QUILT INDEX RECORD

18-14-87

Description:

Gasperik created a pieced quilt based on a traditional pattern block, which she might have found in a number of publications at the time. The alternating plain blocks and the wide green border provided areas for her favored quilting motifs--the Dove of Peace and the Fern Leaf designs. It is likely Gasperik undertook this particular quilt project when Bertha Stenge’s Palm Leaf quilt won national acclaim in “America Through the Needle’s Eye,” a contest held in connection with the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair and sponsored by Macy’s. It won the $500 Grand Prize and tied for the $125 Most Popular prize. Gasperik had entered ‘Road to Recovery’ (#066) in a different New York World’s Fair quilt contest (sponsored by Good Housekeeping). That Gasperik quilt (which was an original design) won no prize and was sent back rather than displayed with other quilts made for the fair. Gasperik probably deliberately set about to make her own Palm Leaf quilt, taking the Stenge acclaim as a personal challenge.

Essay:

This pieced block was offered by the major quilt pattern sources in the 1930s, including:
Ladies Art Co. #461 (1920s) - "Palm Leaf";
Kansas City Star (McKim Studios) - "Palm Leaf";
Ruby McKim's 101 Patchwork Patterns - "Palm Leaf" (1930s);
Quilting booklet by Alice Beyer (1934);
Nancy Cabot in Chicago Tribune (1930s);
Laura Wheeler #1370 - "Palm" (1930s)
Home Art Studios - Pattern #191 - "Hosanna Quilt" (1930s);
Hall & Kretsinger Romance of the Patchwork Quilt pp. 102-103 - "Hozanna" or "The Palm" (1935);
Mountain Mist #77 - "The Palms" copyright 1940.
Chicago quilter Bertha Stenge created a similar quilt using this same block. She won several state and local contests with her Palm Leaf quilt in 1935 and 1936. She added trapunto designs, which attracted the judges' notice. In the summer of 1940, Stenge won the 1940 New York World's Fair contest with her Palm Leaf quilt. Gasperik probably saw Stenge's quilt when it was exhibited in Chicago in 1936. According to the April 20, 1936 Chicago Tribune, 65,000 persons visited the pageant during its first two days. Stenge's Palm Leaf quilt was the pageant's "first prize loan exhibit quilt, the most valuable at the Women's Pageant of Progress on Navy pier." Stenge's quilt featured pairs of quilted birds. It is interesting that Gasperik chose to quilt pairs of birds into her Hosannah quilt, made years after the Stenge quilt, showing that she desired to make something similar; but Gasperik did not add trapunto as Stenge did.

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Mary Gasperik Legacy Project

Who documented this quilt?

Mary Gasperik Private Collection

Gasperik Legacy Project Number:

020

This is a:

Finished quilt

Quilt's title:

Hosannah

Owner's name for quilt:

Hosannah

Names for quilt's pattern in common use:

Palm Leaf

Brackman # or other source & #:

1304.5

How wide is the quilt?

75 inches

How long is the quilt?

91 inches

Shape of edge:

Other

Describe the edge:

Corners are slightly, and deliberately, shaved.

Shape of corners:

Straight

What color is the quilt?

Cream; Green

Antique colors:

Nile Green

Overall color scheme:

Light or pastel colors

Quilt's condition:

Excellent/like new

Type of inscription:

Date; Place

What is inscribed on the quilt?

"1941" and "CHICAGO" in Japanese style lettering.

What is the date inscribed on the quilt?

1941

Method used to make the inscription:

In the quilting

Location of inscription:

other

Describe where the inscription was found:

Top - Front of Quilt

Time period:

1930-1949

When was the quilt finished?

1941

Family/owner's date for quilt:

1941

Date estimated by an antique dealer, quilt historian or appraiser:

1941

Who estimated the quilt's date?

Merikay Waldvogel

Further information concerning dates:

Based on pattern source, Nile green color, etc.

Describe the quilt's layout:

Block pattern

Number of quilt blocks:

12

Arrangement of quilt blocks:

On point or rotated on 45 degrees

Spacing of quilt blocks:

Alternating with plain squares

Number of different block patterns used in the quilt:

1

What is the shape of the quilt blocks?

Same block throughout

Number of borders:

3

Describe the borders:

Pieced diamond border surrounds center panel; then a wide green border; and finally a narrow white border. The border corners are inset palm leaf blocks edged with slightly triangular pieces probably chosen to echo the leaf shape. These create the unusual effect of a shaved corner.

