Registration/Program Schedule
This year we’re virtual! We’ll be using Zoom to bring our amazing textile experts straight into your home. Regular hour-long lectures will be just $15 each in 2021, and three mini lectures on Friday afternoon, June 4, will be only $10 each! We hope our special prices will bring us some “textilians” who normally can’t attend due to distance. The lectures will be recorded (all except for Dawn Ronningen) and available for two weeks until Sunday, June 19.
You may register for your choices by sending an email to joanne@schwenkfelder.com or call Joanne Jalowy at 215-679-3103. Final registration is not complete until payment is received.
Paying with Credit Card online? Click the Register button below your desired program to pay online by credit card through PayPal.
Paying with Check or Cash?
Download, complete, and mail in your registration form.
Mail completed registration forms to:
Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center
105 Seminary Street
Pennsburg PA 18073
Thank you to all of our very generous sponsors!
FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 2021 (All times are EST)
12:00 noon – 1:00 pm
Civil War Quilts: Divided Hearts
Barbara Brackman, Quilt Historian and Author
Barbara has written many books on the role of quilts in the Civil War, exploring stories of quilts made to persuade, to comfort, to raise funds, and to celebrate victories North and South. We'll see a selection of the remarkable number of surviving quilts with links to the War, focusing on hearts divided. These stories of women who married across the Mason-Dixon line, New England teachers transplanted South behind battle lines, and women who included signed album squares in letters to old schoolmates portray how the Civil War interrupted not only the mail but the friendships too. Barbara's most recent book on the topic is Divided Hearts: A Civil War Friendship Quilt and she writes a twice-weekly blog on the topic of Civil War Quilts: http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com
Sponsored by Meadowood Senior Living
Mini Lectures (30 minutes)
2:00 pm – 2:30 pm
Cushions & Ribbons, & Screws, oh my! Sewing Supplies for Salem Students
Johanna Brown, Director of Collections and Curator of Moravian Decorative Arts
Old Salem Museums & Gardens
Sponsored by Kathleen Staples
3:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Guard Thy Hours: Bead Watch Chains of the 1830s
Lynne Bassett, Independent Scholar, Author, and Curator
Loom-woven bead watch chains are often misidentified as having a Native American origin. In fact, they were a fad especially among young women in the 1830s - a signifier of status, often worked with symbols of the period's Romantic culture, which emphasized sentimentality, religion, and domesticity. The relation to schoolgirl samplers is another aspect of these interesting items that will be discussed.
Sponsored by Friends of the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center
4:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Sweat Hogs for Halloween: A Tribute to the Collegeville Costume Company
Candace Perry, Curator, Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center
Back in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s there was nothing more thrilling when Halloween rolled around then to see department store shelves stocked with boxed costumes. A kid could be anything his or her heart desired. Cinderella? Check. Jaws? Yup! Vinny Barbarino? No problemo! Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center Curator Candace Perry will discuss one of the main producers of these costumes, the Collegeville Costume Company, in this mini illustrated lecture (please note that her mother rarely let her have one of these costumes).
Sponsored by Kathleen Staples
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Decoding Fashion in Film
Alden O’Brien, Curator of Costume & Textiles, DAR Museum
Costumes in period dramas are a big part of audience appeal (think Bridgerton) but "perfect" historical accuracy is elusive. Designers may be limited by budget but can go beyond period limits in imagination. How do they choose colors and garment details to express the director's concept and give viewers clues to characters' personalities, place in society, and role in the story? You'll learn to decode what designers are trying to tell you and gain an appreciation for the clothing in both period and contemporary productions.
Sponsored by Master Supply Line
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Pieces and Pattern: Quilts in Chester County
Ellen Endslow, Director of Collections, Chester County Historical Society
Quilts were the subject of an extensive documentation project in Chester County in the early 2000s. This illustrated lecture compares and contrasts quilts from the permanent collection of the Chester County Historical Society and quilts in the community. The majority of quilts date from the 1800s, although earlier and later examples are included. Designs and fabric provide a graphic look at choices made by quilters of British and German descent.
