Today is a very special day! It is Warren and Sandi Schmidt’s wedding 33rd wedding anniversary! Warren and Sandi are on the road today, so Carla Grebing is your guest blogger. We wish Warren and Sandi many more happy, healthy years together!

We have been enjoying a wonderful Spring and early Summer at the Museum. After a beautiful exhibit of Dan Woodward Civil War reenactment paintings, we hung a quilt exhibit in the South Gallery that was donated to the Museum several years ago by John and Martha Short. Many people have enjoyed the beautiful quilts that were given to John and Martha by their mothers and grandmothers. Martha is well-respected in the quilt community. We are grateful to have been given the collection of “Your Grandmother’s Quilts.”

Newer to the South Gallery is an exhibit on Laura Ingalls Wilder and the travels of her family. This exhibit has travelled throughout the United States and was originally only going to be in the South Gallery until the end of June. Through a wonderful gift of timing, we have had our time with the Laura Ingalls Wilder exhibit extended through the month of July! Young and older alike have enjoyed reading about Laura and her family and doing the scavenger hunt through the exhibit, crossword puzzle sheet and available coloring sheets. Stop by and enjoy learning more about Laura Ingalls Wilder and life on the prairie!

Last weekend, we had the pleasure of hanging our latest exhibit in our South Gallery. “Pieces of the Prairie” features 25 1800’s quilts from the internationally acclaimed Poos Collection. This collection is one of the largest privately held quilt and textile collections in the world. It is named after Martha Poos, a grandmother who quilted and instilled her love of quilts to the curator, Kay Triplett. “Pieces of the Prairie” reflects life on the prairie in the 1800s and the prairie lifestyle. These are NOT reproductions, but actual quilts from the 1800s!

This last Sunday, June 26, Lori Lee Triplett, Business Manager of the Poos Collection, appeared as “Esther Heinzmann,” a pioneer woman from the 1800s. “Esther” kept a wide variety of attendees entertained with stories of the prairie and information regarding this fantastic exhibit. “Esther” promised to share the “recipe” for cleaning your quilts. It can be found at their website: quiltandtextilecollections.com under the “Cleaning Your Quilt” blog.

The “Pieces of the Prairie” exhibit will hang until July 26. We are very honored to have this collection in house to share with all of you as many of these quilts have hung all over the world.

As always, our mission is to preserve, interpret and promote the history of the 1839 Saxon Lutheran Immigration alongside the history of our beautiful community. Many of our ancestors brought quilts and their crafts with them as they traveled to East Perry County. Quilting was a means of necessity and comfort. This exhibit fits beautifully into interpreting life in our area, the Prairie and the Midwest.

Please join us as we offer this amazing collection. As always, we also have wonderful exhibits that tell the story of the 1839 immigration and life in our area. We are open seven days a week, 10:00am – 4:00pm. We love serving individuals, families, school groups, VBS groups, family reunions, church groups and civic groups. Please make time to visit soon. We look forward to seeing you!

WE WILL BE OPEN OUR REGULAR HOURS ON JULY 4TH, 10:00am – 4:00pm. Happy Fourth!