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton

Fabric styles used in the quilt top:

Print; Solid/plain

Materials used to make the back:

Cotton

What color is the back of the quilt?

Green

Describe the back:

Same fabric used throughout; Solid/plain

Materials used in the quilt binding:

Cotton

What is the width of the binding (measure on the top only)?

less than a half inch

How are the layers held together?

Hand quilting

Color of thread used in the quilting:

white

Can you see any knots on the front or back of the quilt?

no

Quilting designs used, overall motifs:

Grid diamond; Grid square

Quilting designs used, decorative motifs:

Other

Quilting designs used, background fills:

Grid/crosshatch

Describe the quilting designs used:

Dove of Peace was possibly copied from Carrie Hall Plate XII facing page 75 of Hall and Kretsinger Romance of the Patchwork Quilt in America in plain blocks. Another source, closely resembling the Carrie Hall block was offered on page 6 of the 1933 booklet Sears Century of Progress in Quilt Making as Perforated Quilting Pattern 25A47250. The quintuplet fern leaf motif in green border and triplet fern leaf in half triangle blocks in center panel (from Aunt Martha commercial pattern). It should be noted that Sears Century of Progress in Quilt Making also advertised "Perforated Quilting Pattern 25A47201" described as "The beautiful feathered design" which appeared on the Grand Prize Winning quilt submitted to the Sears Quilt Contest by Margaret Rogers Caden of Kentucky. Absent being able to compare either of these actual quiltING patterns with the many Gasperik quilts on which this design is quilted, it is impossible to know for sure what Mary Gasperik's original source was for what turned out to be her favorite quiltING motif!

Features or notes about the quilt's appearance, materials, or construction:

Unusually shaped (shaved) corners.

Quilt top made by:

Gasperik, Mary

Quilted by:

Gasperik, Mary

Where the quilt was made, city:

Chicago

Where the quilt was made, county:

Cook County

Where the quilt was made, state:

Illinois (IL)

Where the quilt was made, country:

United States

How was this quilt acquired?

Inheritance

Tell the story of how the quilt was obtained:

Hosannah was given to Doris and Elmer Gasperik and later inherited by their children.

Why was the quilt made?

Personal enjoyment

Details about why the quilt was made:

Perhaps made as a response to the acclaim for Bertha Stenge's grand prize-winning Palm Leaf quilt in the 1939-1940 national quilt contest America Through the Needles Eye.

The quilt was made to be used for:

Bedding, special occasion

Quilt is presently used as:

Keepsake/memento

Describe present uses of the quilt:

Mary's grandchildren regard her quilts as a unique collection to be preserved and appreciated.

Where did the maker get their materials?

Purchased new

Where did the maker find their pattern?

Commercial/Published source: Pattern; Other

Describe the source of the pattern:

Hosannah, page 15, in Quilting, a manual written for Chicago's Tuley Park Quilt Club.

Where did the quiltmaker find the pattern for the quilting design on the quilt?

Commercial pattern; Other

Describe where the quilting design pattern was found:

Dove of Peace pictured in Plate XII (facing page 75) of "Reproductions of Quilt Patches" by Carrie A. Hall in The Romance of the Patchwork Quilt in America by Carrie A. Hall and Rose G. Kretsinger (1935).
Lettering from The Wonder Package.

What is the commercial name of the quilting design used for this quilt?

Fern leaf quiltING pattern from Aunt Martha;
Dove of Peace quiltING probably copied from Carrie Hall, Plate XII.

Exhibitions where this quilt was displayed:

The existence of yellow paper exhibit slip reading Hosanna indicates this quilt was probably included in a Tuley Park quilt show.

The Quilts of Mary Gasperik, Ravenswood Historic Site, Livermore, CA, March 14-15, 1992.

This is one of the 23 Mary Gasperik quilts exhibited in the Carnegie Room of the Marion Indiana Public Library July 16-17, 2021 in connection with the ceremony honoring the induction of Mary Gasperik into The Quilters Hall of Fame as their 2021 Legacy Quilter honoree. Mary Gasperik Quilters Hall of Fame Induction Exhibit.

Publications (including web sites) where this quilt or maker was featured:

Merikay Waldvogel and Barbara Brackman. Patchwork Souvenirs of the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, (Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill Press, 1993)102-103.

Merikay Waldvogel "One American Dream Comes True", Quilters Newsletter Magazine, March 2008, 46-49.