Sponsored by Harleysville Bank
SATURDAY, JUNE 5, 2021 (All times are EST)
9:00 am – 10:00 am
Grounded! Reading the Evidence in Early American Rugs
Kimberley Ivey, Senior Curator, Textiles, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Hooked and sewn rugs are considered in the best tradition of American folk art, where simple objects created for use and enjoyment express the unique artistry of their maker. Sewn rugs grew out of an earlier needlework tradition, which included sampler making and crewel wool embroidery. Rug-hooking techniques originated in North America in the 1800s, specifically Maine and grew to become a national activity. Recent research into more accessible archives and analytical methods have revealed new information about non-woven rugs that is changing the way we think about these artifacts. This presentation will highlight new discoveries and research while exploring the various techniques, design sources, and makers of what has been called “America’s one indigenous folk art.”
Sponsored by M. Finkel & Daughter
10:30 am – 11:30 am
“While her fingers over the canvas move” Documenting the various styles of Burlington County, New Jersey needlework samplers
Marty Campanelli, Independent Textile Scholar
This presentation will provide a visual overview of the many different styles of Burlington County samplers along with personal stories about some of the makers. Who brought the designs to this portion of New Jersey and where the motifs migrated afterwards will also be covered.
Sponsored by a Special Friend of the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Cultivated Beds:
The Embedded Meanings in Philadelphia Whole Cloth Quilt Motifs
Laura Keim, Curator of Stenton
This richly illustrated talk will explore a series of whole cloth quilts owned by Philadelphia Quaker women, focusing on possible origins and meanings of the design motifs, particularly the two-handled urn of flowers found on a group of closely related quilts and petticoats. The coexistence of the same motifs worn on petticoats and displayed on bedcovers reinforces the notion that eighteenth-century women's identity and selfhood was interwoven with their domestic textiles and daily endeavors.
Sponsored by Stauffer Glove & Safety
2:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Pins, Pin Balls and Mosaic Treasures
Dawn Ronningen
PLEASE NOTE: This lecture is replacing Lynne Anderson’s lecture, which is postponed until 2022.
View Dawn's personal collection of pin balls and mosaic pieced pin holders spanning over 200 years. Examples include knit, embroidered and fabric covered pin balls. See how they were constructed and used, including resources to make your own.
This lecture was not recorded!
Sponsored by Univest
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Intertwined Threads: Quilts & Costumes
Lynne Bassett, Independent Scholar, Author, and Curator
A quilt was often imbued with meaning by the bits of loved ones' clothing that a maker pieced into its pattern. While we may no longer know the specifics of the fabric's original owner and form, understanding clothing in general provides insight into the dating of quilts, and sometimes into larger social issues that add to the understanding of a particular quilt or quilt history in general. This lecture will examine a number of quilts that had some confusion or disagreement about their dating and show that a comparison of the quilts with historic costume offers strong evidence about their origin and significance.
Sponsored by Friends of the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center
SUNDAY, JUNE 6, 2021 (All times are EST)
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
Shoes for America!
Neal Hurst, Associate Curator of Costume and Textiles, Colonial Williamsburg,
Shoes and other forms of footwear are inextricably linked to fashion and dress. By 1757, it is estimated that British shoemakers produced 120,000 pairs of new shoes for export each year. American men, women, and children had an enormous variety of shoes available to purchase depending on their needs, wants, and desires. From fine fabric shoes worn by women to course leather shoes worn by enslaved men, shoes protected feet fashionably and practically.
Sponsored by Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Bristol Orphanage Samplers - A Resume with a Needle
Claudia Dutcher Kistler, Needlework Designer and Collector, Dutch Treat Designs
Every needlework piece ever created has a story. Information can be learned about the piece, the creator, or both. The samplers created by the girls living in George Müller's New Orphan Houses in Bristol, England, between 1860 and 1910, each have their own story to tell. These samplers, with their distinct styles and diminutive size, showcased the ability of each girl with needle and thread. During our time together you will learn the stories behind the different types of Bristol orphan samplers and information about the girls who stitched them.
Sponsored by Sassy Jacks Stitchery
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Pocketbook, Purse, Wallet: Where's the Money?
Kathy Lesieur, Independent Textile Scholar
Looking at 18th century pocketbooks, purses, and wallets, you see some made with sumptuous embroidery, others embossed leather, and yet others that are simple and mundane. What were each used for? How did they transition into items we use today?
Sponsored by the late Theodore Breckel