Louisiana Crazy Quilt Block

A Piece of History

by Patricia L. Cummings
photos by James Cummings

Do you ever get the feeling that history just waits to be discovered? When I first saw a commemorative silk woven ribbon on a severed piece of a crazy quilt, I suspected that there might be a compelling story that demanded more investigation. The ribbon says, "Souvenir of The World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, New Orleans, 1884-1885." The image of a mustached man matches an engraving of President Grover Cleveland, according to Wayne Phillips, Curator of Costumes and Textiles, Lousiana State Museum.

Antique Louisiana centennial exposition crazy quilt block

Only a few of these ribbons are currently known to exist, in both public and private collections. An exact match to this particular ribbon has not been found, but both the Louisiana State Museum and the Wallace Research Center of the New Orleans Historic Collection have several similar souvenir silk commemorative ribbons. One of those ribbons is known, for certain, to have been produced by the Phoenix Manufacturing Company of Paterson, New Jersey, when Albert Tilt was president of the company.

A book titled, Celebration and Remembrance: Commemorative Textiles in America 1790-1990 (by Affleck and Hudon), reveals that Benjamin Tilt, Albert's father, apprenticed in the trade of silk manufacture in his hometown of Coventry, England. He came to America in 1835, and started a business in 1860, producing silk Jacquard-loomed woven ribbons of this type. While there were other silk manufacturing businesses in Paterson, at the time, it seems fairly certain, upon comparison of the ribbons, that the one in my collection is also of Phoenix Manufacturing origin.

An Event to Remember

The ribbon itself has a large eagle with eight stars in the background. The eagle is perched above two flags located on either side of a shield containing the words of Louisiana's state motto, "Union, Confidence, and Justice." While trying to locate more information about the event commemorated by the ribbon, it quickly became clear that the 1884-85 World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition was an extremely important event in the history of New Orleans.

Political Economist, Edward Atkinson, had first proposed the idea in a letter to the New York Herald after learning that the first shipment of fourteen bales of cotton from New Orleans to England had occurred in 1784. Mr. Atkinson suggested that "a fitting ceremony should be planned to celebrate the centennial of the nation's cotton industry."

Soon the organizers were fast at work planning the construction of numerous buildings needed to house the event. Financial hurdles arose, from time to time, in spite of an Act of Congress which initially provided a sum of $300,000 for the effort, and even provided additional funding. At the end of the event, the primary organizer, Major Burke, also the state treasurer, was investigated for financial mismanagement after it was discovered that $2,000,000 had been mislaid. He fled to Honduras, where he lived for the rest of his life as a "fugitive from the Louisiana courts." In spite of financial concerns, underestimated attendance of the projected four million visitors to the event, unfinished buildings and unready exhibits for the opening, the Major, scoundrel or not, had given the city of New Orleans an event to remember.

The fairgrounds and building themselves were huge. G.M. Torgerson, a Swedish architect, engineered the largest single building created in modern times, which required the work of 3,000 workers to construct. The significance of this great World's Fair is proven even further by a front-cover illustration by Harper's Weekly, January 1885, featuring crowds rushing to the Exposition. There is no doubt that an event this well-known deserved to have various commemorative ribbons made to honor it.

Like other Centennial events that took place at the end of the nineteenth century, including the much acclaimed Philadelphia Exposition of 1876, the Paris Exposition of 1878, and the Colombian Exposition of 1893, the World's Industrial and Cotton Exposition was well attended, drawing a crowd of
1.1 million visitors. Exhibitors from Mexico, Honduras, British Honduras, Venezuela, Brazil, Guatemala, and Jamaica were present and showing their agricultural products.

King Cotton

Lousiana was the largest grower of cotton in this hemisphere and the second highest producer worldwide, surpassed only by Egypt. A fact that is not too surprising is that the word "cotton" stems from the Arabic word qton, inasmuch as cotton was first cultivated and grown in Egypt along the fertile valleys adjacent to the Niles and Euphrates rivers, from whence the best, long-staple, super-pima cotton still originates. Lousiana has a climate that is very suitable for the growing of cotton, and the state has a long history of doing so. By the end of the nineteenth century, Louisiana's people were ready to celebrate that tradition.

