A new exhibit opened recently in the Front Door Gallery at the Finney County Historical Museum, featuring a collection of signature quilts that illustrate a unique American craft practiced widely across southwest Kansas.
Signature quilts date to the mid-19th and early 20th Centuries, with printed or written names stitched or embroidered into the individual quilt blocks. Often created as lifetime keepsakes, such quilts were made as wedding, birthday, farewell or commemorative gifts.
The exhibit includes eight quilts, dating as far back as 1920s, with one completed as recently as 2025. Most were assembled by different women’s groups in Finney, Pawnee, Rooks, Sedgwick, Stevens and other Kansas counties.
Among them are a friendship quilt spanning four generations; another begun during the 1930s for Larned resident Mary Froetschner; and a Dresden Plate quilt with 20 names from the Pierceville community that dates to 1941.
Along with others, there is also a unique two-sided quilt completed in recent years by Christy Van Zant of Montezuma, but started by the present owner’s great grandmother to record various members of her family.
Viewers will also see the stories behind each quilt, along with an antique sewing machine and other pieces, individual fabric blocks, material, threads, spools, books and related items in the exhibit, which covers over 25 linear feet with some quilts fully open and others draped or folded.
The display was assembled by Museum Education Coordinator Johnetta Hebrlee, based in part on a pair of recent history programs she presented about signature and autograph quilting. She credited various individuals and businesses for providing elements of the exhibit, including Donna and Norman Christensen; Gary and Susan Condit, who operate Salvaged Treasures; Carol (Richards) Deaver; Stacy Fickel of Just Sew Fickle; Tony Harris of the Antique and Comic Shoppe; Erica and James McNutt; Tammy Wilson; Van Zant; and the Vintage Vibes store.
The Front Door Gallery is a small space near the museum’s exhibit entrance, where exhibits change repeatedly throughout each year. The display will remain in place through mid-June. Front Door Gallery exhibits are supported by the Steve Stone Memorial Fund.
The museum is located at 403 S. Fourth Street in Garden City’s Finnup Park, adjacent to Lee Richardson Zoo, and admission is always free. Present display hours are 1 to 5 p.m. daily, along with all other exhibits and the museum gift shop. Summer hours will begin May 26, with the entrance opening at 10 a.m. rather than 1 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
