1910-1919

Janet E. Finley Collection of Quilt History Photographs

Real Photo Postcard (RPPC) c. 1917-1920
Photographer: Unknown
Size: 3.5" x 5.5"

The postcard is addressed to Mr. Julian Eastwood, Marked Tree, Arkansas. According to the 1900 Federal Census, Julian was born October 4, 1899, to Julen and Fannie Eastwood, being the youngest of their eight children. Raised in Marked Tree, Julian was drafted in World War I at age eighteen. After the war, he returned to Marked Tree to farm cotton. I believe the women photographed are his mother, Fannie, and his two sisters, Blanche (22 years) and Birdie (31 years). They are nicely posed on their porch steps with a quilt backdrop. The quilt is either the back of a quilt or the front of a whole cloth quilt. The quilting style consists of concentric arcs known as fan quilting, elbow quilting, or Baptist fan quilting.

-- With permission of the publisher, excerpted from Janet E. Finley, Quilts in EveryDay Life 1855-1955 (Schiffer Publishing, 2012).