barbara Schaffer, "Characteristics of Signed New Jersey Quilts 1837-1867," in Lasansky, Jeannette (ed.). On The Cutting Edge; Textile Collectors, Collections, and Traditions. Lewisburg, PA: Oral Traditions Project of the Union County Historical Society, 1994; 70- 83.

Kolter, Jane Bentley. Forget Me Not: A Gallery of Friendship and Album Quilts. Pittstown, NJ: Mainstreet Press, 1985.

Lipsett, Linda Otto. Remember Me: Women and their Friendship Quilts. San Francisco, CA: Quilt Digest Press, 1985.
Lipsett, Linda Otto. Pieced From Ellen's Quilt: Ellen Spaulding Reed's Letters and Story. N.p., Halstead & Meadows Publishing, 1991.

Made to Remember: American Commemorative Quilts. Exhibit catalog, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, April 5-June 9, 1991.

© Xenia cord