Piecing Together:
Quilts From Our Collection
June 26 - August 23, 2003

This exhibit featured a selection of intriguing quilts from the Boulder History Museum's vaults that rarely see the light of day! From utilitarian use to fancy folk art, quilts are central to American culture. Discover Boulder's quilt-making history with a Log Cabin quilt made in 1860 by Mrs. Eben Fine and a commemorative 'album' patterned Story Quilt, made circa 1930 of coarse muslin, featuring 15 squares which depict scenes or incidents in the life of Alonzo H. Allen, a Boulder Pioneer Rancher and Cowpuncher. The outline stitch is in colored embroidery floss with description hand-written with indelible India ink on each picture. The alternate blocks are of hand-dyed pale rose muslin with a centre quilted motif of a wagon wheel in white thread.

Another quilt with a Boulder history connection featured in the exhibit, image seen on the right, is the Bethlehem Star made in 1890 by Mrs. Jennie Barnes of Ellis, Kansas, and given to her eldest son, Frank E. Barnes. Frank was the first white child born in Trego County, Kansas, on August 9th, 1878. He moved to Longmont, Colorado, in 1910 and served as superintendent of the Boulder and White Rock Ditch Company for 32 years. The company has delivered water to the farmers in Boulder and Weld Counties since 1873. He died in 1972 at the age of 94. The quilt was donated to the Boulder History Museum in 1991 by F.E. Barnes' daughter, Mrs. Mildred B. Stilley.