Antique Urn
Laura May Clarke and Bozena Vilhelmina Clarke
Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan
Top made by Laura in 1935, quilted by Bozena in 1939
85" x 95"
Cotton
MSU Museum Accession 6119.34.1
Photo by Mark Eifert, all rights reserved by the MSU Museum

This intricately appliqued "Antique Urn" was one of three quilts made by Bozena Clarke to enter in the 1940 Detroit News Quilt Show where it was a prizewinner. The prize ribbon, entry form, templates used in the design, and the congratulatory letter Clarke received from the Detroit News are included in MSU Museum's collection, as well as the notebooks and diaries in which the Clarkes recorded information about their quilts. From these records, it is known that the two makers shared the cost of the pattern, $3.50 with three other quilters, and that it took them 136 hours to do only the quilting in this piece.

By Mary Worrall, excerpted from American Quilts from Michigan State University Museum.