Related items such as diaries, obituaries, wills, household inventories, or pictures of the quiltmaker:

Quilting, by Alice Beyer, Director - Art Crafts for the Chicago Park District. Copyright 1934, South Park Commissioners, Chicago.

Information on Stenge quilt from Twentieth Century Quilts 1900-1950, by Thomas K. Woodard and Blanche Greenstein, E. P. Dutton, New York, 1988, page 24.

Bertha Stenge's grand-prize-winning Palm Leaf quilt featured "Love Birds" quilted into its top and its border (Quilters' Journal, Summer 1980, Vol. 3 No. 2, p. 15, in a quotation from American Home, Sept. 1947).

Ownership of this quilt is:

Private

Quilt owner's name:

Heirs of Elmer Gasperik - Kathy Jacob contact.

Quilt owner's country:

United States

Person filling out this form is:

Relative of quiltmaker; Author/researcher

If you are a relative of the quiltmaker, how are you related? The quiltmaker is my:

Grandmother

Describe the relationship to the quilt's maker:

Grand-daughter Susan Salser began this research effort in 1991, after she and her two sisters divided up the quilts which belonged to their mother (Elsie Gasperik Krueger) who died in 1988. Her ongoing research has been fruitful and interesting.

Quiltmaker's maiden name:

Mihalovits, Maria

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's birth date:

01/25/1888

Quiltmaker's birthplace, country:

Hungary

Quiltmaker's marriage date(s):

11/18/1906

Quiltmaker's date of death:

05/25/1969

Quiltmaker's ethnic background/tribal affiliation:

Hungarian

Quiltmaker's educational background:

Elementary School

In which kind of environment did the quiltmaker live?

Rural

Quiltmaker's city:

Chicago

Quiltmaker's county:

Cook

Quiltmaker's state:

Illinois (IL)

Quiltmaker's country:

United States

Quiltmaker's father's name:

Mihalovits, Istvan

Quiltmaker's father's birthplace:

Hungary

Quiltmaker's father's ethnic/tribal background:

Hungarian

Quiltmaker's mother's name:

Mihalovits, Vidoszava

Quiltmaker's mother's birthplace:

Hungary

Quiltmaker's mother's ethnic/tribal background:

Hungarian

Quiltmaker's spouse's/spouses' and /or partner's/partners' name(s):

Gasperik, Stephen

Quiltmaker's spouse's/spouses' and/or partner's/partners' ethnic/tribal background:

Hungarian

Quiltmaker's spouse's/spouses' and/or partner's/partners' occupation:

Milk Dealer/Grocery Store Owner/Butcher

Number of children:

3

How many of the quiltmaker's children were girls?

1 (Elsie 1909-1988)

How many of the quiltmaker's children were boys?

2 (Elmer and Stephen)

How did the quiltmaker learn to quilt?

From guild or club member; Self-Taught

When did the quiltmaker learn to quilt?

Age 40-49

Why does the quiltmaker quilt?

Pleasure; Other

Other notes on how the quiltmaker learned, and how and why they quilt:

To exhibit in shows held by her Tuley Park quilt club in Chicago, the Detroit News quilt show in Detroit, many Illinois State Fairs, at least one Indiana State Fair. She entered quilts in at least 2 Chicago department store contests. She made at least one quilt and one quilt top specifically for the 1939 New York Worlds Fair quilt contest. She also made children's quilts specifically for grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and wedding and wedding anniversary quilts for her son Elmer and grand-daughter Karen. Primarily, she wanted to make quilts because it was her life passion and her greatest talent. The occasions and venues to show them presented themselves. It should be noted that prior to Mary's emigration to America in late 1904, at age 16, she was an apprenticed needleworker in her native Hungary. The intricate and colorful floral embroideries traditional to Hungary lend themselves especially well to applique, the quilt style Mary preferred.

Does/did the quiltmaker belong to a group? Name of the group?

Tuley Park Quilt Club and Detroit News Quilt Club

Does/did the quiltmaker belong to a group?

Southside Chicago and Detroit MI

What are the main activities of the group?

Chicago group met to quilt and held periodic quilt shows; Detroit group held national exhibits and contests.

Estimated number of quilts made by this quiltmaker:

more than 50

Does/did the quiltmaker sell quilts?

no

Does/did the quiltmaker teach quilting?

no

Who photographed this quilt?

Don Gonzalez

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

Copyright holder:

Susan Salser

Details

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