Object Record
Metadata
Accession # |
2024.30.1 |
Item Name |
Quilt |
Description |
White cotton quilt with embroidered animals doing various activities. The main background material on the front and back is a plain, white cotton with a crinkled texture. There are twenty-eight (28) embroidered squares on the front of various animals dressed in colourful clothing doing various activities. The animals include dog, cat, mouse, duck, bear, frog, bird, rabbit, elephant, squirrel, monkey and pig. Each square was embroidered by a different child and their initials appear at the bottom of each square. {See Media tab for layout or quilt including animals, colours and initials.} |
Date |
Circa |
Provenance |
Belonged to Miss Helen Akitt. She taught in grades one to four at the Hillsburgh School (now known as the Ross R. MacKay Public School). The quilt was made by Helen Akitt and her students during WWII in an effort to raise money for the Red Cross. She bought unbleached cotton, batting and stamped dressed animal pictures on squares of the cotton for the girls to embroider. Her mother put the blocks together to make a quilt and either did all of the quilting herself, or had some ladies help her. When it was finished, it was displayed in the drugstore window in Hillsburgh for a while. Helen then bought the quilt for $25 and sent the money to the Red Cross Society. The girl's names are on each block that they embroidered. The list of names of the embroidered blocks start at the top, left hand corner and go across the row. Then row two from the left, etc. Some of the girls did more than one block. The following are the girl's names: H. R. - Hilda Rodgers (x2) R. D. - Ruby Duncan M. K. - May Keenan A. V. - Agnes VanWyck I. L. - Ina Lane M. N. - Muriel Nodwell (x2) L. B. - Lorna Barbour R. H. - Ruth Hall M. T. - Marguerite Thompson (x2) L. C. - Lois Cunningham G. R. - Gladys Rodgers (x3) J. M. - June MacKay M. N. - Mary Nodwelll I. K. - Irene Keenan (x2) F. G. - Francis Gray P. N. - Patsy Nodwell V. L. - Velma Lane M. O. - Marion Orr J. R. - Joy Roszell A. K. - Anne Keenan D. C. - Donna Cunningham H. H. - Hilda Harkies Mr. Ross MacKay taught grades five to eight at the Hillsburgh School (now known as the Ross R. MacKay Public School). He was principal from 1941 to 1959. On Friday afternoons after the last recess, he would take the boys from Helen Akitt's classes for woodworking while she would take his girls for sewing. Once a month they all had Junior Red Cross. |
Person \ Organization |
Akitt, Helen Barbour, Lorna Cunningham, Donna Cunningham, Lois Duncan, Ruby Gray, Francis Hall, Ruth Harkies, Hilda Junior Red Cross Club Keenan, Anne Keenan, Irene Keenan, May Lane, Ina Lane, Velma MacKay, June MacKay, Ross R. Nodwell, Mary Nodwell, Muriel Nodwell, Patsy Orr, Marion Red Cross Society Rodgers, Gladys Rodgers, Hilda Ross R. MacKay Public School Roszell, Joy Thompson, Marguerite VanWyck, Agnes World War II |
Place |
Hillsburgh |
Year Range from |
1939 |
Year Range to |
1945 |