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Detroit Woman's Quilt Best of 2000 at Show

October 7, 1938
Detroit News Quilt History Project; Michigan State University Museum; Susan Salser
Detroit, Michigan, United States
An article listing the winners at the 1938 Detroit News Quilt Show.
Detroit Woman's Quilt Best of 2000 at Show
( A full page of quilt pictures is on the back page. For list of prize winners seen Page 37.)

The grand prize of $50 for the best quilt, News Pattern, entered in the fifth annual Detroit News Quilt Show at Convention Hall, was awarded to a Detroit woman. Mrs. William S. Kirschbaum, 9310 St. Cycril avenue, judges announce today.

Mrs. Kirschbaum became a member of The News Quilt Club more than a year ago, and her needlework is considered one of the newer contributions to the show.

The second highest award of $25 for a finished appliqued quilt, went to a Chicago woman, Mrs. Mary Gasperik, 9314 Cottage Grove avenue. Mrs. Grasperik will be in attendance at the show each day. A prize of $15 for the best quilt in the show, not a News pattern, was awarded Cecelia Knapp of Monroe, Mich.

The judges were Miss Alma Knudsen, Mrs. Frances Heintz and Mrs. Walter C Pomeroy.

Some 2,000 quilts and spreads, hung in five rows of racks throughout the length of the hall's center unit, made what experts in the field declare to be the largest collection of quilts ever shown under one roof.

Not even men, generally supposed to be indifferent to all things falling under the classification of needlework, could help but stop and admire, for it is a lot of show. And it is that compelling.

Crowds waited- some of them three hours- for the doors to open. When at last they were thrown wide, men and women swarmed into the vast hall until, only a few minutes later, it was filled.

Rallying Point
And Convention Hall gave promise of being the point to which all Detroit roads would lead this week-end. For the Home Show and the Quilt Show are being held there simultaneously today, Saturday, and Sunday. The doors to both will open at 11 a. m. and close 10 p. m. each day.

The story of the Quilt Show under the directorship of Miss Edith B. Crumb, The News' interior decorator, is unique in its phenomenal growth and popularity. The first show was small and was launched almost fearfully, only to meet with such an overwhelming success that the second show became assured. Each year it has grown by leaps, until it now is an exhibit of national proportions, since quits from many states, east, south, and west are entered.

In the current show are quilts and spreads from Cripple Creek, Colo.; Florida, Washington D. C.; Missouri, West Virginia, Minnesota, Kentucky, Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana. In many instances owner of these quilts accompanied them to Detroit and will remain here during the show.

Amazing Histories
Because everybody loves a beautiful quilt. Admiring one is something that catches up with us all at some time or another, and this seems to be the time. Exquisitely quilted and color-blended are many of the exhibits. Many are very old with histories that are amazing. Many are of the same pattern, but entirely different in presentation.

"Five women many make a quilt from the same pattern and there will be no two alike," Miss Crumb pointed out. "That is because quilting is imaginative. Five women may crochet a spread and you can't tell one from the other. That is because it is purely mathematical."

The proof of her statement hangs challengingly before the eyes.

There are five large special racks in the show, all displaying the Nancy Brown Column House quilts. These bear in needlework names and pictures familiar to her Column readers, and are intriguing.

Mrs. Blanch Tyard has a quilt on exhibit that she made slowly oever a great length of time, since she has the use of her left hand only.

Family Heirloom
Mrs. Mamie Straus, 89 Pinegree avenue, is exhibiting a quarter of a treasured family quilt made in Holland many years ago, and long since, divided up among heirs. It is all white and handsomely quilted.

A quilt tha Gov. Bagley slept under is displayed by Mrs. A. Renders, 11178 Promenade avenue, and Mrs. Ted Taylor, 85 Avalon avenue, shows a quilt designed from a one-column drawing by "Arvilla" in the Experience Column of the News. Mrs. Iva Mae Harris, 2127 Lilliebridge avenue, has on exhibit a quilt 78 years old, that was taken from a house that soldiers had fired during the Civil War.

A. W. Cochran is very proud of his needlework. He is displaying one quilt he made entirely and another that he designed and pieced. This one was quilted by his wife.

One woman brought in 30 quilts from Mt. Morris Mich., and another brought six quilts from Flint, and had to hitch hike to get here. One quilt displayed was made by Negro slaves and one was made by a 5-year-old girl, all showing there is no such thing as limitations to the show.

