QUILT INDEX RECORD

12-8-101

Who documented this quilt?

Michigan Quilt Project; Michigan State University Museum Collection

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Michigan State University Museum

Michigan Quilt Project Number:

92.0027

If this quilt is owned by a museum, enter the accession number:

1999:12.6

Object label:

Ducks in the Pond or Duck Walk
Mary Elizabeth Beardslee Durkee and Martha L. Durkee Blakeslee
Oakland County,Michigan
c1870
Collection of Michigan State University Museum acc.#1999:12.6

Essay:

The Durkee-Blakeslee-Quarton-Hoard Collection consists of quilts representing four generations of women from Oakland County, Michigan. Concern that family pets might damage a collection of pristine family quilts prompted Betty Quarton Hoard to donate seventeen quilts made by her grandmother, Martha L.Durkee Blakeslee, great-grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Beardslee Durkee, and mother, Emma Blakeslee Quarton, to the MSU Museum. Following Betty's death in 2005, her family donated an additional three quilts.

Oakland County,Michigan has been home to members of the family since 1823 when Betty's forebearWilkes Durkee moved from Cayuga County, New York to the town of Franklin. Betty's grandfather, Frank Blakeslee, owned a dry goods store in Birmingham. Ownership of the store undoubtedly contributed to the eclectic variety of fabric found throughout the family's quilts.

Donor Betty Quarton Hoard's grandmother, Mary E. Beardlsee Durkee, pieced the original version of this quilt with fabrics from the family store. The quilt features madder brown, pink, and purple fabrics in the geometric and abstract prints popular in the 1860-1880 time period. Because the family did not use the quilt, its colors remain bright.

Excerpted from Great Lakes, Great Quilts.

Owner's name for the quilt:

Ducks in the Pond

Names for quilt's pattern in common use:

Double Squares, Duck Walk

Brackman # or other source & #:

2472

Quilt top made by:

Durkee, Mary Elizabeth; Blakeslee, Martha L. Durkee

Quilted by:

Durkee, Mary Elizabeth; Blakeslee, Martha L. Durkee

If you are the quilt owner, how did you acquire this quilt?

Received as a gift

Where the quilt was made, county:

Oakland

Where the quilt was made, state:

Michigan (MI)

Time period:

1850-1875

When was the quilt finished?

c1870

Quilt is presently used as:

Museum collection

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's city:

Birmingham

Quiltmaker's county:

Oakland

Quiltmaker's state:

Michigan (MI)

Quiltmaker's maiden name:

Beardslee

Quiltmaker's birth date:

6/26/1824

In which kind of environment did the quiltmaker live?

Rural

Quiltmaker's date and place of death:

8/7/1884 in Bloomfield, MI

Quiltmaker's father's name:

Beardslee, Samuel

Quiltmaker's father's ethnic/tribal background:

English

Quiltmaker's mother's name:

Beardslee, Hannah Blaine

Quiltmaker's marriage date(s):

August 5, 1841

Quiltmaker's spouse's/spouses' and /or partner's/partners' name(s):

Durkee, John Franklin

Quiltmaker's spouse's/spouses' and/or partner's/partners' ethnic/tribal background:

Welsh

Quiltmaker's spouse's/spouses' and/or partner's/partners' occupation:

Farmer, landowner

Number of children:

1

How many of the quiltmaker's children were girls?

1

This is a:

Finished quilt

How wide is the quilt?

78"

How long is the quilt?

92"

Shape of edge:

Straight

Antique colors:

Madder Brown

Quilt's condition:

Excellent/like new

Damage:

Fold marks or creases

Describe the type of inscription:

Title

What is inscribed on the quilt?

Duck Walk $750

Location of inscription:

on back

Describe the quilt's layout:

Block pattern

Number of quilt blocks:

56

Size of quilt blocks:

8" x 8"

Spacing of quilt blocks:

Alternating with plain squares

Fabric styles used in the quilt top:

Print

Materials used to make the back:

Cotton

Number of pieces of fabric in the quilt back:

4

How is the binding made?

Straight grain

What is the width of the binding (measure on the top only)?

less than a half inch

What kind of filling is used in the quilt?

Cotton

How are the layers held together?

Hand quilting

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 1:

5

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 2:

6

Width between quilting lines:

1 3/8"

Quilting designs used, overall motifs:

Outline

Quilting designs used, background fills:

Grid/crosshatch

Where did the maker get their materials?

Purchased new

Describe the sources of the quilt's materials:

The family owned a general store that was the source of their fabrics.

Exhibitions where this quilt was displayed:

Quilts Old & New: Reproductions from the Great Lakes Quilt Center, East Lansing, MI, January 12-August 17, 2003, Michigan State University Museum; Quilts from the Merry and Albert Silber Collection exhibit, August 21-November 13, 1988.

Related items such as diaries, obituaries, wills, household inventories, or pictures of the quiltmaker:

Great Lakes, Great Quilts (2001) book, page 74.

Publications (including web sites) where this quilt or maker was featured:

Photos of quilter; Audiotape Interview with quilter. Clippings or photocopies.

Source of the information on this quilt:

Museum employee

Ownership of this quilt is:

Public- Michigan State University Museum

Quilt owner's name:

Michigan State University Museum

Quilt owner's city:

East Lansing

Quilt owner's county:

Ingham

Quilt owner's state:

Michigan (MI)

How was this quilt acquired?

Gift

Tell the story of how the quilt was obtained:

4/8/1999, Betty Quarton Hoard

Describe anything about the history of the quilt that wasn't already recorded in a previous field:

Because the family did not use the quilt, its colors remain bright.

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

How did the quiltmaker participate in the creation of the quilt?

Made entire quilt

Who photographed this quilt?

Pearl Yee Wong

Copyright holder:

Michigan State University Museum