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Sears Quilt Contest 03: First Place Winners in 10 Regional Rounds

First Place Winners in 10 Regional Rounds
Sears Roebuck & Co. organized the national quilt contest to include their local stores as well as their regional mail order centers.  Quilters who were unable to get to a store could send in their quilt entry to one of the ten regional distribution centers.  After local rounds and mail order judging, three quilts from each region were sent to Chicago for judging.  Only the 30 finalists were exhibited that summer of 1933 at the Sears Pavilion on the World’s Fair site. 

In the summer of 1934, the World’s Fair organizers decided to reopen with some new attractions.  In the Sears Pavilion, Sue Roberts, the contest organizer invited back the top ten winning quilts.  Sears photographed them on display.  Is the Caden quilt there?  Look at the very last quilt—it just might be the Star of the Bluegrass.  The only first place quilt not found is the Boston winner:  Mrs. M. A. Harvey, Springfield, MA.

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Title
Mrs. M. A. Harvey
Springfield, Massachusetts
c1933
Private Collection

Mrs. M. A. Harvey of Springfield, MA won first place in the Boston region. Where is her quilt?

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Title
Ida Rohrer, Allie Taylor Price, Ruth Price, Mattie Black
Owsley County, Kentucky
1933
Private Collection

Margaret Caden of Lexington, Kentucky won the $1000 grand prize with a green traditional star quilt. The judges had so many other colorful, well-made quilts in traditional and original designs, it makes one wonder what they had in mind.

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Colonial Rose
Mabel Langley
Dallas, Texas
1933
Private Collection

Winner of the second place national prize by Mabel Langley of Dallas, Texas. She used a pattern published by the St.Louis Fancy Work Company of St. Louis Missouri.

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Autumn Leaves
Mary Hilliker
Carl Junction, Missouri
1933
Private Collection

Appliqué Quilt in Anne Orr design that won Fourth Prize in National Round.

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Rising Sun
Lillie Belle Shaffer Carpenter
Hyndman, Pennsylvania
1933
Private Collection

This quilt made by Lillie Belle Shaffer Carpenter of Hyndman, Pennsylvania won first place at the Philadelphia Regional round of judging and therefore was exhibited at the Sears Pavilion at the Chicago World's Fair in the Summer of 1933. It did not win one of the three top national awards. In 1934, when the organizers re-opened the Fair for a second season, Sears invited back the top 10 regional winners for a special exhibit. Mrs. Carpenter saved her ribbons, the correspondence with Sears, the listing of winners in the Philadelphia round, a newspaper account with photos of the top three winning quilts, and letters from people who attended the 1933 exhibit asking her for the pattern. The pattern named "Rising Sun" is a commercial pattern she bought from Hubert Ver Mehren. The family called it "Sunburst."

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Lincoln's Favorite Quilt
Inez Ward
Horse Cave, Kentucky
1933
Private Collection

The Lincoln Quilt, made from an Anne Orr pattern, won first place in the Memphis Region.

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Star of France
Susie Combs
Pebworth, Kentucky
1933
Private Collection
 

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Tea Rose
Minnie Gau
Minneapolis, Minnesota
1933
Private Collection

Tea Rose appliqué quilt won First Place in the Minneapolis Region.

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The Spectrum
Edith Morrow Matthews
Winnemucca, Nevada
1933
Private Collection

Edith Morrow Matthews's dynamic quilt won first place in the Los Angeles regional contest with 1000 entries.

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The Chicago Fair Quilt
rose White
Clarkston, Washington
1933
Collection of the Latah County Historical Society

This Blazing Star quilt won first place in Seattle region.

Merikay Waldvogel
2011
All rights reserved

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