On two Saturdays this month, the Phillips Historical Society showcased its significant collection of antique quilts. Ranging from the very fancy and intricate to everyday plain and functional, the wide variety of handiwork had been viewed back in the winter by Laureen LaBar, the Chief Curator of History and Fine Arts from the Maine State Museum in Augusta, who authenticated, dated, and described each quilt.

According to Phillips Historical Society Curator Jane Stinchfield, the expert went over every piece with a fine-toothed comb. Well, at least with magnifying glass and calipers. She meticulously studied the techniques of the stitchers, and examined the fabrics, some of which hail from the former Phillips Woolen Mill, counting and measuring the hundreds and hundreds of careful stitches placed by the hands of the women who made the quilts to warm and comfort their families and friends.

“It was mindboggling,” Jane declared. “I never realized how much information could be taken from a piece of cloth from the 18th or 19th century! She certainly knew her stuff.”

LaBar learned about the Phillips quilt collection from members of the Farmington Historical Society when she was evaluating their quilts. Intrigued, she contacted Jane to request a viewing. Jane told her “to come on up”.

“I didn’t realized what I was getting into,” she remarked. “We spent all day going over those quilts.”

The result was a vast amount of new information and history, which was made available to those who attended the exhibit. From the notes provided by LaBar, Jane created captions to accompany each artifact on display.

“It’s quite a collection,” stated one guest, who had made the rounds of the museum.

The oldest quilt in the collection dates to the late 1780s or early 1800s. This is a “whole cloth quilt”, the front of which is green wool and the back of russet, which is more loosely woven than the green.

Quilted decorations adorn front and back. There are sunflower shapes stitched into the corners and “sinuous” feathers along the sides, top, and bottom. A center medallion is framed by feathers or leaves. The quilt is filled with wool batting.

Other examples of this practical art include several friendship quilts with squares signed by the ladies who made them, crazy quilts, strip quilts, quilts with appliques. There are examples of both hand- and machine-stitching throughout the collection.

The quilts are back in storage now, but there is still a lot to see at the Phillips Historical Society.

The home of the Phillips Historical Society is located on the corner of Pleasant and Sawyer Streets in downtown Phillips. It was built by Jesse Ladd in the 1830s and is known historically as the Captain Joel Whitney house or the Vose house.

In addition to the recently featured exhibit of antique quilts, visitors may also enjoy the Railroad Room in the barn, where the focus is on the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad, the antique tools in the connecting shed, and the sizeable collection of Portland Glass displayed in the parlor of the house proper. Other displays throughout the house, shed, and barn reflect period furnishings and many other artifacts from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Jane Stinchfield and Historical Society President Dennis Atkinson assure folks that there “is something for everyone – even the men”.

The Phillips Historical Society is open now through October from 1-3 p.m. on the first and third Sundays of each month. Questions may be referred to Curator Jane Stinchfield at (207) 860-8545.