Amish Quilts in the Museum of American Folk

in the Museum of American Folk Art he Amish quilt collection of the DIAMOND IN THE SQUARE QUILT Quiltmaker unidentified Museum of American Folk Art is Lancaster County, Pennsylvania 1910-1925 important not only because it com- Wool 78 78" prises a significant percentage of the Gift of Freyda Rothstein, 1998.8.2 By Elizabeth V. Warren T total collection (approximately one- quarter of more than 400 quilts), but also because it includes examples from most of the major Amish FOUR PATCH IN TRIANGLES QUILT 110. quiltmaking centers: Lancaster and Mifflin Counties Barbara Zook Peachey 11848-19301 in Pennsylvania; Ohio; and Indiana. This varied Yellow Topper Amish, Byler Group Mifflin County, Pennsylvania assemblage provides an opportunity to compare and 1910-1920 Cotton contrast the quilting traditions of the different areas 85/12 x 783/4" Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William B. and, in the process, consider the ways of life in these Wigton, 1984.25.12 communities that led to the creation of a distinctive style of American quilt. As guest curator, I have chosen twenty of these for the exhibition "Beyond the Square: Color and Design in Amish Quilts," on view at the Museum through November 7. 1111 SUMMER 1999 FOLK ART 16. "11111 IVIII111 '1:7::116, 161,1t:Iltib :1,.6 ::11:1h ‘6 461-6, 1 1 1 1 1 II 1111111111 1 1 1 'I 1 "VII 1 1 111111 111 Iii. I II., 1.41.1)6.11.116, 1 1h.1116& 111 1111N1 111 11(1 1111 i‘'416'116 "INllklilik11 Nlikklibe'lLIL \ 1 \ PHILIP MORRIS The exhibition "Beyond the Square: Color and Design In Amish Quilts" is sponsored by COMPANIES INC. SUMMER 1999 FOLK ART 110 The history, sociology, and these religions, including elaborate Harshly persecuted in Europe religion of the Amish have all been dress and ornate churches, and instead for their beliefs, the Amish began to fully discussed in many books. It is, chose the simplicity of the early Chris- migrate to America at the invitation of however, beneficial to bear some of tians as their model. William Penn. The first group proba- this background in mind when look- The Amish were followers of bly arrived with other "Pennsylvania ing at the quilts in the Museum's Jacob Amman (c. 1644—c. 1730), a Germans" in 1727 or 1737. During the collection and considering why they Swiss Mennonite bishop who was so colonial period they settled on the rich are distinct from other forms of Amer- conservative that he severed his ties farmland of Berks, Chester, and Lan- ican quilts. with the Mennonite Church in the caster Counties in Pennsylvania, CENTER STAR WITH CORNER STARS QUILT Unidentified member of the Glick family Probably Arthur, Illinois 1890-1900 Wool with cotton backing 76/43 82/12" Gift of Phyllis Haders, 1985.3.1 The Amish in America today 1690s partly because he believed it where they could continue the way of are the descendants of the Swiss was not strict enough in its practice life they had led in Europe, which Brethren, part of the strong Anabaptist of Meidung, or shunning those who they essentially lead today. The movement that followed the Reforma- deviate from the Ordnung, or rules Amish attempt to keep themselves tion in the sixteenth century. The of conduct of the Church. Amman's separate from the outside world, and Amish rejected what they saw as the followers formed the group, later they generally reject those modern decadence of the Roman Catholic and called Amish after him, that conveniences such as electricity, cars, Protestant Churches of their day. migrated to the Palatinate re- telephones, and televisions that they Along with other Anabaptist sects, the gion along the Rhine and to the feel would bring them into contact Amish repudiated the iconography of Netherlands. with that world. Their style of dress, a 20 SUMMER 1999 FOLK ART fashion closer to eighteenth-century known examples exist that can be material, although sometimes found Europe than twentieth-century Amer- dated before 1870. The quiltmalcing on the back, was considered too ica, is also meant to distinguish them tradition seems to have taken hold "worldly" for quilt tops; the dimen- as a group apart. among the Amish in the 1870s and sions are square; and the center motif The Amish, like other Ger- 1880s, and the majority of Amish is surrounded by a narrow inner bor- manic groups, did not bring a tradition quilts extant today were made der and a particularly wide outer of quiltmaking to America with them. between the 1880s and the 1960s) border, which is finished with propor- Blankets, featherbeds, and woven cov- As befits the conservative life- tionately large corner blocks. erlets were the more typical styles of style of the Amish and their religious This quilt, like a great many prohibition against naturalistic other Amish examples, is