History Collection - Crazy Quilt

The Name Says it All

Crazy quilts, fanciful jumbles of velvet and silk, were all the rage in the late 1800s. Scraps were cut from old silk dresses, which were very popular at the time. People even traded remnants and ordered them directly from dress factories. This quilt was made in 1888 by Christianna McDonald Henry, wife of the Honourable William Alexander Henry, a Father of Confederation who went on to become a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. Can you find the initials “H McD H” embroidered into one section of the quilt? Christianna may have made it for her son, Hugh.

Object type: 
quilt
Object #: 
71.92
Collection name: 
Curator: 
Date (age/made): 
c.1888
Origin/place: 
Halifax/Antigonish
Materials: 
silk
Dimensions: 
Length: 189cm; Width: 147.3cm