Had it not been for the inscription on this quilt, “Salinda W. Rupp,” its history might have been lost forever. As the antique quilt market developed during the 1970s and ‘80s, it was not typical for pickers to gather an object’s history prior to offering it for sale to retail dealers. As a result, when Kate and Joel Kopp, the leading New York City retail quilt dealers, sold it to collectors Ardis and Robert James they had no provenance to share. Recent genealogical research has established this quilt’s relationship to another in the IQM collection (1997.007.0862) and another made by Rupp in a private collection.

Pattern: 
Album
Maker: 
Salinda W. Rupp
Circa
1870
1890
Lancaster County
Pennsylvania
United States
88
88
International Quilt Museum, Robert and Ardis James Collection
2006.043.0226