by Sean Moir and Anthony Worman
Royal Alberta Museum, Edmonton
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In the collection of the Royal Alberta Museum is a Red Cross signature quilt made by the women of Waskatenau, Alberta (also known as Pine Creek and Clodford). The quilt was made for the purpose of raising money for the local Red Cross auxiliary ca. 1917. The funds were used to purchase basic supplies and items for the assemblage of comfort packages for Canadian soldiers at the front.
Community members paid 25 cents to have their names, and those of friends and family members, embroidered on the quilt. [1] In total 300 names appear on the quilt. All of the names were entered into a raffle. The winner of the draw for the quilt was 23-year-old William Cherrington who at the time was with the Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve (1914-1923). His is one of thirty two names of military personnel that appear on the quilt, and he was one of at least sixty-four soldiers and sailors from the Waskatenau district who served with the military during the First World War.
But what of the women who made this quilt? Of the eighteen women credited with its construction, six were members of the local auxiliary. A further four paid Associate or Active membership fees with the Red Cross. [2]
1917 Red Cross Signature Quilt from Waskatenau, Alberta bearing 300 names. Continuing research and investigation by Royal Alberta Museum staff has yet to uncover any other quilts of this kind in the collections of public entities. This item offers a window into how one small community contributed to, and was impacted by, the First World War.
Source: Royal Alberta Museum
Curiously, only thirteen have their names embroidered on the quilt, yet those of Carrie Lunn and Mary Ann New appear twice. Of the thirteen names, there is great variation in how they are recorded. These variations include whole names (i.e., Elsie New), initials (i.e., L. Ongena), marital and familial status (i.e., Mrs. Woodward, or more formally for the time, Mrs. R. Brown, and Gran Ma Lunn) all of which suggests that the donor was, to some degree, pending their circumstance, able to dictate how their name would appear.
In addition to their own, most are accompanied by other family members’ names—often a husband and children. The names of three of the quilters, Josephine West, Lottie McCartney and Mrs. Erikson are not recorded. In fact, nothing is known of Mrs. Erikson, including her first name, except that she was an Associate Member of the Red Cross. In the case of Mary Barron, only her name is embroidered, not those of her husband or her son Albert, who was killed in action in September 1918. Like Mary Barron, the makers of the quilt were mothers (in-law), daughters, sisters (in-law), aunts, cousins and friends. Being from such a small community it is inevitable that all of these women suffered the harrowing impact of the news of the death or serious injury of a loved one—at minimum, they knew someone who endured such an experience.
Women quilters at the Red Cross Auxiliary picnic on the Bishop Farm at Waskatenau, Alberta, in the summer of 1917.
Source: Royal Alberta Museum
Of the information that can be gleaned from local histories, many of these women were prominent and active members of the Anglo ruling elite within the Waskatenau (Pine Creek) region. In addition to making the quilt, these Red Cross members are known to have organized summer picnics in 1917 and 1918 as well as knitted or sewed 1400 garments for shipment overseas (e.g., mitts, trench caps, mufflers, socks and sweaters). [3]
One of thirty quilt blocks, bearing the names of several members of the Cherrington family, including William. Note that the names were embroidered using several different styles, affirming the work was completed by a number of different individuals, and likely rather hastily to ensure it was ready as the draw prize.
Source: Royal Alberta Museum
The region boasted a substantive immigrant population, notably people from Ukraine. Integration of communities had not occurred in any meaningful manner by the beginning of the war. There are several reasons for this: for example, officially, people from Ukraine were deemed enemy aliens; wartime propaganda contributed to the nativist-driven bigotry of the day; and the obvious language barrier. These and tangible socio-economic factors contributed to the justification for not inviting women from newly arrived immigrant population groups to be a part of this process – nor were any of their kin offered the opportunity to support the cause.
The role of women in conflicts, and society more generally, has changed dramatically since the early 20thcentury. Yet the making of quilts to comfort the injured, dying and displaced continues, as evidenced by the production of hundreds of thousands of this kind of item that were shipped overseas during the Second World War, and the nearly 10,000 quilts made since 2006 by the members of Quilts of Valour—Canada—these items being distributed to recently injured and retired military personnel. [4] Though not all of the names of the makers are embroidered on Waskatenau quilt, it is in the construction of this item that the legacy of their contributions to the war effort are recorded and preserved.
The “Brown / Dugdale quilt block.” Note the variation in the presentation of names, even amongst members of the same family.
Source: Royal Alberta Museum
1. By River and Train: The History of Waskatenau and Districts, Volume 1, published by Waskatenau and Districts Historical Society, 1986, p. 406.
2. Edmonton Bulletin, 19 December 1917, p. 4.
3. By River and Train, Volume 1, p. 29.
4. See Quilts of Valour–Canada Society website for further information: http://www.quiltsofvalour.ca.
We thank Clara Bachmann for assistance in preparing the online version of this article.
We thank S. Goldsborough for assistance in preparing the online version of this article.
Page revised: 12 November 2020
