Adams County Historical Society/Historic McGowan House and Archives
507 Main St.
P.O. Box 264
Friendship, WI 53934-8015
Phone: (608) 339-7732 or (608) 584-5727 after 10 am
Mary Lee Klaus, Director & Secretary
In the fall of 1991 and 2002 the Adams County Historical Society sponsored a quilt show featuring locally made or historic quilts. Local quilters and residents were invited to display quilts made by or for someone special in their lives and share their stories and memories about the quilts. For each quilt displayed at the event the Society documented firsthand from the quilter or donor how it was made (needle used, stitching technique), where it was made, the date it was made, for whom it was made, what fabrics having special meaning to the quilter were used to create the quilt, and the quilt's specifications (fabric, pattern, colors, set, border, backing, and binding). Along with these details about the quilt, the Adams County Historical Society recorded for its local history the quilter's maiden and married name, occupation, spouse's name and occupation, and parents' names, a photograph of the quilter if available, and photographs of the quilts. The society keeps these textual and visual artifacts to document and preserve within its historical records representations of culturally significant objects and the community relationships associated with those objects.
Displayed at the 1991 show, this "Peony" quilt was made in 1900 by a homemaker in Vermont - the great grandmother of an Adams County resident. The quilt design is "pieced" and "applique;" it was pieced, stitched, and bound by hand.
Displayed at the 1991 show, this "Rail Fence" quilt was made in circa 1920 by a homemaker in Adams, Wisconsin who was the great, great grandmother of a local resident. Its fabric is wool and velvet prints and plaids in a strip design. Its stitching is "tied" and its binding is "bottom folded over and turned in" by hand.
Displayed at the 1991 show, this "Drunkards Path" quilt was made in 1939 by the Buckhorn Prairie Homemakers Club in Lincoln Township, Wisconsin using new blue and yellow fabric. It was pieced and stitched by machine with embellishments added. The quilt is signed, dated, and embroidered with the names of members of the club.
This "Schoolhouse" quilt was created in 1998 by a farmer in Friendship, Wisconsin using old and new scraps of blue and white fabric. The quilt design and border is "pieced"; it was pieced by hand and by machine; its quilting stitches are "even"; and its binding is "top folded under".
This "Through the Woods" quilt was created in 1998 in Hancock, Wisconsin using new fabric colored brown and cream. The quilt design is both "pieced" and "blocks." Its piecing and stitches were done by machine. The quilter wanted to see "how perfect [she] could make a quilt" and at the time was "as close to perfect as [she] could get."
Images courtesy of Mary Lee Klaus and the Adams County Historical Society.
Entry compiled by Kara Blue
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