Century of Progress Quilt
Evelyn Strickler is searching for a Century of Progress quilt which was made by her grandfather,
William F. Novak of Chicago, Illinois.
(In 1933 Sears sponsored a national quilt contest in conjunction with
Chicago's Century of Progress World Fair. Thousands of quilts were made for this contest and many are unaccounted for
today. Merikay Waldvogel and Barbara Brackman wrote about this massive quilt contest in their book entitled
"Patchwork Souvenirs of the 1933 World's Fair.")
The double bed size quilt made by William Novak was an original design. It was hand appliqued and hand quilted.
It features a map of the United States in a half circle with the words "Century of Progress" across the top and
"Chicago" below that and then "1933" on the final line. The Great Lakes stand out in blue against the
white of the states. The bottom of the quilt has the heads of Presidents Washington, Lincoln and Roosevelt and Evelyn thinks
the names of all the states are written by the presidents.
The quilt was sent to President Roosevelt and it is probable that he gave it as a gift. Evelyn has a letter
confirming that President Roosevelt received the quilt. She writes, "My biggest wish is that I could get it back in
the family as my grandfather made many things and gave them away before there were any grandchildren and now that I have been
doing genealogy I would love to find this quilt. If I am unable to buy it back I would just be thrilled to find it and perhaps
have a picture and know the history where the quilt has been and just be able to see it once."
If you can help reunite Evelyn with this quilt, please contact her at
[email protected].
Posted April 12, 2002.
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