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Commemorative Crazy Quilt
ca. 1886
Kenneth Artemus Snow
USA: Massachusetts, Dorchester
Silk; velvet
overall: 59 1/4 in x 51 in
Gift of Muriel I. and Otis B. Oakman Jr.
89.30.1

Crazy quilt made out of silks and velvets in a variety of colors and with solids, patterns, stripes, checks, plaids and brocades. Quilt top is embroidered along the edges of the blocks and in the blocks in colors including pink, yellow, red, blue and beige. Quilt top includes a printed blue commemorative ribbon. It reads, "250th Anniversary / 1636 / 1886 / Springfield, Mass. / Loan Exhibition." One block has an applied and embroidered fan and heart. Quilt has forty-two 8 1/2 inch square blocks. Quilt is foundation-pieced by hand and tied with yellow thread. Modern backing consists of one piece of purple velvet and binding is back to front with square corners (done ca. 1970). The quilt has no batting.


According to the donor, Kenneth Snow (grandfather of the donor's wife) spent months in bed as a teenager. His mother, Cordelia Snow, gave him materials, which he stitched together to make this quilt top, along with two others. The quilt was finished by the women of the Whitman, Massachusetts, Baptist Church around 1970 when it was tied and had the backing put on.