1812 Traveling Quilts in Meadville PA October 27-28 and November 3-4

The historic Baldwin-Reynolds House Museum in Meadville, PA, 42 miles south of Erie, will host the Great Lakes Seaway Trail War of 1812 Traveling Exhibit October 27-28 and November 3-4, 2012.

The exhibit of 26 quilts newly-made, but true to 1812-period quilting patterns, fabrics and colors and new Great Lakes Seaway Trail “Storyteller” interpretive panels on “America’s second war for independence” is traveling to quilt shows, museums and historic venues across Canada and the U.S. through 2014.

Some of the 1812-style quilts on exhibit at the Baldwin-Reynolds House Museum October 27-28 and November 3-4

The traveling exhibit includes the work of 20 American-made “cot-to-coffin” quilts from 11 states. The 30-inch-wide by 70-inch-long size represents the average height of a man during the war. A story card with each quilt tells either the factual history and heroes represented by the quilt or the imagined tale of a family sending its loved one off to the war.

Among the American-made quilts is the “Underhill Tree of Life Whole-Cloth Quilt” made by Pennsylvanian Jill Meszaros of Cambridge Springs that earned runner-up honors at the Great Lakes Seaway Trail War of 1812 Bicentennial Quilt Show in Sackets Harbor in March. The show’s Viewers’ Choice-winning quilt made by Upper Canada Village’s living history interpreters is among six Canadian-made quilts representing three provinces in the exhibit. The Canadian-made quilt features hand-embroidered images of War of 1812 participants British Major Sir Isaac Brock, Lt. General Sir George Prevost, native Chiefs Tecumseh and Joseph Brant and Laura Secord.

The Great Lakes Seaway Trail Quilt Show theme for 2012 inspired quilters on both sides of the international border to interpret the War of 1812 Bicentennial in many interesting and personal ways, to learn more about that period in history and the struggle for North America, and to share their own family ties to that time. We are pleased to share their quilts with visitors to the Baldwin-Reynolds House Museum.

Lectures have been added to the event:  At 2:00 PM on October 27, Jill Meszaros, Viewers’ Choice runner-up at the March 2012 Great Lakes Seaway Trail War of 1812 Bicentennial Quilt Show, will speak on the quilting styles and assembly techniques of the early 1800s. On November 4 at 2:00 PM, Linda Bolla, curator of the Erie Maritime Museum, will present “A Tale of Two Flags.” Contact Judith Stoll at 814-398-4365 for lecture reservations.

The museum at 639 Terrace Street, Meadville, is the stately historic home of US Congressman and Supreme Court Justice Henry Baldwin and later of Meadville’s first mayor William Reynolds, a descendant of Baldwin’s wife Sarah.  The hours of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail 1812 traveling exhibit at the Baldwin-Reynolds House Museum in Meadville, PA, will be 12-4pm daily October 27-28 and November 3-4.

Learn more online at www.baldwinreynolds.org.