QUILT INDEX RECORD

33-29-87

Description of quilt:

This pictorial quilt submitted by Thelma Burleigh Johnston of Long Lake, Minnesota won a green merit ribbon, but not a cash prize. The scenes she chose chronicle life in the Early America. The fort at the center is Fort Dearborn which was established in 1833, the beginning of the "Century of Progress" commerated by the 1933 Chicago World's Fair.

Essay:

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:

026

Person filling out this form is:

Blood relative of quiltmaker; Quilt owner

When was the form filled out?

1989 and 1994

Choose the best description of the source to the quilt:

Quilt owner

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

Inherited

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

Designed quilt motif

Who helped you fill out the form?

Brackman (1989) and Waldvogel (1994)

Location of data collection:

Waldvogel Collection

This is a:

Finished quilt

Quilt's title:

Scenes From Early America

How wide is the quilt?

68 inches

How long is the quilt?

82 inches

What color is the quilt?

Green; Orange; Pink; Red; White; Yellow

Overall color scheme:

Bright or primary colors

Time period:

1930-1949

When was the quilt started?

1933

When was the quilt finished?

1933

Family/owner's date for quilt:

1933

Describe the quilt's layout:

Block pattern

Subject of the quilt:

Early America

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton

Fabric styles used in the quilt top:

Floral; Geometric; Print; Solid/plain

Describe the fibers or fabrics in the quilt top:

Some of the same print fabrics appear on other pictorial quilts featured in this group. See Fort Dearborn #086, for example. Look especially at the green print fabrc in both.

Applique techniques used to make the quilt top:

Hand Applique

How are the layers held together?

Hand quilting

Quilting designs used, overall motifs:

Meander/free motion

Quilting designs used, decorative motifs:

Other

Quilting designs used, background fills:

None

Describe the quilting designs used:

The quilting adds to the contours of the applique scenes; some pictorial quilting such as an Indian chief is also visible.

Quilt top made by:

Johnston, Thelma Burleigh

Quilted by:

Johnston, Thelma Burleigh

Where the quilt was made, city:

Long Lake

Where the quilt was made, state:

Minnesota (MN)

Where the quilt was made, country:

United States

Tell the story of how the quilt was obtained:

When the quiltmaker died of Lou Gehrig's disease, her husband was suffering from Alzheimer's and to insure his care she left everything to her youngest child Lyric [?] who lived with them. When Leigh the oldest daughter wanted some mememto of her mother, she had to pay $100 for the quilt. It was the only thing she received of her parents. Leigh loaned the quilt to the quiltmaker's niece Evelyn Crittenden, who considers herself the caretaker of the quilt and was gathering as much information abut the quilt contest as possible to keep with the quilt. [Source: Jan 15, 1989 letter from Crittenden to Brackman].

Why was the quilt made?

Challenge or Contest entry

Quilt is presently used as:

Keepsake/memento

Where did the maker get their materials?

Purchased new

Where did the maker find their pattern?

Other

Describe the source of the pattern:

Scenes may have come from greeting cards, magazine photos, coloring books, etc.

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

Original to maker

Exhibitions where this quilt was displayed:

The exhibition of 30 quilts entitled “Patchwork Souvenirs of the 1933 World’s Fair” was 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 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), pg 87-88. Information sheets filled out in 1989 for Brackman.

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

B/W photo taken in 1928 of Thelma Burleigh Johnston in her flight uniform is on pg 87 of Patchwork Souvenirs. Photo owned by Evelyn Crittenden. To learn more about the "99'ers" read David Roberts "Men didn't have to prove they couldfly, but women did" in Smithsonian Magazine [undated].

Ownership of this quilt is:

Private

Quilt owner's country:

United States

Quiltmaker's maiden name:

Burleigh

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's birth date:

1907

Quiltmaker's date and place of death:

1982

In which kind of environment did the quiltmaker live?

Rural

Quiltmaker's city:

Long Lake

Quiltmaker's state:

Minnesota (MN)

Quiltmaker's country:

United States

Any other notes or stories about the quiltmaker:

When she entered the contest, she and her husband were renting a small cottage (The Perry Cottage) on the shores of Long Lake, Minnesota. At the time, Thelma was a housewife pregnant with her eldest daughter Leigh. She had been a pilot--in fact she was a charter member of the woman's flying club called "The 99ers." Her husband was a "jack of all trades." Work wasn't easy to get but he was hard worker and kept up a small farm while working at odd jobs in the community. In this contest, she won an honorable mention ribbon which has since been lost. The owner did not know if it was entered in the Minneapolis region or not. "I remember being told that Eleanor Roosevelt signed the quilt, but it seems more likely that she signed a ribbon or something." [Information Sheet completed by Evelyn Crittenden in Jan 1989].

Who photographed this quilt?

Gary Heatherly

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

Copyright holder:

Merikay Waldvogel