Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

COURTHOUSE STEP PATTERN

Date Range From

1939

Date Range To

1954

Materials

SILK, COTTON

No. Pieces

1

Height

172

Length

137.5

Width

0.6

Description

QUILT, COURTHOUSE STEPS PATTERN. TOP OF QUILT HAS SECTIONS OF COLOUR MADE WITH NINE RECTANGULAR PIECES SEWN TOGETHER TO CREATE A SQUARES. THIRTY COLOURED SQUARES ARE RED, BLUE, GREEN, BROWN, WHITE, ORANGE AND PURPLE. BETWEEN COLOURED SQUARES ARE YELLOW SQUARES MADE WITH NINE RECTANGULAR PIECES SEWN TOGETHER. BACK OF QUILT IS SINGLE PIECE OF GREEN FABRIC WITH PATTERNED MOTIF OF GIRL IN BLUE DRESS WITH YELLOW FLOWERS. BACKING WRAPS AROUND EDGE TO CREATE BOARDER ON FRONT. AREAS OF FABRIC LOSS ON WHITE, PURPLE, ORANGE AND YELLOW SECTIONS. HAND QUILTED IN TIGHT DIAMOND PATTERN WITH WHITE THREAD.

Subjects

BEDDING

Historical Association

DOMESTIC

History

AT TIME OF DONATION ON 30 NOVEMBER 2011, DONOR GERALADINE BUCHANAN STATED THAT SHE ACQUIRED THE QUILTS IN THE EARLY 2000S FROM OWNER SHEILA PETHERBRIDGE OF LETHBRIDGE. “SHE KNEW I WAS A QUILTER” SHE SAID WHEN SHE MADE THE DONATION, “AND SHE KNEW I WOULD TAKE GOOD CARE OF THEM. SHE ENTRUSTED ME WITH VERY VALUABLE HERITAGE ITEMS AND I WAS HAPPY TO TAKE ON THE RESPONSIBILITY.” THE QUILTS, THE DONOR SAID, WERE HUNG AT THE GALT MUSEUM AS PART OF A SHOW IN 2003 AS WELL AS AT THE LETHBRIDGE COLLEGE IN 2011. A NOTE, HANDWRITTEN BY THE DONOR AND PROVIDED TO THE GALT AT THE POINT OF DONATION, INCLUDED THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION “THESE QUILTS WERE GIVEN TO ME BY SHELIA PETHERBRIDGE OF LETHBRIDGE, DAUGHTER OF MRS. MAURINE DANIEL AND MR. CHARLES DANIEL. THE QUILTS WERE MADE BY MAURINE IN APPROXIMATELY 1939-1954 AFTER SHE BECAME BLIND. HER SISTER, VIRGINIA TALBOT CUT OUT THE PIECES FOR MAURINE. PIECES ARE ALL HAND SEWN. FABRIC IS SILKS FROM SCRAPS FROM HER DAUGHTERS’ DRESSES. TWO OF THE DAUGHTERS SEWED ALL THE DRESSES FOR THE SIX GIRLS. MOTHER – MAURINE DID NOT SEW CLOTHING. TWO OF MAURINE’S SISTERS – VIRGINIA AND DOROTHY DESIGNED ALL THEIR CLOTHES. QUILTS WERE USED ON TWIN BEDS IN DANIELS FAMILY HOME.” MAURINE DANIEL’S OBITUARY IN THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD IS DATED NOVEMBER 24, 1954 AND READS, “MRS. MAURINE DANIEL, 73, A PIONEER RESIDENT OF THE LETHBRIDGE DISTRICT AND A MEMBER OF A PROMINENT LETHBRIDGE FARMING FAMILY, DIED TUESDAY NIGHT IN A LOCAL HOSPITAL FOLLOWING A LONG ILLNESS. MRS. DANIEL LIVED IN LETHBRIDGE AREA SINCE 1905, WHEN SHE AND HER HUSBAND, C.R. DANIEL, FIRST BEGAN FARMING JUST EAST OF THE CITY. BORN IN MACON, MISSOURI, ON JAN. 4, 1881, MRS. DANIEL LEFT HER HOME AT THE AGE OF 18 TO TEACH SCHOOL IN BIG TIMBER, MONT. IN 1903, SHE MARRIED MR. DANIEL IN BILLINGS, MONTANA. TWO YEARS LATER, THE COUPLE MOVED TO LETHBRIDGE, WHERE MR. DANIEL TOOK UP FARMING ON THE SITE OF THEIR PRESENT HOME ON THE COALDALE HIGHWAY