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The story behind this festive quilt is a sad one about a woman, who we only know as "Miss Collins," and the love of her life. We think some time in 1882 she met and fell in love with a young, college educated man from Virginia. It is obvious by the young boy's offer of marriage that the couple were very much in love with each other. Wedding plans were in full swing when suddenly the young man fell ill with consumption (tuberculosis).
While he recovered the bride-to-be set by his bedside and along with his mother and sister. While they nursed the boy back to health, his mother and sister worked on stitching a quilt. The young man would suggest things which could be sewn onto the quilt, such as flowers, strawberries, the dates of his birth and graduation from University of Virginia, his fraternity pin and ribbons to the 1883 Democratic convention. But the young man did not get better and died. The mother of the boy gave Ms. Collins the quilt. It was handed down to her daughter, Rebecca Wall.
This quilt is one of the museum's artifacts that tells a story which touches us all but sadly the deteriorating condition of the quilt won't allow us to display it without stabilization.
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Portrait of a young Rebecca Wall |
