QUILT INDEX RECORD

18-14-13

Description:

This is the Indians quilt Gasperik sent to Hungarian relatives (of her mother-in-law, Elizabeth Hajdu). It is the only quilt she sent to Hungary. She maintained an active correspondence which included news about her quilts as well as family news. Mary's husband Stephen owned a grocery store and the couple sent many food parcels to Hungary in the aftermath of the war. In 1992, when Susan first met them, those Hajdu relatives STILL recalled that generosity and its importance in their war-torn lives. When she saw the carefully saved letters and photographs Susan realized, for the first time, that her grandmother shared more of her thoughts about her American life with her husband's relatives, living thousands of miles away, than she did with her own daughter and grandchildren living close by in Chicago.

Essay:

This quilt was sent to Hungary just after the end of WWII, in a period when Stephen and Mary Gasperik were sending many, many CARE packages to Hungarian relatives. The quilt was sent to Pityu Hajdu for his children. He had four sons, and the occasion for sending the quilt was when the fourth son developed rickets. Pityu was the young cousin who courted Elsie Gasperik when she won a student fellowship to Hungary in 1932. She used that occasion to meet her father's relatives, in Budapest and in Oroshaza (in southern Hungary, near the city of Szeged), where they had a farm and summer home. The Hajdu family (Stephen Gasperik's mother was a Hajdu) were a distinguished, well-educated, land-owning family with a history in Oroshaza going back many generations. Pityu became Elsie’s devoted escort during that 9-month period. When Susan Salser's husband was invited to a scientific conference in Szeged in October 1992, Susan went along. This was HER first chance to meet the Hajdu relatives, see the ancestral home in Oroshaza with its wall of distinguished Hajdu family portraits, and ask what these relatives knew about Mary Gasperik and her quilts. The answer was that Mary had maintained a vigorous correspondence with several of them. She sent news of her family in Chicago. She sent photographs of family AND quilts. And she shared, in these letters, her pride in her quilts and the prizes they were winning. In a letter Susan received after returning home, her host and his sister (two of the relatives Elsie had met when they were children in 1932!) wondered if she had considered the possibility that Mary Gasperik's quilt collection belongs in Hungary, not the United States! These relatives are very proud of her quilts, and not at all surprised that a Hungarian woman could do such fine needlework. They feel Mary's quilts ARE Hungarian (although Susan believes they have seen pictures of only a few of them). During her 1992 visit, Susan learned that Mary Gasperik might have sent a quilt to Pityu's four boys. She confirmed this later by mail and Attila (one of those boys and the current keeper of that quilt) kindly sent photographs of that much worn and loved Indians quilt. That is the only quilt Mary sent to Hungary.

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Mary Gasperik Legacy Project

Who documented this quilt?

Mary Gasperik Private Collection

Gasperik Legacy Project Number:

076

This is a:

Finished quilt

Quilt's title:

Indians #7

Owner's name for quilt:

Indians (Hungarian Relatives)

Names for quilt's pattern in common use:

Indian Boys, Seven Little Indians

Shape of edge:

Straight

Shape of corners:

Straight

What color is the quilt?

Brown; Green; Lavender; Orange; Pink; Rust; White; Yellow

Overall color scheme:

Multicolor; Bright or primary colors

Quilt's condition:

Fair/worn

Damage:

Disintegration of fabric

Describe the damage:

It is difficult to tell, from the Hungarian photograph, exactly how damaged this quilt is. It was much used and loved by 4 little boys!

Time period:

1930-1949

When was the quilt finished?

1940s

Who estimated the quilt's date?

Merikay Waldvogel

Further information concerning dates:

This may be the first Indians quilt Gasperik made (as a trial or study), or it could be the fourth, but it was surely made in the 1940s, before the 3 quilts made for the Gasperik grandsons (#019, #022 and #077).

Describe the quilt's layout:

Medallion or framed center

Subject of the quilt:

Indian Boys At Play

Number of borders:

One

Describe the borders:

Wide (now faded) gold border.

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton

Fabric styles used in the quilt top:

Print; Solid/plain

Applique techniques used to make the quilt top:

Hand Applique

Embellishment techniques used to make the quilt top:

Embroidery

Materials used to make the back:

Cotton

Materials used in the quilt binding:

Cotton

What kind of filling is used in the quilt?

Cotton

How are the layers held together?

Hand quilting

Describe the quilting designs used:

It is impossible to see the quiltING in the photographs sent from Hungary.

Features or notes about the quilt's appearance, materials, or construction:

Because the rust-colored tent on this quilt appears to be made more crudely than that same applique unit on all the other Gasperik Indians quilts, Salser wonders if this was a trial study which Gasperik turned into a gift for the Hungarian boys. The door flaps on this tent are very ambiguously made. Embroidery stitches indicate the flaps are open. But Gasperik failed to cut out and stitch down the edges of the triangular opening. If she was working from an illustration in a book, that might explain Gasperik's difficulty in translating the picture into an applique. This is the only Indians quilt on which the doors aren't appliqued open. That is why Salser suspects it might not have been made close to when it was sent to Hungary (~1946) but rather before she solved her tent problem in making the quilts for the three Krueger grand-daughters, which were probably made in 1944. The quilts made for the three Gasperik grandsons were certainly made after this quilt. It isn't clear (to Susan) if this is Indians No. 1 or Indians No. 4.

