New Hampshire Historical Society - Pieced Together: New Hampshire Quilts and Their Stories

With their beautiful colors and extraordinary patterns, quilts are both works of art and records of our lives. They are mirrors of the times in which they were made, and personal expressions of the people who made and used them.

Pieced Together: New Hampshire Quilts and Their Stories was an exhibition of quilts, patterns, and quilt-related objects on view at the Society’s museum from February 26, 2010, through February 27, 2011.

Drawn from the Society’s rich and varied collection, the exhibition was organized into a colorful display by quilt types, patterns, design, fabrics, and function. Domestic history, community history, moving West, the Civil War, frugality, memories, family tradition, textile manufacturing, and regional characteristics were among the themes and subjects explored through the stories of individual quilts and their makers.

Thanks to Our Sponsors

Pieced Together: New Hampshire Quilts and Their Stories was sponsored by Merrimack County Savings Bank and Northeast Delta Dental.

The exhibition Pieced Together: New Hampshire Quilts featured 50 quilt patterns from the New Hampshire Historical Society's Ellen E. Webster Collection, including this blazing star pattern, c. 1933.

What You'll See

The exhibition featured an array of historic quilts and quilt-related items from the 18th through 20th centuries and more than 50 quilt patterns documented and preserved by Ellen E. Webster.

Born in Hebron in 1867, Ellen Emeline Hardy learned quilting from her mother, Sarah Diantha Fox Hardy. While growing up, young Ellen made about a dozen quilts for use by family and friends. After attending schools in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, she worked as a teacher before marrying Clarendon P. Webster and moving to Franklin Falls, New Hampshire, in 1893.

Well educated and curious, Webster found outlets for her time and talents as a community leader, ornithologist, musician, writer, and lecturer. After the death of her husband in 1918, Webster returned to college, obtaining two degrees in religious education from Boston University by 1926. Upon retirement from teaching at Wheaton College, she lectured to women’s clubs, churches, and community groups about quilts, religion, travel, and birds.

Influenced by the writings of popular quilt historians of the 1930s, Webster created a collection of “charts” documenting antique quilt patterns. She found most of the patterns in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts. Visiting small towns she searched for quilts in antique shops, fairs, and through women’s club lectures.

Webster produced 162 quilt designs and notes. She cut pieces of cloth, tissue paper, and wallpaper, carefully gluing them to cardboard. Used as illustrations during lectures, she made pencil notes on the sheets about the provenance of the pattern, occasionally adding an interesting story about the quilt or its owner. The quilter’s name, current owner, state of residence, block size, overall size, and sashing width were often included. Creative and inspired by her work, she also made some original quilt designs. Gladys Webster, her daughter, who inherited the charts, died in 1968, and her family donated the collection to the Society.

In 2008 quilt historian Patricia Cummings and her husband James completed a research study based on the Society’s collection of Webster quilt charts. From their research, they produced an e-book about Webster’s life and work. The e-book is available on CD for $24.95 online at quiltersmuse.com.

About Us

The New Hampshire Historical Society is the independent nonprofit that saves, preserves, and shares New Hampshire history. The Society serves thousands of children and adults each year through its museum, library, educational programs, and award-winning publications.