1930-1939

Janet E. Finley Collection of Quilt History Photographs

Second Edition Print, dated 1946 (first printing 1937)
Photographer: Russell Lee
Size: 8.5" x 10.75"

The original photograph depicting a quilting party in an Alvin, Wisconsin, home was taken in 1937 by Russel Lee for the Farm Security Administration and is in the archives of the Office of War Information Photograph Collection in Washington, D.C. My copy comes from a second printing, distributed in 1946 by the Creative Education Society, Mankato, Minnesota. The series was used by elementary school teachers in the 1940s and 1950s as visual aides depicting what women could do in the United States during and after WWII. To quote from the material printed on the photograph's verso: The progress of women has not reached all women. Many women live in poor homes where money was scarce, and there is not enough work for the men to do. Many of these women have taken up again the handcrafts, or ways of making things which their ancestors used. Some of them weave rugs and towels and embroider linens. Some make quilts out of tiny scraps of cloth. They sometimes work in groups like the women in the picture. It is easier to get the quilt laid out and planned when several people work together than when each works alone. The quilt block name for this scrappy top is unknown but could to be a variation of a Pinwheel of a Windmill block.

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