News Release from
The Susan B. Anthony House
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 8, 1998
Media Contacts: Mary Kay Glazer, Laurie Ward
Susan B. Anthony House, Rochester Museum & Science Center
527-9895 or 235 6124 or 271-4552 ext. 231
SUSAN B. ANTHONY HOUSE RECEIVES REPRODUCTION QUILT FROM GENESEE VALLEY QUILT CLUB
Rochester, NY - A replica of an exquisite LeMoyne Star quilt made by a 15-year old Susan B. Anthony was given to The Susan B. Anthony House today by the Genesee Valley Quilt Club. The reproduction quilt is the result of a collaboration begun in 1996 by Rochester Museum & Science Center President Kate Bennett, the Genesee Valley Quilt Club and The Susan B. Anthony House. "Visitors benefit in two ways from this collaboration," says Lorie Barnum, executive director of the Anthony House. "They see Susan B. Anthony’s home more as she had it, and they are encouraged to continue the historical journey at RMSC."
The quilt given to the Anthony House today is a reproduction of a quilt that Susan B. Anthony’s niece Lucy Anthony donated to the Rochester Museum & Science Center in 1944. Bennett says, "The project was a unique opportunity to celebrate the connections that can be made with RMSC collections. The Genesee Valley Quilt Club got a thrilling opportunity to investigate a historic quilt, to teach us about it and to reproduce it." She adds, "Together we were able to connect with the Susan B. Anthony House and help them refurnish the house to tell the Susan B. Anthony story in the most powerful way possible."
The members of the Genesee Valley Quilt Club, the longest continuous meeting quilt club in the United States, were pleased to participate in this historical endeavor. A total of 108 members contributed their skills and research in recreating the quilt. "We are honored to have ‘our’ quilt on permanent display in The Susan B. Anthony House," says GVQC member Kay Salerno. Lorie Barnum points out that with this project, "the quilters have had a brush with history, working hundreds of hours to produce a beautiful quilt Anthony herself would be proud to own."
Susan B. Anthony, an accomplished quilter, made the quilt in 1835. Later, as she became active in the woman suffrage movement, she went to quilting bees with her message since many women at first were afraid to attend the public meetings where Anthony and others spoke. Many women heard their first speeches in support of woman’s rights at quilting bees.
The reproduction will be on exhibit at the Anthony House through 1998. In honor of the grand opening of the Susan B. Anthony Education and Visitor Center, the original will be on display beginning Thursday, July 2, at the RMSC in From the Cradle of the Women’s Rights Movement. This exhibit is part of RMSC’s summer lineup of activities, exhibits and shows celebrating the 150th anniversary of the first woman’s rights convention.
The Susan B. Anthony House was the home of the legendary American civil rights leader during the most politically active period of her life, and the site of her famous arrest for voting in 1872. Susan B. Anthony’s story of courage and determination has been told and re-told to visitors to her Rochester, New York home on Madison Street for more than fifty years. The Susan B. Anthony House, a National Historic Landmark Museum, is supported primarily through the contributions of its members. The Susan B. Anthony House is not affiliated with other organizations bearing her name.