Historic Happenings Blog

Quilt Dating and Care Historic Longstreet Farm 44 Longstreet Road, Holmdel 07733 Sat, Mar 7, 2020, 12:00-2:00 PM (adults) Dana Balsamo, owner of Material Pleasures, LLC and certified AQS Appraiser from Princeton will be giving a lecture on quilt dating and care. Ms. Balsamo has knowledge of the history of textiles and geographic differences in styles. She will also discuss the proper way to care for your guilt Be sure to bring you heirloom quilt to this special program. One Session $15.00 Per Person

Saturday, February 8 – Somerset County Unraveling History: Quilts in the 18 th  & 19 th  Centuries     The Somerset County Society is pleased to announce the first of this year’s History Talks on Saturday, February 8, 2020. Dana Bala, an expert in historic quilts, will present a program on Textiles and Quilts in the 18 th  and 19 th  Centuries from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at the Somerset County Historical Society headquarters in the Van Veghten House, 9 Van Veghten Drive, Bridgewater NJ, 08807.    Ms. Bala will discuss textiles—their cost and production—from the time of the American Revolution, up to the time of the American Civil War, when quilting became a truly American tradition and format for expression. Her program is hands-on: she will bring quilts, fabrics and clothing so that participants can touch the materials, including clothing of the period. Ms. Bala has been quilting for 15 years. She combines her love of hi...

July 6 – Hunterdon County Lambertville Antique Quilt Exhibit The Lambertville Historical Society will host a special exhibit of antique quilts at James Wilson Marshall House, featuring a lecture by expert Dana Balsamo. In an intimate, historic setting, the exhibit will showcase rarely displayed quilts, such as the 1843 sampler “Dilts Quilt” that includes many hand-signed ink and stamped signatures and small pictures, the 1843 King’s Crown Friendship Quilt that includes many signatures from the Lambertville area, and the Friendship Star/Rittenhouse Marriage Quilt circa 1852.  For the first time, the Victorian linen “splasher” (hand towel) made for Ashbel Russell Welch by his mother will be displayed, accompanied by documentation tracing ancestry to Senator John Lambert. In her lecture, Balsamo will discuss and examine quilts of Lambertville and Hunterdon County, as well as highlights from her private collection, on July 6 from 1:00-2:00 p.m., and reprise the same presentation on Jul...

Calling All Artists! The Montclair History Center's quilt collection is the inspiration for a fall art exhibition at Studio Montclair. Artists are invited to submit works of art that are inspired by the antique quilt collection at the Montclair  History Center . "Inspired by" can be interpreted broadly to include a shape, a color, a process, materials, or even a reaction to words that describe a quilt or the women who made them and/or their place in society. Please note:  Existing artwork that fits this theme may be submitted for this call. Pictures and descriptions of the quilts are available on  Studio Montclair’s website ,   and a selection will be on display at the Crane House and Historic YWCA in Montclair during the months of April and May (Wednesday afternoons at 1 pm and by appointment).  Studio Montclair's website and register (RSVP mandatory). Studio Montclair's Community Partnership Exhibition Program:  Every year Studio Montclair will partner wi...

Tuesday, May 14 – Hunterdon County HUNTERDON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY TO UNVEIL NEWLY RESTORED NEEDLEWORK SAMPLER    An 1835 sampler stitched by Hannah Gray (1822-1918) will be unveiled at  1:30 pm, Tuesday, May 14 at the Hunterdon County Historical Society’s Doric House , 114 Main Street, Flemington, NJ. Needlework historian Marty Campanelli will briefly discuss the sampler, the instructress, and the motifs important to this work’s stylistic group of embroideries.    The sampler was donated to the society by a Gray family descendant in 1971. It has been restored and framed through a generous donation from Daniel C. Scheid of Princeton, NJ in memory of artist and needlework historian Dan Campanelli (1949-2017). Mr. Scheid was a co-curator, along with Dan and Marty Campanelli, of the landmark needlework exhibition,  Hail Specimen of Female Art ! at Morven Museum and Gardens in Princeton, New Jersey in 2014-15.    The public is invit...