Poem Honors Event

To provide formality to this occasion, in the form of the written word, Mary Ashland Townsend, poet laureate of New Orleans, was asked to write some verses. Simply called, "The Cotton Centennial Poem," the entire lengthy verse was read at the Inaugural Ceremonies in New Orleans, on December 16, 1884, opening day of the Centennial. Among the many references to cotton, she mentions Pharaohs and the growing of cotton in both "Orient and Occident." The poem refers to toiling in the field, to the cotton gin, to spinning, to looms, and to the blessings of growing cotton. If one reads the following passage aloud, the sound of the words can make one imagine the rhythm and the din of loud working factory machines.

They are coming, they are coming
To the music of the humming
Of the throstles, and the spindles, and the wheels,
Of the jennies, and the rollers, and the reels,
Of the ginning and the spinning,
Of the burring and the whirring,
Of the shafts as they run
In the glimmer of the sun:
To the clatter of the mills
'Mid the valleys and the hills'
to the loom's sweet laughter
Under roof and rafter!

This poem is quite lengthy and later was published in a small book. Townsend's words came at a time when there was need to celebrate the statehood of Louisiana, as well as a wish to draw attention to the recent revitalization of New Orleans as a commercial site. In addition, there was a movement afoot to promote unity between North and South, thereby drawing the country together again.

To help realize the latter goal, New Orleans requested and received permission to borrow the Liberty Bell from its permanent site in Philadelphia to display at the Centennial Exposition. As the bell traveled south by train, it could be seen in full view of citizens who lined the route. The pealing of church bells could be heard as the bell-carrying train passed and the gathering of townspeople reached a patriotic fervor as parades, ceremonies, and speeches were enjoyed by young and old alike.

An Important Piece of History, After All

Finding this commemorative ribbon and discovering its origin and significance have left me feeling enriched. By including the ribbon on the crazy quilt's surface, an unknown needleworker used needle and thread to save an important part of history.

The whole crazy quilt which was once home to this rare historical ribbon treasure must have been stunning! Unfortunately, the opportunity to see the quilt in its entirety has been lost forever. A current trend seems to exist among dealers to cut up old quilts either to salvage certain parts, or to maximize their profit. In artificially creating this "block," not only are the scissor-cut edges irregular, but some of the embroidery has been severed. In spite of this, I am still very happy to have purchased this piece.

Reading the information that I was able to borrow from libraries in Louisiana has been most enjoyable. While the ribbon was the main attraction in acquiring this block, the other unique and unusual embroidery combinations and embellishments were also a draw. I have had fun re-creating certain elements of the block in my own example, including an appliqu�d cotton velveteen star, a pieced fan, painted flowers on satin, and the unique composite embroidery stitches.

Reproduction crazy quilt block by Pat Cummings

Semi-reproduction quilt block, loosely-based on the original, above.

The fabrics in the original block include the silks, brocades, silk twills, satins, and cotton velveteens popular in the nineteenth century crazy quilt era. In addition to some of those fabrics, several of the pieces of cloth on my block are 100% cotton.

Since I did not have another large commemorative ribbon, I used one given to me for serving as the youngest Grange secretary in the state of New Hampshire, at the age of fifteen. I have also added a George Washington silk commemorative ribbon (an antique cigarette premium) and an embroidered Outline Stitched Redwork patch of a Kate Greenaway design. If you are inspired to make a similar block, consider personalizing it by adding something that holds special meaning for you. This could be an embroidered monogram, a ribbon you have won for quilting, an inscribed poem, or the date on which you completed the block. Be as artistic as you dare--just have fun!

This article was prepared by Patricia L. Cummings with assistance from Wayne Phillips, Curator of Costumes and Textiles for the Louisiana State Museum; Sally Stassi, Reference Associate at the Williams Research Center; The Historic New Orleans Collection; and Judy Smith, head of the Louisiana section of the State Library of Louisiana in Baton Rouge.

Information for this article was based on the following publications: A Century of World's Fairs in Old New Orleans: 1884-1984 by Paul F. Stahls, Jr. (1984: VAAPR, Inc.) and the Historic New Orleans Collections: The World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition by Donald Clive Hardy (1978).

Images of the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, can be viewed at:

Ken Speth's blog: http://expoguy2.blogspot.com/

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Crazy Quilts in America

"La Rosa Blanca" - a Crazy Quilt block inspired by a verse of a poem by Jos� Mart�.

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