Common Threads
 

Kansas ladies make a quilt, c. 1930. Photo courtesy of Kansas Historical Society.

"It was a cold blustering day, but we moved into our new house...we nailed up quilts to make it more comfortable..."

                    -Chestina Bowker Allen, settler in Kansas Territory, March 26, 1855 

 

To early Kansas settlers, a quilt represented much more than a blanket. Pieced together from available fabric, quilts provided comfort and security in uncertain conditions and served as tangible reminders of homes and loved ones left behind. 

 

Threads of Our Kansas Quilting Heritage, a quilt exhibition and companion programs presented by the Caldwell Chamber of Commerce, looks at Kansas history through quilters and their quilts. On September 3, Jeananne Wright, a quilt historian, will present two lectures in Caldwell:  "Quilts of the Kansas Frontier," a look at Kansas pioneers and their quilts from the 1850s through the 1910s, and "Gather Up the Fragments...Civil War Era Quilts," an exploration of Civil War quilts and Kansans' involvement in the war. 

Threads of Our Kansas Quilting Heritage is part of Caldwell's commemoration of both Kansas 150 and Caldwell's 140th anniversary. Visit the Caldwell Chamber of Commerce's website for more information about these events.

The exhibition and programs are supported by a KHC Mini Grant.