Quilt top made by:

Gasperik, Mary

Quilted by:

Gasperik, Mary

Where the quilt was made, city:

Chicago

Where the quilt was made, county:

Cook County

Where the quilt was made, state:

Illinois (IL)

Where the quilt was made, country:

United States

How was this quilt acquired?

Gift

Why was the quilt made?

Gift or presentation

Details about why the quilt was made:

Presented to a grandchild.

The quilt was made to be used for:

Bedding, special occasion

Quilt is presently used as:

Unknown

Describe present uses of the quilt:

Mary's grandchildren regard her quilts as a unique collection to be preserved and appreciated.

Where did the maker get their materials?

Purchased new

Where did the maker find their pattern?

Unknown

Where did the quiltmaker find the pattern for the quilting design on the quilt?

Unknown

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

It isn't known if the Indians quilts are based on a kit or commercial pattern; or if Gasperik created her patterns from another source, for instance a children's book. She used the same set of fabrics to make, over a decade time-span, 7 quilts.

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

Merikay Waldvogel and Barbara Brackman. Patchwork Souvenirs of the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, (Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill Press, 1993)102-103.

Merikay Waldvogel "One American Dream Comes True", Quilters Newsletter Magazine, March 2008, 46-49.

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

Photographs taken of the quilt by Attila Hajdu sent to Susan Salser in 1993, with accompanying note. Photographs taken by Susan Salser of Hungarian textiles and embroidery in the Kecskemet Museum of Hungarian Popular Arts and Crafts during her 1992 trip. Kecskemet museum catalog.

In an e-mail to Susan Salser (January 11, 2009) Elmer and Doris Gasperik’s daughter Kathy Jacob described to Susan her parents’ support of Mary Gasperik’s quilting and the appreciation for the quilts which they instilled in her. She wrote: “I know that my Mother took great care of our quilts. Dedicated to them as if her own mother had made them. It is from my mother that I learned to lovingly care for the quilts and appreciate the work that grandma had done. And I was told that my father made her the very quilting frame that she used to create these wonderful quilts. I was also told he would buy her batting and once a children’s book for the pictures perhaps for reference.” A children’s book illustration is possibly the genesis of this Gasperik quilt design.

Ownership of this quilt is:

Private

Quilt owner's name:

Attila Hajdu

Quilt owner's city:

Budapest

Quilt owner's county:

Hungary

Quilt owner's country:

Hungary

Person filling out this form is:

Relative of quiltmaker; Author/researcher

If you are a relative of the quiltmaker, how are you related? The quiltmaker is my:

Grandmother

Describe the relationship to the quilt's maker:

Grand-daughter Susan Salser began this research effort in 1991, after she and her two sisters divided up the quilts which belonged to their mother (Elsie Gasperik Krueger) who died in 1988. Her ongoing research has been fruitful and interesting.

Quiltmaker's maiden name:

Mihalovits, Maria

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's birth date:

01/25/1888

Quiltmaker's birthplace, country:

Hungary

Quiltmaker's date of death:

05/25/1969

Quiltmaker's ethnic background/tribal affiliation:

Hungarian

Quiltmaker's educational background:

Elementary School

In which kind of environment did the quiltmaker live?

Rural

Quiltmaker's city:

Chicago

Quiltmaker's county:

Cook

Quiltmaker's state:

Illinois (IL)

Quiltmaker's country:

United States

Quiltmaker's father's name:

Mihalovits, Istvan

Quiltmaker's father's birthplace:

Hungary

Quiltmaker's father's ethnic/tribal background:

Hungarian

Quiltmaker's mother's name:

Mihalovits, Vidoszava

Quiltmaker's mother's birthplace:

Hungary

Quiltmaker's mother's ethnic/tribal background:

Hungarian

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

Hungarian. Stephen Gasperik's mother was Elizabeth Hajdu from Oroshaza, Hungary.

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

Milk Dealer/Grocery Store Owner/Butcher

Number of children:

3

How many of the quiltmaker's children were girls?

1 (Elsie 1909-1988)

How many of the quiltmaker's children were boys?

2 (Elmer and Stephen)

How did the quiltmaker learn to quilt?

From guild or club member; Self-Taught

When did the quiltmaker learn to quilt?

Age 40-49

Why does the quiltmaker quilt?

Pleasure; Other

Other notes on how the quiltmaker learned, and how and why they quilt:

Mary Gasperik made quilts because it was her life passion and greatest talent. As opportunities arose, she entered contests and exhibited them publicly. She also made special quilts for her family.

Does/did the quiltmaker belong to a group? Name of the group?

Tuley Park Quilt Club and Detroit News Quilt Club

Does/did the quiltmaker belong to a group?

Chicago, IL and Detroit, MI

What are the main activities of the group?

Chicago group met to quilt and held periodic quilt shows; Detroit group held national exhibits and contests.

Estimated number of quilts made by this quiltmaker:

more than 50

Does/did the quiltmaker sell quilts?

no

Does/did the quiltmaker teach quilting?

no

Who photographed this quilt?

Hajdu Attila

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

Copyright holder:

Susan Salser

Details

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