Two Redwork Quilts at the Pasadena History Museum

Collection of Dr. Carol Morton

Detail of a redwork quilt featuring symbols of the 

Grand Army of the Republic

veteran's organization

The exhibit at the Pasadena History Museum When Johnny Came Marching West: How the Civil War Shaped Pasadena features four Civil-War-related quilts. Two are post-war redwork quilts
honoring the veterans in the G.A.R.

The show closes September 20, 2015.

http://pasadenahistory.org/all-exhibits/johnny-came-marching-west-civil-war-shaped-pasadena/

Some of the symbols are corps badges.

Others like the tea cup are more difficult to interpret.

Not much is known about this quilt's origins.

The other redwork quilt has much to tell us.

Block from the John F. Godfrey Post of the

G.A.R. in Pasadena, California

The block at the top left honors a Pasadena GAR president in 1912

Next to it a block from Leicester, England

The entire quilt is covered with names in the form of the cross that is the

symbol of the Woman's Relief Corps (W.R.C), the

ladies' auxiliary of the Union veteran's group.

Redwork W.R.C. quilt

Courtesy of Linn and Jean Hoadley

Collection of Dr. Carol Morton

The quilt is shown with a W.R.C. badge from a G.A.R. 46th National Encampment in Los Angeles, 1912

Train excursion from San Francisco

to Los Angeles

I'm guessing the quilt is connected to that five-day National Reunion in September, 1912, perhaps made by the Thimble Club of the John F. Godfrey Chapter as a fund-raiser and raffle quilt.

I found a little more about the Thimble Club of Pasadena, including photos of members about 1930. This may be another Thimble Club, but the W.R.C. Thimble Club continued into the 1960s.

Thimble Club at Redondo

On a bus trip to Balboa.

They got around.

Read a post about the WRC quilt here:

http://pasadenahistory.org/curators-blog/wrc/