QUILT INDEX RECORD

12-8-886

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:

86.1317 AIQP

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

7603.1

Object label:

Grand Entry Lone Star
Shirley Grady
Mandan, Hidatsa, Sioux and Crow, New Town, North Dakota
1995
Collection of Michigan State University Museum acc.#7603.1

Essay:

Shirley Grady shares, "My great-grandmothers, all our great-grandmothers and grandmothers made patchwork quilts. It was only in the 1950s that some people brought home Star quilts from the Sioux ladies...and then, all the ones that were sewing in my reservation picked up that Star quilt."

This innovative version of the Star quilt incorporates appliqued feathers in the corners and a border of pieced Star tips. The quilting includes an elaborate rendition of the invited leaders of a pow-wow "grand entry" as well as feathers and many other figures. Grady has also incorporated her clan symbol, the wolf, as part of her signature on the quilt.

From Great Lakes, Great Quilts.

Quilt's title:

Grand Entry Lone Star

Names for quilt's pattern in common use:

Lone Star

Quilt top made by:

Grady, Shirley M.

Quilted by:

Grady, Shirley M.

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

Purchased the quilt

Where the quilt was made, city:

New Town

Where the quilt was made, county:

Mountrail

Where the quilt was made, state:

North Dakota (ND)

Time period:

1976-1999

When was the quilt finished?

1995

Quilt is presently used as:

Museum collection

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's city:

New Town

Quiltmaker's state:

North Dakota (ND)

Quiltmaker's ethnic background/tribal affiliation:

Mandan, Hidatsa, Sioux, and Crow; Native American

This is a:

Finished quilt

How wide is the quilt?

80"

How long is the quilt?

93"

Quilt's condition:

Excellent/like new

What is inscribed on the quilt?

Shirley M. Grady. The two bottom corners of quilt are rounded and have a 3 feather design with words "Fort Berthold, Three Affiliated Tribes" quilted in white on its own white (w/black "MANDAN, HIDATSA, ARICKARA" quilted in black, each tribe on its own white (w/black tip) feather. The other red corner reads, "New Town, North Dakota" under the star "Grand Entry, LOW CAP CLAN, made by Lead Woman, Shirley M. Grady, Mandan, Hidatsa, Sioux, and Crow, New Town, North Dakota, 4-1-1995"

What is the date inscribed on the quilt?

4-1-1995

Method used to make the inscription:

In the quilting

Arrangement of quilt blocks:

Straight

Describe the borders:

Border around star is light blue with figures and faces quilted in black. Outer border is darker blue with feather designs and dancing figures quilted in white. Outer edge of quilt top consists of half of a lone star (repeat of the center design); other 3 outer edges consist of multi-pieced geometric design.

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton or polyester blend

Piecing techniques used to make the quilt top:

Machine Piecing

Materials used to make the back:

Cotton or polyester blend

Number of pieces of fabric in the quilt back:

1

What kind of filling is used in the quilt?

Polyester

How are the layers held together?

Hand quilting

Color of thread used in the quilting:

Black, White

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 1:

4

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 2:

6

Quilting designs used, decorative motifs:

Feathering

Describe the quilting designs used:

Native American traditional male and female dancers and four Indian profiles surrounding star. Half of a lone star. Words "Fort Berthold, Three Affiliated Tribes" quilted in white on its own white (w/black "MANDAN, HIDATSA, ARICKARA" quilted in black, each tribe on its own white (w/black tip) feather. The other red corner reads, "New Town, North Dakota" under the star "Grand Entry, LOW CAP CLAN, made by Lead Woman, Shirley M. Grady, Mandan, Hidatsa, Sioux, and Crow, New Town, North Dakota, 4-1-1995" quilted in black.

Exhibitions where this quilt was displayed:

To Honor and Comfort: Native Quilting Traditions, SITES; August 1, 1997-December 30, 1997, George Gustav Heye Center in National Museum of the American Indian, New York, NY; April 19-October 18, 1998, MSU Museum, East Lansing, MI; March 13-June 6, 1999, Fuller Museum of Art, Brockton, MA; July 3rd-September 26th, 1999, The Cleveland Museum of Natural History , Cleveland, OH; October 23, 1999-January 16, 2000, Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, MT; February 12-May 7, 2000, Bishop Museum-The State Museum of Natural and Cultural History , Honolulu, Honolulu, HI; June 3-August 27, 2000, Washington State Historical Society, Tacoma, WA; September 23-December 31, 2000, Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, NM; January 13-April 8, 2001, Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ.

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

Great Lakes, Great Quilts (2001) book, page 15. To Honor and Comfort: Native Quilting Traditions (1997) book, page 59.

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?

Purchase

Tell the story of how the quilt was obtained:

4/14/1995, Shirley M. Grady

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

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

Made entire quilt

If the source helped design the quilt, describe their input:

Designed the pattern

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

The Grand Entry was made to represent the dances of Three Affiliated Tribes, Fr. Berthold Reservation, New Town, North Dakota. They are Mandan, Hidatsa and Arickara Tribes, which had lived along the banks of the Missouri River by what is now Bismark and Mandan area. The dances are Mens Traditional and Straight Grass Dance for the men. Ladies Traditional and Shawl Dance for women. Long ago the women did not dance mixed with the men like they do today. Before each women belong to their different Society dances. Men also belong to Societies too. The Star Quilt, originated from the Sioux Tribes, around 1950s a give-away star quilt entered the reservation, the ladies that do quilts copied the star quilt. Patchwork quilt was what they used to make and they were tied. I took the Traditional Star Quilt and added my own designs, draw the pictures and hand quilt. The big face pictures were made by my Son, I traced them I don not draw faces good, I like horses and other animals. I have won 1st Place prize on all the quilts I made, no two quilts same in detail pictures. I hope you all enjoy viewing also the short history of how I designed and quilted the Grand Entry.

Copyright holder:

Michigan State University Museum