Project Goals

Method

Results & Benefits

(click on menu items for information)

The auctioning of quilts to support missions and other charitable causes within religious and ethnic traditions and other groups has received some documentation within quilting literature.  Quilt historian Cozart (Uncoverings, 1984), for example, augmented an earlier analysis of quilts made to benefit the work of numerous Protestant traditions.  Rowley (Uncoverings, 1982) traced the history of quilts produced to raise money in the support of the work of the Red Cross during WWI.

Mennonite women, also, have produced quilts for fundraising purposes.  Included in this tradition is the auctioning of quilts to raise money for MCC, the relief arm of the Mennonite community that focuses on the alleviation of suffering around the world resulting from famine, natural disaster, war, disease and poverty.  Although quilting history among Mennonites and the Amish precedes the introduction of the MCC relief sale auction in the 1950s, historically quiltmaking has been a way for women to be actively involved in the mission and service projects of Mennonite Church, work commonly perceived to further and express the peacemaking efforts of the church.  Rake (Uncoverings, 1999), in “A thread of continuity: Quiltmaking in Wayne County, Ohio, Mennonite Churches, 1890 – 1990s,” found that quilting offered women within the community:  a culturally accepted leisure activity; an opportunity to share with each other regarding religious and community issues; an arena within which to develop skills and gain a measure of community respect and recognition; and a product around which to create an effective system of fundraising within the church’s perceptions of appropriate behavior for women.

While there has been considerable documentation of the types and designs of Mennonite and Amish quilts, academic work focused on an analysis of the role of quilt production within the community and the meaning of this work to quilters has not been as forthcoming.  The dearth of work in this area was noted by Mennonite scholar Beck (Mennonite Quarterly Review, 1994).  A recent exception is the work of Rake (1999).  A significant piece of work, Rake focuses on a single county in Ohio and the Mennonite sewing circles of that geographic area.  Although many of the women in the sewing circles she studied were also quilters for the MCC relief auction, quilts produced for fundraising purposes are not specifically the focus of her work.

1.      Cozart. D.  (1984).  A century of fundraising quilts:  1860 – 1960.  Uncoverings, 5, 41-53.

2.      Beck, E.  (1994).  Book Review.  Mennonite Quarterly Review, 268.

3.      King K.M.  (2002).  Quiltmakers’ Online Communities.  Uncoverings, 23.

4.      Rake, V. S.  (1999).  A thread of continuity:  Quiltmaking in Wayne County, Ohio, Mennonite Churches, 1890s – 1990s.  Uncoverings, 20, 31 – 62.