Quilt top
1901
Cotton, pieced and embroidered
A white cotton quilt top is covered in a grid of small squares, each containing a red embroidered drawing of a person, building, or object. The drawings are simple line art. In 1901 Buffalo, New York, hosted the Pan-American Exposition, featuring the cutting-edge technology of hydroelectric power, generated by Niagara Falls. The expo is now best remembered as the place where President William McKinley was fatally shot by a political dissident. This quilt top is composed of squares that were sold at the expo for a penny apiece, with designs on them for quilters to embroider. Several depict the expo buildings. The Electric Tower, a monument to the “age of electricity, ” appears near the middle, just below the U.S. flag. President McKinley and his wife also are centrally placed. Such craft souvenirs were d
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