The Circuit Rider's Quilt

Textiles

c. 1862

United States, Ohio, Miami

A circuit rider was a traveling preacher who served a circuit of small communities located outside a central town. Like the Friendship Quilt, this quilt represents the collective effort of a community to express its appreciation for one of its members—here, the Reverend G. C. Warvel.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Textiles

Title: The Circuit Rider's Quilt
Place: Ohio (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: Made 1857–1867
Medium: Appliquéd quilt; dyed and printed cotton plain weave fabrics; cotton thread and metallic braid embroidery; ink signatures
Inscriptions: Inscription (left side): " Presented to the Rev. G. C. Warvel by the Class of Low Chapel, Miami, A.C.U.B.Ch." (Individual signatures in sepia ink throughout)
Dimensions: 215 × 241.5 cm (85 3/4 × 95 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Emma B. Hodge
Reference Number: 1919.535
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/76021/manifest.json

Elizabeth Wells Robertson. American Quilts (New York : Studio Publications, 1948).
Mildred Davison. American quilts from the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: 1966).
Judith A. Barter and Monica Obniski. For Kith and Kin: The Folk Art Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago. (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2012). P. 13, Fig. 5.
Susan Price Miller, “The Circuit Rider’s Quilt: Reality and Romance”, in Uncoverings: Research Papers of the American Quilt Study Group, ed. Laurel Horton, vol. 29 (2008), 11-42, https://kora.quiltindex.org/files/35-90-317/Uncoverings2008-A2.pdf Accessed October 29, 2024.

Art Institute of Chicago, Quilts from the Permanent Collection, Nov. 8, 1978–Jan. 21, 1979.
Art Institute of Chicago, Folk Art Gallery, Department of American Arts, May 3–Dec. 5, 1984.
Art Institute of Chicago, Making Memories: Quilts as Souvenirs, Elizabeth F. Cheney and Agnes Allerton Textile Galleries, Oct. 20, 2017–Apr. 1, 2018.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.