Designed and executed by Mildred Jacobs Chappell
American, active c. 1931–1932
Bedcover Entitled "Settling of the West", March 1931/September 1932
Cotton, plain weaves; pieced; appliquéd with cotton, plain weaves; embroidered with cotton in cross, feather, satin, single satin, and stem stitches; laid work and couching; with attached cotton braids; backed with cotton, plain weave; quilted with cotton
259.4 x 215.4 cm (102 1/8 x 84 3/4 in.)
Inscriptions (at bottom): SETTLING OF THE WEST; (in center): TO THE PIONEER: "VIRILE TO RISK AND FIND, KINDLY WITHAL AND A READY HELP FACING THE BRUNT OF FATE; INDOMITABLE, - UNAFRAID." DONNER LAKE, CALIFORNIA; (at corners): 1738 / 1869 / 1849 / 1834; (around wide border): SKIN TIPIS OF THE INDIANS SETTLERS OF THE WEST BEFORE THE WHITE MAN / THE INDIAN HE LEFT THE TREES IN THE FOREST. THE FISH IN THE RIVERS. THE WILDLIFE ON THE PLAINS. ALL THESE AS GOD MADE THEM / SACAJAWEA BLACK HAWK SITTING BULL / COMPLETION OF THE FIRST RAILROAD ACROSS THE UNITED STATES PROMONTORY POINT, UTAH / THE PONY EXPRESS / STAGECOACH DAYS / OH, THEN, SUSANNAH, DON'T YOU CRY FOR ME! I'M GOIN
OUT TO OREGON WITH MY BANJO ON MY KNEE! / PIONEERING ALONG THE OREGON TRAIL / THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN WHO HAD THREE SONS... JOSHUA, JAMES AND JOHN! JOSH GOT SHOT, AND JIM GOT DROWNED, AND JOHN GOT LOST AND NEVER WAS FOUND, AND THAT WAS THE END OF THE WOMAN'S THREE SONS, JOSHUA, JAMES AND JOHN. / FUR STOCKADE ON THE COLUMBIA RIVER / THE LEWIS AND CLARK PARTY AT THE THREE FORKS / LA VERENDRYE, SIGHTING THE NORTHERN ROCKIES / SHOHALLA TECUMSEH GERONIMO; (two labels and three ribbons sewn on reverse)
Restricted gift of Mrs. David W. Grainger, 1999.508
Textiles
Not on Display
Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories
Exhibition History
The Art Institute of Chicago, Elizabeth F. Cheney and Agnes Allerton Textile Galleries, "An International Collection of Appliquéd, Embroidered and Pieced Bedcoverings," February 28–May 28, 2001
The Art Institute of Chicago, American Arts Department, Gallery 263, "Window on the West," June 10–October 16, 2003
Publication History
Thos. K. Woddard and Blanche Greenstein. Twentieth Century Quilts: 1900–1950 (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1988).
Mary Clare Clark. Story Quilts and How to Make Them (London: Museum Quilts, 1995).
Robert Shaw. Quilts, A Living Tradition (New York: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, 1995).
Shelly Zegart. American Quilt Collections: Antique Quilt Masterpieces (Tokyo: Nihon Vogue, Ltd., 1997).
"Messages & Memories: Antique Quilts from the Shelly Zegart Collection." American Quilter. Summer 1998, vol. XIV, no. 2.
Mary Leman Austin. The Twentieth Century's Best American Quilts: Celebrating 100 Years of the Art of Quiltmaking (Golden, Colorado: Primedia Special Interest Publications, 1999).
Judith A. Barter. Window on the West: Chicago and the Art of the New Frontier 1890–1940 (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago; New York and Manchester, Vt.: Hudson Hills Press, 2003), page 74, fig. 37.