JUST OUTSIDE THE CITY. THEY LIVED IN LETHBRIDGE WHILE THEIR FARM HOME WAS BEING BUILT, MOVING OUT TO THE FARM IN 1910. MRS. DANIEL WAS PROMINENT IN MANY CIVIC ACTIVITIES. SHE WAS A CHARTER MEMBER OF THE MATHESIS CLUB AND A MEMBER OF THE WOMEN’S MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF SOUTHMINSTER UNITED CHURCH. SHE WAS A MEMBER OF THE UNITED CHURCH. BESIDES HER HUSBAND, MRS. DANIEL IS SURVIVED BY A SON, CHARLES ROLAND, JR., OF LETHBRIDGE; SIX DAUGHTERS, MRS. VIRGINIA L. TALBOTT OF LETHBRIDGE, MRS. DOROTHY Q. SAINTAMOUR OF MILFORD, CONN., MRS. DIXIE D. LEMIEUX OF WENATCHEE, WASH., MRS. VINCENT (ELIZABETH) HONAN OF CORONADA, CALIF., MRS. PATRICIA WALKER CASE OF SEATTLE, WASH., AND MRS. SHEILA LANE PETHERBRIDGE OF LETHBRIDGE; TWO SISTERS, MRS. LEILA LOOMIS OF GLENDALE, CALIF., AND MRS. NELL ALBERS OF HUNTINGTON BEACH CALIF.; FIFTEEN GRANDCHILDREN AND ONE GREAT GRANDCHILD.” IN AN ARTICLE DESCRIBING THE CELEBRATION FOR THE NORLAND’S ONE HUNDREDTH YEAR PUBLISHED JULY 1, 2010, LISA DOERKSEN HAS WRITTEN, “BUILT IN 1910, THE SEVEN-BEDROOM, SEVEN-BATHROOM MANSION WAS THE DREAM HOME OF MISSOURI NATIVE CHARLES RONALD DANIEL AND HIS WIFE MAURINE. THE COUPLE PURCHASED 2,000 ACRES NORTH OF THE JAIL IN LETHBRIDGE, AND BUILT THE 7,500-SQUARE-FOOT, THREE STOREY COLONIAL MANSION. REMINISCENT OF HOMES COMMON IN THE DEEP–SOUTH, THE PRE–FABRICATED HOUSE WAS ORDERED FROM A LUMBERMAN’S CATALOGUE WITH EACH PIECE NUMBERED AND SHIPPED READY FOR ASSEMBLY. DANIEL RAN A DAIRY FARM ON THE PROPERTY WHICH BECAME A POPULAR LOCATION FOR FAMILY AND FRIENDS TO GATHER.” RECORDED IN AN ISSUE OF THE LETHBRIDGE HISTORICAL SOCIETY’S NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED IN 2006, “SHELIA LANE PETHERBRIDGE, LONG TIME MEMBER OF THE LETHBRIDGE HISTORICAL SOCIETY PASSED AWAY [ON MARCH 22, 2006]. BORN SHELIA DANIELS, SHE WAS ALWAYS INTERESTED IN HISTORY AND NATURE CONSERVATION. HER CHILDHOOD HOME WAS NORLAND, BUILT BY HER FATHER IN THE 1900’S DIRECTLY NORTH OF THE LETHBRIDGE CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTE. SHEILA WAS MARRIED TO DOUGLAS PETHERBRIDGE, WHOM SHE MET DURING WORLD WAR II.” FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE SEE PERMANENT FILE. UPDATE 16 JUNE 2014: ON 4-5 JUNE 2014, ROYAL ALBERTA MUSEUM (RAM) CURATOR LUCIE HEINS VISITED THE GALT AS PART OF THE RAM’S INITIATIVE TO DOCUMENT QUILTS IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE COLLECTIONS IN ALBERTA. THE DOCUMENTATION WORK IS KNOWN AS THE ALBERTA QUILT PROJECT. IN ADDITION TO HEINS’ PROGRAM, THE DATA IS ALSO SUPPOSED TO BE SUBMITTED AS PART OF THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE NORTH AMERICAN QUILT INDEX. THIS QUILT HAS BEEN ASSIGNED NO. “AQP 2-0266” BY THE ALBERTA QUILT PROJECT.

Catalogue Number

P20110035000

Acquisition Date

2011-11

Collection

Museum

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