This past weekend, relics of Montauk’s history representing the fabric of our community were displayed at the Arts Center at Duck Creek’s Airing of the Quilts. Three quilts from the Montauk Library’s collection were exhibited outdoors alongside baby blankets, contemporary textile artworks, heirlooms, and historical pieces created or inherited by community members across the East End.
The Airing of the Quilts is “a celebration of renewal, community, and storytelling—as we shake the quilts out, after a long winter, to preserve them for the next year, and embrace spring” says the Arts Center at Duck Creek’s website.
Among our contributions was the “First Quilt,” created by the Friends of the Montauk Library in 1981, one of the group’s first efforts to raise funds for a new library.
“We pulled together this wonderful group of intergenerational ladies from Winnie Gilmartin to Sue Kelly, a young mother, Sybil Tuma… Charlotte Schorr, Ada Gigante, just a wonderful host of women,” recalled Stephanie Krusa in an oral history interview. “And we organized meetings and got quilt material and decided how big, and people decided what they wanted to represent in their picture quilt. And we got to work.”
Within months, the quilt was finished, exhibited around town at businesses and community events, and finally raffled off. Michelle Flotteron won the first quilt. “Ms. Flotteron worked at Gosman’s that summer, where the quilt was displayed when it wasn’t being exhibited at various fairs and parties,” reported the East Hampton Star in 1981. She later donated the quilt back to the Montauk Library, where it is now preserved in the archives.
“The Quilt Committee sews again. The first quilt raised over $4000, and the Committee has decided to start another, a patterned patchwork,” stated the Friends in a November 1981 newsletter.
Picture quilts gained popularity in the late 19th century. “This is one of the latest innovations on the old-time crazy quilt and is another of those creations which are made up from friendly contributions,” said Farm and Home in 1892. Each block represented a different picture, shape, scene, or memory stitched together from various colored, textured, or patterned fabrics. The blocks were then joined neatly to create a story or a combined motif.
In the case of the “First Quilt,” each quilter worked on a different scene of Montauk: the lighthouse, the bluffs, the manor, the train station, Gosman’s dock, a deer in a field, a crab on a beach, a fisherman, a clamdigger, and a pheasant.
Again in 1994, the Friends came together to create another picture quilt of recognizable Montauk scenes and historic buildings. Can you identify any of the places in this quilt?
If you missed the event, the Friends’ 1994 Picture Quilt is on permanent display on the library’s lower level, adjacent to a coral reef display by the Nauti-Knitters, Montauk Library’s knitting and crochet club. Montauk has no shortage of community crafters.
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