The Wayland Historical Society employees and volunteers met with members of the New England Quilt Museum on March 15 to participate in the Massachusetts Quilt Documentation Project. Wayland Historical Society’s collection has around 30 quilts, a quilted cape, quilted baby blanket and an unusual cyanotype small quilt, according to Scarlett Hoey, the Wayland Historical Society Executive Director. The volunteers from the New England Quilt Museum examined each quilt documenting pattern, fabric, design, fabric age, construction, lining and the batting. This information will be entered into the Massachusetts Quilt Documentation Project database and then into the Michigan State University National Quilt Index.
Wayland’s quilt collection dates back to the 1800’s. One of their oldest quilts is the Lydia Maria Child’s friendship quilt. Child, a Wayland native, was an abolitionist and children’s author. She is buried in the North Cemetery in town. The quilt is composed of colorful squares signed by each friend who contributed the quilted square. Another treasured quilt is the Eloise Ward and Charles Richardson wedding quilt which contains ninety-nines of many of Wayland’s illustrious families in the 1800’s. One of the most unusual quilts in the collection is a quilt that is approximately 24 inches by 24 inches with cyanotype photos printed on fabric. Each photo piece is quilted together with lace and ribbons. Not much is known about this piece. Examining each square, it appears that the photos are of one family from one year back in the late 1800’s, early 1900’s. Cyanotype is a slow-reaction photographic formulation sensitive to a limited near ultraviolet and blue light spectrum which produces a monochrome, blue colored print. It was discovered in 1842.
Jane Crutchfield, Massachusetts Quilt Documentation Project volunteer, said that one can learn a lot of historical facts from these quilts. It provides textile history, women’s history and American history. She listed some of the facts that they learned from the quilts. The original green dye used in the 19th century contained arsenic, the red dye did not fade or bleed. She also said some quilts told stories with animals and stick figures. Those quilts were popular in the early 1900’s. Centennial quilts were also popular at the turn of the century.
Some of the patterns that were popular in the 19th century were: friendship, scrap, tumbler, block, framed pattern, applique and mosaic quilts. The Wayland collection includes many of these designs as well as a few quilts made by men. One of them was made by a member of the Ward family whose father was an upholster, according to Kay Gardner-Westcott, Wayland Historical Society curator. She said they have found quilts where women who could not vote would put a gold or silver coin in the quilt’s batting to designate which party they would vote for.
Since its establishment in 1994, The Massachusetts Quilt Documentation Project has documented over 8,000 pre-2000 quilts originating or currently owned in Massachusetts. They have served dozens of historical societies and hundreds of private owners in documenting their quilts. Their mission is to encourage the study and preservation of quilts and demonstrate that quilt textiles convey important insights about the lives of Massachusetts women.
The New England Quilt Museum is located in downtown Lowell, Massachusetts and is a showplace for antique and contemporary quilts. They have four to five exhibitions a year and are the only institute in the Northeastern United States solely dedicated to the art and craft of quilting. It is the second-oldest quilt museum in the United States.
