QUILT INDEX RECORD

33-29-15

Description of quilt:

Pieced Quilt in Crown of Thorns (or New York Beauty) design typical of many quilts entered in the contest.

Essay:

Lelia Rawls Porter won a green merit ribbon for this quilt. The 1933 Sears National Quilt Contest was announced in January 1933 with a deadline of May 15, 1933. Over 24,000 quilts were entered at local Sears stores or sent to one of 10 regional mail order houses. Quilts were judged at each site with the top three winners moving onto the next round. Finally just 30 quilts reached the final judging held at the Sears Pavilion on the 1933 Chicago World's Fair site.

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Merikay Waldvogel Legacy Project

Who documented this quilt?

Merikay Waldvogel Legacy Project; Sears Quilt Contest 1933 Chicago World's Fair

Merikay Waldvogel Legacy Project Number:

076

Alternate inventory control number:

1985.384 Birmingham Museum of Art

Person filling out this form is:

Quilt owner

Choose the best description of the source to the quilt:

Quilt owner

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

Purchased the quilt

Describe the relationship to the quilt's maker:

Information about the quilt was provided by curators at the Birmingham (AL) Museum of Art. Waldvogel also had a telephone conversation with the quiltmaker's daughter in 1992.

This is a:

Finished quilt

Quilt's title:

Crown of Thorns

Names for quilt's pattern in common use:

New York Beauty

How wide is the quilt?

78 inches

How long is the quilt?

79 inches

What color is the quilt?

Green; Red; White

Overall color scheme:

Bright or primary colors

Time period:

1930-1949

When was the quilt finished?

1933

Family/owner's date for quilt:

1933

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

How are the layers held together?

Hand quilting

Quilting designs used, overall motifs:

Echo

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

This pattern in the South in the late 1800s and early 1900s was called "Crown of Thorns" or "Rocky Mountain." It is similar to a 1930s pattern put out by Stearns and Foster Co. named New York Beauty. Originally, the museum named it New York Beauty. The curators of this exhibit chose to name it Crown of Thorns, but the family's name for it was "Rocky Mountain."

Quilt top made by:

Porter, Lelia Rawls

Quilted by:

Porter, Lelia Rawls

Other people who worked on this quilt:

A Ladies Club

Where the quilt was made, city:

Hollins

Where the quilt was made, state:

Alabama (AL)

Where the quilt was made, country:

United States

How was this quilt acquired?

Purchase

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

In 1985, the quilt was purchased by the Birmingham Museum of Art with funds from the Fashion Group, Inc. in memory of Mary S. Faust.

Why was the quilt made?

Challenge or Contest entry

Quilt is presently used as:

Museum collection

Where did the maker get their materials?

Purchased new

Where did the maker find their pattern?

Public domain/traditional pattern

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

Per an interview with Marguerite Fulbright, the quiltmaker's daughter, she remembered "We had the pattern, but it got lost in the move. She belonged to a club. She made the quilt, but she got sick as the deadline approached. The Ladies Club helped her finish. It might have been a Home Demonstration Club. She worried about the size of the stitches. She sent it off. Her quilt won a green ribbon, but no cash prize."

Exhibitions where this quilt was displayed:

This quilt travelled in the exhibition of 30 quilts entitled “Patchwork Souvenirs of the 1933 World’s Fair” curated by Merikay Waldvogel and Barbara Brackman. The Knoxville Museum of Art and Smith-Kramer, Inc. coordinated the travelling exhibition to the following sites: Jan 7-Feb 7, 1994 Palm Beach, FL (The Society of the Four Arts); Mar 20-July 17, 1994 Lexington, MA (Museum of Our National Heritage); Aug 7–Sep 25, 1994 Midland, MI (Midland Center for the Arts); Oct 16–Dec 4, 1994 Logan, KS (Dane G. Hansen Memorial Museum; Dec 18, 1994–Apr 23, 1995 Chicago, IL (Chicago Cultural Center); May 10-Jul 2, 1995 Grosse Pointe Shores, MI (Edsel and Eleanor Ford House); Jul 23-Sep 10, 1995 Los Angeles, CA (Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum); Oct 1-Nov 19, 1995 Janesville, WI (Rock County Historical Society); Dec 10, 1995-Jan 28, 1996 Neenah, WI (Bergstrom-Mahler Museum); Feb 18-Apr 8, 1996 Lexington, KY (University of Kentucky Art Museum); May 3-July 24, 1996 Knoxville, TN (Knoxville Museum of Art).

Contests entered:

Sears National Quilt Contest, 1933 Chicago World's Fair

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

Merikay Waldvogel and Barbara Brackman. Patchwork Souvenirs of the 1933 World's Fair (Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill Press, 1993), pp. 60-61.

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

There is a photo of the quiltmaker on pg 61 of Patchwork Souvenirs.

Ownership of this quilt is:

Public Museum, Library or Institution

Quilt owner's name:

Birmingham Museum of Art

Quilt owner's city:

Birmingham

Quilt owner's state:

Alabama (AL)

Quilt owner's country:

United States

Quiltmaker's maiden name:

Rawls

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's birth date:

1883

Quiltmaker's date and place of death:

1964

In which kind of environment did the quiltmaker live?

Rural

Quiltmaker's city:

Hollins

Quiltmaker's state:

Alabama (AL)

Quiltmaker's country:

United States

Estimated number of quilts made by this quiltmaker:

5-20 quilts

Any other notes or stories about the quiltmaker:

Lelia Rawls was born in Geneva, Alabama and came to Hollins, Alabama as a depot agent for the railroad. She met her husband in Hollins. According to her daughter, "she was a very good mother, very thrifty, always entered contests, read a lot and quilted a lot. She lived to be 82. Her health got bad. she made beautiful clothes." Interview Aug 5, 1992 with Waldvogel.

Who photographed this quilt?

Gary Heatherly

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

Copyright holder:

Merikay Waldvogel