QUILT HISTORY STORIES
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
Meet Bertha Stenge
Susan Wildemuth, Atkinson, IL
No quilt site about Illinois Quilt History would be complete without a piece about Bertha Stenge of Chicago, Illinois. Joyce Gross and Merikay Waldvogel have done extensive research on Mrs. Stenge so I will not do an in-depth article here because you will want to go on a day trip to your local library and check out or interlibrary loan one of myriad Bertha Stenge articles to read more about “Chicago’s Quilting Queen.”
Here is what you will find here:
Meet Bertha Stenge
Bertha Sheramsky Stenge
Born:
February 8, 1891
Alameda, California
Parents:
Father: Max Sheramsky (Tailor by Profession)
Mother: Frances
Husband:
Bernhard Stenge (Attorney by Profession)
Children:
(3 Daughters)
Frances
Ruth
Prudence
Passed:
June 18, 1957
Buried:
Chicago, Illinois
Residence (At Passing):
Chicago, Illinois
Stenge Quilts in Private and Public Collections
The Art Institute of Chicago
Victory Quilt 1942
Quilt Show 1943
Toby Lil 1951
Panel Depicting Two Dancers Mid 20th Century
These quilts can be viewed online at:
http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/search/citi/artist%3ABertha+Stenge
Illinois State Museum
The Star of Constantine 1936
Iva's Pincushion 1936
The Bible Quilt 1936-37
Mosaic, Grandmother's Garden 1940
Four Freedoms 1943
Office of Price Administration Quilt 1946
The Quilting Party 1948
Tangled Garters, Sunbonnet Sue 1940-1950
These quilts can be viewed online at:
Chicago Historical Society
Chicago Fair 1933
Special Note: If anyone knows of any other Bertha Stenge quilts in public or private collections would you please share so that I may ad them to the list.
Bertha Stenge Reading List
“Artist’s Needle Brings Prizes to Maker of Quilts.” CHICAGO TRIBUNE 21 March 1943.
Barber, Rita Barrow. SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN: QUILTS AND QUILTERS OF ILLINOIS . Paducah, Kentucky: American Quilter’s Society, 1986.
Benberry, Cuesta. “The Superb Mrs. Stenge.” NIMBLE NEEDLE TREASURES Summer 1971 (V-3, N-2, P 4).
Bertha Stenge – Obituary – CHICAGO DAILY TRIBUNE 19 June 1957.
“Bertha Stenge Quilts Found.” QUILTERS’ JOURNAL 26 (undated):15.
“Bertha Stenge, ’The Quilting Queen of Chicago.’” QUILTER’S NEWSLETTER MAGAZINE (October 1971): 4-6.
“Bertha Stenge Quilts Found.” QUILTERS’ JOURNAL 26 (undated):15.
CENTURY OF QUILTS. Des Moines , Iowa : Meredith Corp., Better Homes and Gardens Creative Collection Publications 2002, 74.
Elbert, E. Duane and Rachel Kamm Elbert. HISTORY OF THE HEART - QUILT PATHS ACROSS ILLINOIS. Tennessee: Rutledge Hill Press, 1993. ISBN: 1-55853-155-6. (Findings of the Illinois Quilt Research Project).
Gross, Joyce R. “Four Twentieth-Century Quiltmakers.” In Uncoverings 1980. San Franscisco: American Quilt Study Group, 1981. Reprinted: Horton, Laurel ed. Quiltmaking in America : Beyond the Myths. Nashville , Tenn: Rutledge Press. 1994. (P 164, 171-72, 175.)
Kiracofe, Roderick. The American Quilt. New York : Clarkson Potter, 1993. (P 199, 216, 239-40)
Leman, Bonnie. “Two Masters: Kretsinger and Stenge.” QUILTER’S NEWSLETTER MAGAZINE (January 1981): 16-17.
“List Features of New Season at Irving Park.” CHICAGO TRIBUNE 20 September 1953.
Moss, Ruth. “Fair Sex Takes the Spotlight at State’s Fair.” CHICAGO TRIBUNE 8 August 1952.
“Needlework Prize Winners.” WOMAN’S DAY. January 1943.
“New Quilt Designs.” LADIES’S HOME JOURNAL, November 1940.
Orlofsky, Patsy and Myron. QUILTS IN AMERICA. New York : Abbeville Press, 1992. (P 82-83)
Perry, Rosalind, THE QUILTERS HALL OF FAME. Marion, Indiana: Quilters Hall of Fame, 2004. (Merikay Waldvogel wrote the Bertha Stenge piece)
Peto, Florence . “Quilts Then and Now.” MCCALL’S NEEDLEWORK AND CRAFTS, 1953.
“Prize Winning Applique.” WOMAN’S DAY. March 1943.
Waldvogel, Merikay and Barbara Brackman. PATCHWORK SOUVENIRS OF THE 1933 WORLD’S FAIR. Nashville, Tenn: Rutledge Hill Press, 1996. (Page 89, 90)
Waldvogel, Merikay and Jan Wass. “A Cut and Stitch Above: Quilts by Bertha Stenge.”THE LIVING MUSEUM/ILLINOIS STATE MUSEUM, vol.59 nos. 1 & 2 (Spring 1997), pp.10-13.
Wise, Margaret Lukes. “Prize Winning Needlework.” WOMAN’S DAY February 1943.
“Woman Who Made the ‘Bible Quilt’” CHICAGO TRIBUNE April 5, 1971 Reprinted: Nimble Needle Treasures. Summer 1971. Submitted by Cuesta Benberry. (V-3 –N-2, P6)
Special Note: If anyone knows of any other Bertha Stenge articles would you please share so that I may ad them to the reading list.
