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Sears Quilt Contest 05: Century of Progress Commemorative Quilts

The Century of Progress Commemorative quilts are the easiest to connect to the Sears National Quilt Contest. The Fair's theme "A Century of Progress" commemorated Chicago's  100th Anniversary, as well as historical events and technological advances.

Sears offered a bonus of $200 if the grand prizewinning quilt was in the theme of the Chicago World's Fair. The quiltmakers who took the extra time to research, design and finish their quilts were justly proud of their original designs. Only two quilts by Rosetta Scott and Georgia Leitzel reached the final round. Neither woman was from the Chicago area where the most Century of Progress theme quilts have been located. Chicago quiltmaker Ida Stow made a Century of Progress quilt. Today she is best known for a letter she wrote to Sears complaining that the Chicago area judges were prejudiced against the quilts of "unusual design[s] to depict and commemorate the Century of Progress."

Let's see how various quilters chose to depict the theme:

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A Century of Progress
Ida Mae Stow
Park Ridge, Illinois
1933
Collection of the International Quilt Study Center acc.#1997.007.0947

Commemorative Quilt featuring the spinning globe logo of the Century of Progress Exposition.

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Bird's Eye View of the Chicago World's Fair
Richard Henry Rowley
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
1933
Private Collection

This quilt depicting a bird's eye view of the 1933 Chicago World's Fair was designed by a man. It did not win a prize.

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Century of Progress
Marie Svec Poetz
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
1933
Private Collection

Century of Progress quilt featuring Chicago symbolism and World's Fair buildings.

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I Will
Elizabeth M. Wiegand
Lakewood, Muskegon County, Michigan
1933
Collection of the Chicago Historical Society

Silk quilt with applique motifs related to the history of Chicago.

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Fort Dearborn Quilt
Mary O'Halloran Fitzgerald
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
1933
Private Collection

Pictorial quilt depicting Fort Dearborn in 1833. It received a Green Merit Ribbon

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Transportation Quilt
Elizabeth Skelly Fitzgerald
Highland Falls, New York
1933
Private Collection

Silhouette appliqué quilt of a multitude of modes of transportation from 1833 to 1933. It won a Green Merit Ribbon.

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The Rebenstorff Quilt
Linda Rebenstorff
Stevens Point, Wisconsin
1933
Private Collection

Pictorial quilt rendered in appliqué and embroidery.

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Century of Progress 1933
Anna Hansen
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
1933
Private Collection

To encourage quiltmakers to submit original designs, the contest organizers at Sears Roebuck & Co. offered a bonus prize of $250. Several people took the challenge, but the $250 was not awarded. This quiltmaker's husband designed her quilt in the Century of Progress theme in the hopes that his wife would win the bonus prize. Notice the official entry tag is still attached to right front corner. The quiltmaker's Honorable Mention ribbon from the Chicago Region remains with the quilt.

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Sears Building
Rosetta Scott
Prescott, Arizona
1933
Private Collection

Third place winner of the Los Angeles round, Rosetta Scott of Prescott, AZ made a commemorative quilt focusing on the Sears Building at the 1933 Fair.

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Century of Progress
Edna Beatric Leitzel
Hummel's Wharf, Snyder County, Pennsylvania
1933
Private Collection

One of only two Century of Progress quilts to reach the final round at the Sears Pavilion at the Chicago World's Fair. It won Second Place in the Philadelphia Regional Contest.

Merikay Waldvogel
2011
All rights reserved

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