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Album Quilt with Masonic Symbols
1866
Various makers
USA: Maine (possibly)
Cotton, dye
overall: 96'h x 80"w
Special Acquisitions Fund
76.36.1

Album-type applique quilt with 42 blocks (11 1/2" square), each sashed with red cotton; various quilting patterns including flowers, square and compass, level and plumb, "G", Knights Templar cross and crown; 36 star American flag; many names are inked on the blocks. Appliqued and pieced by hand. Hand-quilted with six stitches per inch. Triple cotton border. Straight-applied binding; thin cotton batting. Backing is muslin in at least two pieces.


Likely made as a gift, this quilt bears inked, stenciled, or printed names in three-quarters of its blocks. These names show the range of people who contributed to the project. Many of the men and women who added blocks were relations and neighbors. The towns of Falmouth and Cumberland were close to one another. Many of the blocks feature standard mid-nineteenth century applique motifs, such as flowers, designs formed using paper cutouts, or designs derived from the patterns printed on fabric. Although both men's and women's names appear on the quilt, it is safe to assume that the women undertook the sewing and design. A few of the blocks offer clues to what the quilt's makers valued. They included a thirty-six-star American flag (used between 1865 and 1867); Masonic symblols such as a level, plumb rule, and square; and a cross with a crown, a symbol of the Knights Templar. The element near the center of the quilt--a cross with a crown, along with four arrows and two Bibles--eludes easy explanation, but may have represnted a group associated with a church.



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