On May 13, we launched a GoFundMe Campaign to assist in fundraising to repatriate 40 quilts, made voluntarily by Canadian women on the home front during the Second World War. Of the over 400,000 quilts recorded sent by the Canadian Red Cross, these 40 surviving quilts in a single collection represent less than 1% of all those made. In total, in various places around the world, it is estimated there are fewer than 400 surviving quilts from this massive wartime effort.
The Canadian Red Cross records that over 52,000,000 comforts and supplies were sent to Britain in wartime. For the most part, these were textile items – knitted, sewn and quilted – for hospitals, the military, bomb shelters, POW camps, the land girls, the merchant navy, and most importantly for civilians and refugees. Items made were as simple as rolled bandages, sheets, pillowcases and facemasks, as repetitive as knitted socks, as intricate as 30-piece baby layettes, and as time-consuming and beautiful as hand-quilted quilts, plus a range of all types of items in between.
Of all of the items made, except for a few rare individual artifacts bearing labels ‘Gift of the Canadian Red Cross Society’, these 300-400 quilts are the only textiles that survive from this production; all of the other items were used – consumed by the needs of the war.
These quilts tell a story. These quilts represent a period and place and contribution that is poorly documented and little known. Why are they important?
These items were not made by the Canadian Red Cross. These items were made almost exclusively by Canadian women. After bidding farewell to husbands and sons, uncles and cousins, and eventually some of their daughters too, women leaned into this unpaid production. This was not the first time women had accepted this wartime textile production as their patriotic and civic duty. Many of the women who participated in WW2 would have already been sewing and knitting during the four years of the First World War. The textile needs of WW2 requested that they participate again, this time teaching a new generation the sewing, knitting and quilting skills needed to complete the work.
This work was not completed at random quilting bees, or tea parties. This was organized work, not just in Red Cross workrooms, but in churches, libraries, town halls, legislative assembly rooms, and homes across the country – even in Rideau Hall! In every province and territory, this work was being done. Work rooms were open five days a week. Work continued in homes on the weekends. Women who worked in factories ended their work days with unpaid textile production. Women were asked to pay ten cents on each visit to a work room, and to bring their own tea and sugar when food rationing began. Quotas were issued each month, and groups were asked to complete the quota of items most desperately needed.
This Go Fund Me campaign was initiated because a British collector of these quilts, Anthony Mansi, has chosen to donate his collection to Canada to help us to learn this story, to deepen the research, to record the details of these surviving quilts, and to celebrate the way that these quilts bonded our two nations in times of war. He has strongly stated that he wishes to keep the collection together, and that is what we endeavour to do.
Joanna has spoken to over 2000 people across Canada in the last six years, sharing the stories of the textile production by women in wartime and the quilts that have survived. But the repatriation of a such a collection would aid greatly in establishing this work in the historic conversation about war and the contributions by women in both world wars.
Seven days into the campaign, as 24% of the goal has been reached, British enthusiasts have greatly supported this fundraising. The story of these quilts has been researched in Britain since the mid 1980’s, and Canadian wartime quilts have been acquired by both local and major public institutions in Britain. They have mounted two exhibitions of surviving quilts and many public presentations and ‘trunk shows’. Some of these quilts have accurate provenance; some have been rescued from barns and dog beds and thrift shops with no provenance at all. But the oral histories, the memories and gratitude shared, tell the story of the bonds between two nations at war, through quilts that are now over 80 years old.
We are calling on Canadians now to support this cause. As a nation, by donating to this campaign, we can show our public institutions that these quilts, and the histories of women’s unpaid labour in wartime, are important to us. We can signal our strong interest in bringing this collection back to Canada, ensuring that these quilts are acquired by a public institution that has the facilities to care for them, to photograph and record them, and that we are interested in seeing these quilts exhibited. If just 800 Canadians would each give $10 to this campaign, we will exceed our goal. And we will show the British people who have donated already that we honour the research and rescuing of the surviving quilts by people in Britain and the importance their nation has given to making sure that this story continues to be told. If we exceed our goal, extra funds will go with the collection to the institution that accepts these quilts, to aid in the acquisition and ongoing care of these quilts. Canadian women’s history is under-represented in our public institutions. We, as women who understand and are inspired by this work, can send a message that our women’s history is important and needs greater acknowledgement and representation.
This fundraising campaign is being initiated by Joanna Dermenjian and Heather Smith, two Canadian scholars who are researching the voluntary textile production and quilt-making by Canadian women on the home front in the First and Second World Wars. The fundraising initiative to support the return of this quilt collection is being guided by Dr. Lisa Binkley, Associate Professor of History at Dalhousie University and Director of the Material Culture Collective.