Quilts Are Part of the Meriam R. Hare Collection
Quilting dates back to Ancient Egypt and was used long before the Industrial Revolution granted us the ability to mass market pre-made clothes. Historically, quilts were made from recycled, leftover or found fabrics, and used for a variety of purposes.
PICTURED: Students work on the quilting exhibit at the Quaker Heritage Center. Shannon Browning, Corinne Somers, Kelli Cooke and Lily Austin have been heading up the exhibit, which has offered them a hands-on learning experience in museum curation.
The new Meriam R. Hare Quaker Heritage Center Gallery exhibit is titled "Quilts through Time: Honoring Quaker Women and Quilting in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries through the Quilts of the Meriam R. Hare Collection." The show opens March 2, at 6 p.m., with normal gallery hours on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The QHC is located in Wilmington College's Boyd Cultural Arts Center, corner of College and Douglas streets.
In this exhibit, viewers will witness the painstaking artistry of three generations of Quaker women quilting in Clinton County, Ohio, from the 1840s to the 1960s. "As you travel through time, you will view 13 quilts drawn from the collection of Quaker Heritage Center founder and Quaker Meriam R. Hare (b. 1928-d. 2003).
Hare collected and cared for these quilts throughout her lifetime, consistent with her deep desire to pass on Quaker heritage to future generations. Quaker women created textiles and quilts for a variety of reasons: artistic expression, economic support for their families, social connection and to express political views and beliefs. It is because of these same reasons that many individuals continue to quilt today and why quilting remains a powerful medium of human expression in the present.
In associated programming, Roberta J. Gellner with the American Quilt Studies Group and Midwest Fabric Studies will speak on "Peaceable Labors: Quaker Quilt Connections from Virginia to Ohio" on March 30, at 7 p.m., at the Clinton County History Center.
