Quilt, Pieced Schoolhouse

Date1875-1890

MediumCotton

DimensionsOH: 80 5/8" x OW: 69 5/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, Funds given in memory of Catherine M. Weekley

Object number2009.609.4

DescriptionRectangular quilt pieced from solid red and white cottons in a design consisting of 25 red schoolhouses, each with 2 chimneys, a door, and 2 windows. Schoolhouses are positioned to appear right side up when viewed from either side, as they would be if shown on a bed, with the middle row of houses alternating in orientation from left to right. 3 ¼" wide red band and 3 ½" wide white band finish one end of the quilt (probably the top); wide red band at the other end (bottom). Quilted with running stitches in parallel rows through very thin (or no) batting to white cotton backing. Top, left side, and bottom are finished with bias binding; right side is turned under, possibly indicating quilt is cut down.

Label TextRed Schoolhouse Quilt; maker unknown; cottons; America, possibly New England; 1875-1890; 80 5/8" X 69 5/8"; 2009.609.4. Schoolhouse appliqué quilts became popular in the period from 1875 to 1920, when one-room schoolhouses were gradually fading from use and people began to look back on them with sentimental fondness. The twenty-five classic red schoolhouses in this quilt look haphazardly positioned at first glance. However, the buildings are arranged to "read" correctly when the quilt was spread on a bed: two rows have their roofs facing toward the middle of the bed from either side, with a row of houses alternating left and right lengthwise down the center of the bed.