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Brownsville, Tennessee Fundraising Quilt

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QUILT INDEX RECORD

2-33-47

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Signature Quilt Pilot Project

Who documented this quilt?

Signature Quilt Project Public Submission

Signature Quilt Pilot Project Number:

Quilts of Tennessee

This is a:

Finished quilt

Quilt's title:

Brownsville, Tennessee Fundraising Quilt

How wide is the quilt?

78 inches

How long is the quilt?

90 inches

What color is the quilt?

Black; Yellow

Type of inscription:

Date; Multiple Names; Place

Describe the type of inscription:

Circuit of Methodist Churches

What is inscribed on the quilt?

Wreath 4-A Center: "Brownsvill Ct 1937"/Ruth Hay 20 Tags (one name per tag in script) Mrs. Allen Marie Thornton Jessie Waller Mary Ann Thorton Aileen Taylor Hattie Thornton Richard Thornton Elizabeth Thornton Bill Thornton David Gene Taylor George Thornton Elizabeth Moses(?) Fannie Thornton Joe Thornton Bessie Coppedge Ruth Thornton Matilda Taylor Ella Taylor Herbert Thornton Mamie Ross

What is the date inscribed on the quilt?

1937

Method used to make the inscription:

Embroidery

Location of inscription:

multiple locations

Time period:

1930-1949

Date estimated by an antique dealer, quilt historian or appraiser:

1937

Further information concerning dates:

Based on the embroidered date, one would assume that represented the time period when the fundraising project was underway and the quilt completed.

Describe the quilt's layout:

Block pattern

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton

Fabric styles used in the quilt top:

Solid/plain

Piecing techniques used to make the quilt top:

Hand Piecing; Machine Piecing

Embellishment techniques used to make the quilt top:

Embroidery

Describe the techniques used to make the quilt top:

The quilt has rounded corners and a scalloped border. On three sides, a hand-pieced "ice cream cone" border in yellow and black triangles. The quilt is tied. It has five tiny French knots are at the corners of the quilt blocks. They may be more decorative than useful. The fundraising wreath designs made of name tags are unusual.

Quilt top made by:

Mann, Mary

Where the quilt was made, city:

Brownsville

Where the quilt was made, county:

Haywood

Where the quilt was made, state:

Tennessee

Where the quilt was made, country:

United States

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

The quilt was given to the Methodist minister, whose wife and daughter eventually inherited the quilt. When the family retired to East Tennessee, the quilt came with them. An antique dealer acquired the quilt in Knoxville. She gave the quilt to the current owner because she thought it would make an interesting quilt research project.

Why was the quilt made?

Fundraising

Describe the source of the pattern:

Original to maker

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

Photograph of Mary Mann exists. For more information, see: Waldvogel, Merikay Soft Covers for Hard Times: Quiltmaking and the Great Depression (Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill Press, 1990), 60-61. Part of the traveling exhibit: "Soft Covers for Hard Times" travelling exhibit in 1990-1992.

Quilt owner's name:

Merikay Waldvogel

Quilt owner's city:

Knoxville

Quilt owner's state:

Tennessee

Quilt owner's country:

United States

Any other notes or stories about the quiltmaker:

Mary Mann was born in 1873 and died in 1937. She was Methodist, born in rural West Tennessee in the United States.

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

Cite this Quilt

Mann, Mar. Brownsville, Tennessee Fundraising Quilt. 1930-1949. From Signature Quilt Pilot Project, Signature Quilt Project Public Submission. Published in The Quilt Index, https://quiltindex.org/view/?type=fullrec&kid=2-33-47. Accessed: 03/28/24

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