Jasper County Courthouse Quilts 1895 and 1995 in Powers Musuem Collection of Carthage, Missouri

Center detail from Grace Episcopal Church 1895 quilt.

These two unique quilts document the construction and history of the Jasper County Courthouse. Both were fundraising projects for the sponsoring organizations when created — the ladies of Grace Episcopal Church in 1895 and the Powers Museum in 1995. Seven hundred ninety-one Jasper County names are represented on the Grace quilt and several hundred individual and family names on the museum quilt. Both were hand-stitched and hand-quilted by volunteers. The older quilt was auctioned and presented to Lacie Caffee in whose family it remained until donated to the museum in 1993 by the Elizabeth Wright Estate.

1895 Jasper County Courthouse Quilt is now part of a national quilt online exhibit called The Quilt Index. By looking at these links, all the names that appear on the quilt can be reviewed in their layout order on the quilt (by blocks).

Click here for basic Quilt Index display.

Click here for full Quilt Index display.

Click here for entire Quilt Index website.

The Quilt Index is a joint project of The Alliance for American Quilts, MATRIX: Center for Human Arts, Letters and Social Sciences Online at Michigan State University and the Michigan State University Museum. The project has been supported in part by major grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute for Museum and Library Services.

In addition to The Quilt Index project, the museum has placed almost all the quilt blocks on the 1895 quilt on Flickr so you can see names close-up.  Go to this link.  We are looking for a volunteer who could complete our Flickr info by placing all the names and tags on these blocks for better searchability. If you would like to volunteer, please email. Most of the work for this project could be done at home but we would also be glad to have you work on the project at the museum.  Once we get the 1895 quilt documented, we would also like to place the 1995 quilt online at Flickr, too.

Click here for current display/conservation schedule for Jasper County Courthouse Quilts.

1995 Jasper County Courthouse Quilt, photograph by John Woodward