Go early and take your time. You wouldn't want to miss it on a bet.

List of Quilt Winners
The list of winners in The Detroit News Quilt show follows:

Grand Prize (News Pattern) $50
Mrs. William S. Kirschbaum, 9310 St. Cyril avenue, Detroit.

Finished Appliqued Quilts (News Patterns)
First prize $25.00, Mrs. Mary Gasperik, 9314 Cottage Grove avenue, Chicago.
Second Prize, $15.00 Mrs. Elizabeth Aellig, Route 1, 15404 McGuire road, Inkster, Mich.
Third Prize, $10.00, Mrs. O. H. Bailey, 1988 West Grand avenue, Detroit, Mich.

Finished Pieced Quilts (News Patterns)
First prize, $25.00 Mrs. George McIntyre, 169 Ardmore avenue, Ferndale, Mich.
Second Prize, $15.00 Mrs. J. W. Moore, Jr., 20515 San Juan drive, Detroit.
Third Prize, $10.00 Mrs. A. B. Chapman, 2716 Burlingame avenue, Detroit.

Tops Only Appliqued
(News Patterns)
First prize, $15.00 Mrs. J. J. Francis, 10012 Greenview avenue, Garfield Heights, Cleveland.
Second Prize, $10.00 Mrs. Florence Garvey, 8669 Winifeild avenue, Detroit.
Third Prize, $5.00, Mrs. G. W. Murer, 3630 West 103rd street, Cleveland.

Tops Only Pieced
(News Patterns)
First Prize, $15.00, Mrs. Mary Clark, 11862 Whithorn avenue, Detroit.
Second Prize, $10.00, Mrs. Paula Heins, 5468 Hartwell avenue, Dearborn.
Third Prize, $5.00, Mrs. E. Ferguson, 8325 Bryden avenue, Detroit.

Best Quilt
(Not News Pattern)
First Prize, $15, Cecelia Knapp, Monroe.
Second Prize, $10.00, Mrs. Charles Voelker, 12022 Hartwell avenue, Detroit.

Best Quilt Top (Not News Pattern)
First prize, $5, Mrs. A. W. Kruck, 17404 Vaughan avenue, Detroit.

Ten prizes of $2.50 each for Finished Quilts or Tops from any pattern:
Mrs. William H. Turner, 115 Isbell street, Howell.
Esther Kelly, 2235 North Lovejoy street, Portland, Ore.
Marion Voelker, 13614 Winthrop Avenue, Detroit.
Donna Raiser, Route 1, Box 67, New Baltimore, Mich.
Mrs. William H. Blair, 2649 Sixteenth street, Detroit.
Mrs. Ida Chilton, 415 W Gilmore Street, Angola Ind.
Helen Dyce, 12784 Schaefer Road, Detroit.
Mrs. A. J. Campbell, 2701 Philadelphia avenue, Detroit.
Mrs. Arthur Miller, 12251 St. Marys Street, Detroit.
Mrs. Albert Weiss,18197 Vaughn Avenue, Detroit.

Crocheted Spreads
(Best in design and workmanship)
First prize, $5, Mrs. M. A. Griswold, 4298 Seebaldt avenue, Detroit.

Antiques
(Most Interesting History)
First Prize, $5, Iva May Harris, 2127 Lillibridge avenue, Detroit.

Antiques
(Best Workmanship)
First Prize, $2.50 Mrs. Mamie Strauss.

The following exhibitors received prizes of $1.00 each for quilts or tops of special merit. Mrs. William R, Smith, Quilt Club Sisters, Mrs. Elsie Hence, Mrs. Carl Cameron, Mrs. Emma J. Freeman, Mrs. Paul Miller of Pontiac, Mrs. Clara Bow Frost, Mt. Morris Mich. , Mrs. D. Kinsler, Mrs. H. Lincoln Kemp, Mrs. Edna Ray, Mrs. J. Mortimer Furay, Bertha Flanery, Mrs. Laura Stevens, Mrs. H. B. Gardiner, Mrs. B. Loellner, Mrs. R. O. Jackson, Mrs. Carie L. Sterling, Mrs. Ted Taylor, Mrs. James F. McGrew, Mrs. Louise Richards, Mrs. Myrtle Rawson, Mrs. Gertrude Allord, Mrs. Nina Campbell and Mrs. B Whitewood.

​Courtesy of The Detroit News Archives.

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