Quilt, Pieced Log Cabin Variation African American

Date1910-1930

Maker Elizabeth Morris Bolden (1872 - 1948)

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Bath County, Warm Springs

MediumSilks, probably synthetics

DimensionsOH: 82 " x OW: 71"

Credit LineGift of Perlista Y. Henry

Object number2017.609.2

DescriptionThis is a pieced quilt in a variation of the Log Cabin pattern using angled strips and squares It is made of approximatley 42 different silks and velvets with black predominating, along with cream white, bright pink, pale pink, red, brown, and blue colors. The face textiles, some disintegrating, consist of solids, velvets, stripes, plaids, printed, and Jacquard weaves. The quilt consists of 42 (6 by 7) larger squares of foundation piecing. The front silk textiles are stitched to a variety of dark, mostly brown, backing fabrics and one striped fabric.The quilt is edged in a 1/4" to 5/8" black silk or synthetic binding. The cover has no backing.
Label TextThis fragile quilt represents the quilt making skills of a Virginia African-American woman. The quilt maker, Elizabeth Morris Bolden (1872-1948), was the daughter of Annie Crawford Morris, who was born into slavery, and Randall Cornelius Morris, a freeborn mulatto cooper of Warm Springs, Virginia. According to family history, Elizabeth made a good living working as a seamstress.
To create a Log Cabin quilt, the maker works from the center of a square out to the edges of each smaller unit, building up the design with carefully chosen rectangles of fabric that represent the intersecting logs of the cabin. Unlike more typical piecing, in which shapes are stitched together at the edges to make the whole, Log Cabin quilt pieces are assembled and stitched onto a foundation textile.
ProvenanceThis quilt, along with another (2017.609.1) and a work bag (2017.610.1), were made by Elizabeth Morris (Mrs. Charles Bolden) (1872-1948) and descended through the family to Elizabeth's great-granddaughter Perlista Henry who donated them to the museum.

History of Quiltmaker:
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Morris Bolden (1872-1948) was the daughter of Annie Crawford (1832-1917) and Randall Cornelius Morris, a freeborn mulatto. Annie Crawford was born into slavery in Warm Springs, Virginia. Her father was William Ervin (white) and her mother was African-American and Native American. Elizabeth Morris grew up on Fort Dinwiddie Farm in Warm Springs, Virginia. She married Charles Bolden, a coach driver for the Homestead Resort, and they had a daughter named Alice. In 1902, Charles, Lizzie, and Alice moved from the farm to a house in Warm Springs where Lizzie's great-granddaughter Perlista Henry lives today. Lizzie attended Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church. She provided clothes for her family and paying clients, which provided a good living. The family remembers that she used a Singer treadle sewing machine.