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Sears Quilt Contest 12: Other Sears Contest Quilts in the Quilt Index

Other Sears Contest Quilts in the Quilt Index
Throughout the Quilt Index, one can find other Sears Contest quilts linked to the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition.  The state quilt projects occasionally documented quilt entries even though they did not specifically ask about the contest.  We did not want to duplicate the records so they are not included in the Sears Contest records compiled by Waldvogel for the Quilt Index.    Waldvogel searched “Century of Progress” and “World’s Fair.”  She also searched “Chicago” on the exhibition field.  Only these quilts are strongly linked to the contest.

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World's Fair Wreath
Pearl Pauline Berton Konitzer
Appleton, Wisconsin
1933
Private Collection

1933 Worlds Fair, Chicago, Ill. Quilt won blue ribbon at Worlds Fair. Quilt maker was very proud of winning blue ribbon.

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Century of Progress World's Fair Special
Sophie Schoenike Krueger Clark
Birnamwood, Wisconsin
1933
Private Collection

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Crossed T
Eleanor Marshall Bornick
Princeton, Wisconsin
1931
Private Collection

It was made in 1931 for competition at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, and sent to the fair in Chicago, Ill. It came back with a blue ribbon. The owner at the time had a 3 year old boy and was expecting a second boy that summer.

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Century of Progress
Samantha Allison Wise
Knoxville, Knox County, Tennessee
1933
Private Collection

According to a grand-daughter, the quiltmaker had hired help--two women named Pincie and Nina. They might have worked on the quilt.

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48 State's Flowers
Edith Simon
probably Chicago, Illinois
1912
Private Collection

This quilt was awarded an Honorable Mention in the contest.

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Garden Bouquet
Irene Vasey and her mother Margaret Wasser
Coleman, Saginaw County, Michigan
1933
Private Collection
 

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Our George's Cherry Tree
Maggie Skipwith Smith
Wilso, Louisiana
1933
Private Collection

This quilt was made for the Century of Progress Contest. Mrs. Smith, a former mayor of Wilso, LA, made it with the hopes that it would win first prize and be presented to Eleanor Roosevelt. She hoped it would remind the First Lady of our first president, and that it had been made by the First Woman Mayor of Louisiana. She detailed the efforts required to make the quilt in a letter to Dr. Tom Spec Jones, stating that it took 3630 hours of work to produce it.

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Mariner's Compass
Eva Hunter
Greenville, Illinois
1933
Private Collection

Quilt was made for the 1933-34 Chicago World's Fair, and supposedly won a first or second prize.

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World's Fair Building
Helen E. Billick
Gary, Indiana
1933
Collection of the Illinois State Museum acc.#1995.135

This quilt was made for the Sears Century of Progress quilt contest but it didn't win any prizes. Billick kept a scrapbook with letters from Sears about the quilt and that is also in the Museum's collection.

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Double Wedding Ring
Minnie Nolte
Wheeling, West Virginia
1933
Private Collection
 

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Wedding Ring
Zella Irene Wade
Shelby, Oceana County, Michigan
1933
Private Collection

The family thinks this quilt won an Honorable Mention.

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American Pride
Zemma Haynes Taylor
Farmerville, Louisiana
1932-1933
Collection of The Henry Ford, #33.361.1

She made this quilt for the quilt contest sponsored by Sears & Roebuck as part of the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition. Later that year, Taylor sent the quilt to industrialist Henry Ford as a gift from "the wife of a country doctor who appreciates the Ford car."

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1933 Century of Progress Exhibition Quilt
Artist unknown
Provenance unknown
c1933
Collection of The Henry Ford, #2004.112.1

This quilt was made for entry into the quilt contest held by Sears, Roebuck and Co. at the Sears Pavillion during the 1933 Century of Progress Exhibition in Chicago. This quilt includes an applique depiction of a "modern," deco-style city (presumably Akron, Ohio) surrounded by appliqued dirigibles, airplanes and hot-air ballons.

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I Pay Tribute to My Flag
Regina Hengesbach
Westphalia, Michigan
1933
Collection of the Michigan State University Museum, #2013:70.1

This quilt was made for the 1933 Sears Century of Progress National Quilt Competition. The original design is a flag flying on a flag pole. The pole fabric has faded and is hard to see. Below the flag in the quilting is this inscription: "I pay tribute to my flag and the country for which it stands".

Merikay Waldvogel
2011
All rights reserved

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