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Crazy Quilt with Masonic and Odd Fellows Symbols
ca. 1883
Maker not marked
USA: Ohio, Dayton (probably)
Silk, cotton, velvet
overall: 76 in x 77 in
Gift of Thomas R. Smith
81.3

Crazy quilt has black and magenta borders with green and red decorative stitching; a variety of squares composed of solid, brocade, and other fabric remnants; appliqued and embroidered figures, florals, animals, and Masonic symbols; commemorative ribbons included in some squares; ribbons include: "Everts..Rock Island, Illinois, Chicago, 1880 / Cleveland August 1877," "Grand Encampment of the Knights Templar Chicago 1880," "Raper Commandery Indianapolis 1880," "Third Annual Reunion 1883," "Reed Commandery, Dayton, Ohio...1881," "A.A. Reunion Valley of Dayton 1881," "Kansas City Commandery Chicago / 1880," "Iola Lodge / Knights of Pythias Dayton, Ohio 1875," "Grand Lodge of Ohio / K of P / Dayton, O. 1880"; one patch with embroidered names and "1867"; one patch reads "Mother 67"; backed with lavender cotton; tied with multi-colored yarn. Pieced by hand and machine. Made of 25 blocks that are roughly 12" squares. Double silk border. Knife-edge binding; thick batting.


This quilt can be seen as a fabric scrapbook. Repeated references to the Reed Commandery #6, a Dayton unit of the Knights Templar, provide evidence that the fraternity played an important role in the family who made it. National events did not escape the attention of these quiltmakers--they included a memorial to President Garfield, assassinated in 1881, as well as an image of Little Buttercup, a character in Gilbert and Sullivan’s 1878 comic opera, H.M.S. Pinafore.



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