also charac- images, the earliest Amish terized by stitching of exquisite qual- quilts were made of large ity. Although most Amish quilts were pieces of a single-colored fab- pieced together with a foot-powered ric (either cotton or wool), treadle sewing machine (acceptable much like the whole-cloth because it does not use electricity), wool quilts made in the late they were typically quilted by hand. eighteenth and early nine- This bedcover includes favorite Lan- teenth centuries by "English" caster County motifs such as a wreath- quiltmakers. By the end of the star center and a grapevine in the inner nineteenth century, these were border. Quite possibly the realistic followed by quilts with more quilting motifs, such as the grapevine colors and more design ele- and the stars, were the maker's way of ments, although large, geo- circumventing her society's prohibi- metric pieces of solid-colored tion against naturalistic designs. fabric were still the norm. The Fruits, flowers, baskets, and other classic Lancaster County nongeometric forms were often designs—Center Square, Dia- appliquéd onto the quilts of her "gay mond in the Square, and Dutch" (non-Amish Pennsylvania Bars—are examples of pat- Germans) and "English" (any other terns that originated in the Americans) neighbors. While the nineteenth century and contin- Amish generally rejected appliqués ued to be made through the because they served no practical pur- twentieth century, partly due pose, they may have felt it was accept- to the conservatism of all able to stitch many of the same aspects of Amish life. designs into their quilts, satisfying themselves with the knowledge that LANCASTER COUNTY QUILTS their tiny, precise stitches were neces- he Diamond in the sary to hold the backing, filling, and Square pattern, unique top together. Tto Lancaster County, The Lancaster County Double is probably an Amish adapta- Nine Patch Quilt in the exhibition is tion of the center medallion an example of a pattern that was prob- style of quilt that was popular ably developed after the classic Center among "English" quiltmakers Square, Diamond in the Square, and in the first half of the nine- Bars designs, most likely in the later teenth century. The Amish nineteenth or early twentieth century. woman's selection of this out- Double Nine Patch is a block-work moded style of quilt was not pattern, popular in the outside world happenstance. According to by the middle of the nineteenth cen- DOUBLE NINE PATCH QUILT seen among the Amish Mrs. Dan Troyer Amish quilt historian Eve tury but not Holmes County, Ohio Wheatcroft Granick, the until much later. 1915-1925 bedding. At some point in the nine- choice of the old-fashioned medallion It is in the beautiful, bold wool Cotton 75/34 43/14" teenth century, the Amish learned to style "seems to have been a deliberate examples of Lancaster County that one Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William B. make quilts from their "English" attempt to make their quilts in accor- is made particularly aware of the strik- Wigton, 1984.25.19 neighbors, which is what they call all dance with Amish standards of non- ing colors chosen by the Amish women people outside their sect. There are conformity to 'English' fashion."2 for their quilts. While much of the color very few documents (mostly estate The Diamond in the Square choice for a quilt was determined by inventories) that mention quilts among Quilt in this exhibition is composed of the fabrics and dyes available at any the Amish between the 1830s and the many typical Lancaster County fea- particular time, community values and 1870s, but such quilts had to have tures: The fabrics are fine-quality informal rules regarding the appropri- been exceedingly rare, and only two solid-colored wools, since patterned ateness of a specific color choice also SUMMER 1999 FOLK ART 21 influenced the maker's selections. It is color choices allowed the quiltmakers the use of some bright colors in their sometimes confusing, therefore, to were also extremely limited. quilts. However, as is clear from the compare the bright colors of the quilts Two of the bedcovers included patterns chosen by the makers of these against the "plain" face that the Amish in the exhibition, Four in Block-Work and other quilts from Mifflin County present to the outside world. However, Quilt and Four Patch in Triangles in the Museum's collection, four- and since the Amish Ordnung does not Quilt, were made by members of the nine-patch patterns would appear to be specifically refer to quilts, the women Byler Group, also called the "Yellow the most popular designs among all were not prevented from combining the Topper" Amish because of HUMMINGBIRDS QUILT the color the groups in the Big Valley.

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