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DK Quilt Guild: A Quilt Turning in Plymouth [1]
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Date: 2025-09-07
DK Quilt Guild: A place for quilters to gather, share ideas, projects, and to make the world a better place, one quilt at a time. Join us and share your thoughts, projects, questions, and tips. Quilters here are at many different levels of skill. Beginners and non-quilters are welcome, too.
We NEED diarists!
Your diary can be elaborate and full of photos, a simple story of your own quilting history or that of someone you love, a discussion of a current project or a technique you're learning, new adventures... You could post quilt retreat-day recipes (things like crockpot meals, so food appears without much attention from you)...
We could do show and tell or open thread, also, but either way, we need diarists to host. It is EASY if you're willing to take the chance.
Diary Schedule 9/14 — OPEN 9/21 — OPEN
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I went to Plymouth for a very special event last month.
The Plymouth Antiquarian Society, a venerable local history organization founded in 1919, is the custodian for several historic sites in and around Plymouth, Massachusetts. The places and items in their keeping include Hedge House, an early 19th century octagonal house right off the harbor (see above), a Wampanoag rock used for centuries by travelers leaving the Patuxet area to leave ritual offerings, and material culture items and archival materials dating back three hundred years.
Among these is the Rose T. Briggs Clothing and Textile Collection. Established by the Antiquarian Society’s original curator, the Briggs Collection is one of the most extensive sources of clothing, textiles, and early sewing tools anywhere in the Northeast. Dresses, shoes, hats, a Revolution-era Harvard graduation suit, quilts, military uniforms, the stock of a 19th century cravat maker, embroidered items, even the “Pilgrim costumes” worn at the tercentenary of the town in 1920 — you name it, they have it. Much of this treasure is stored in an annex to the Hedge House, neatly labeled and packed in acid-free tissue, Styrofoam, and acid-free boxes, and it is truly a pity that they don’t have the budget or facilities to create a permanent exhibition space to display the cream of their collection.
Of course not all of the collection is cream. People tend to donate whatever they think a historical society will want, with nary a thought as to whether the society has the staff, room, expertise, or funds to care for Great-Grandmother’s battered dance card from the Arbor Day Ball of 1892, Great-Great-Uncle Moses Elijah’s Mexican War musket, or the handwritten memoirs of the second wife of Submit Fish, wife of Deacon Preserved Fish of the First Congregational Society of Hozlett, Massachusetts, detailing every medicament her husband took to preserve his masculine vigor so he could beget as many small fry as possible to work the old ferry that connected Fishville to the rest of town.
As fascinating as this might be in the right hands — see: the works of Laurel Thatcher Ulrich — small museums simply cannot take everything they’re offered, nor keep everything they already have. From time to time they must cull the collection, and these days that means bringing in experts to help determine what is worth keeping, when certain objects were made (and by whom), and what can be safely deaccessioned to go to another facility or a private collection.
That is where I and my fellow quilt historians came in.
The Antiquarian Society’s holdings include a selection of quilts ranging from the late 18th to the mid-20th centuries. Many of these entered the collection in 1919 or a little after, with very little information on when, where, or by whom they were made. That was why the Antiquarian Society called in the New England Quilt Study Group to participate in a quilt turning, or private exhibition of about forty quilts, to help them clear up a few mysteries and help determine what should be kept and what could be safely sent to auction. My primary interest is very early quilts (pre-1700 or thereabouts), but I jumped at the chance to help. So did about a dozen other quilt historians, including noted scholar Vivien Sayre.
And so, on a perfectly gorgeous August day, we assembled at Hedge House for a tour of the building, a quick look at the costume storage area, and several hours of examining the quilts, offering our expertise, and hearing their stories.
What we saw blew us away.
Chintzes, toiles, block print, premium silks that were the predecessor of baseball cards, Turkey reds, Cocheco calicoes printed in New Hampshire, a couple of crazies that must have been gorgeous before the silk began to shred, Log Cabins...there was even a 20th century quilt made by an immigrant woman, Esther Scagarini Pedrini, who used scraps of the woolens she made in a local mill.
Here are some of the best:
Wonderful block printed chintzes in near-flawless condition.
Detail of an early 19th century block printed patchwork. Beautiful.
1790s brown toile satirizing the British cavalry — take a look at the bottom.
Toile ruffle attached to one of the early chintz quilts. Look at the color!
Stunning early glazed chintz patchwork in such fine condition we literally gasped. The blue was so glossy it clearly had never been washed.
Gorgeous, simple One Patch using a slightly off-center but visually stunning block print.
Log Cabin, possibly made of tailor’s scraps or samples.
The crazy quilt in the best condition. Damn you, weighted silks!
Detail of beautiful patchwork showing clear Asian influence in the blue and beige fabrics.
Mid-19th century unquilted silk spread of small premium silk pieces commemorating a) the Washington Monument and b) President William Henry Harrison. No idea what the connection might be, but it is what it is.
Log Cabin with wonderful variety of prints.
Mid-20th century wool quilt made by a local factory worker using samples from Plymouth Woolen Mills.
There were others, some in fine condition, others so worn it would make you weep. I could easily write another diary about the Plymouth Antiquarian Society’s collection — let me know if there’s any interest. I’m happy to do so — and if you have any interest in quilt history, the American Quilt Study Group is eager to welcome you to our ranks.
Enjoy!
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