Briefly Noted: ‘Border to Border: Historic Quilts and Quiltmakers of Montana’

The quilts featured in this richly illustrated, carefully researched book chronicle 150 years of Montana history. They tell stories about struggles for women’s suffrage, the Great depression, two world wars and Montana’s statehood. You’ll see detailed information about individual quilts and those who made them.

Published by the Montana Historical Society Press last year, Border to Border is available in both hard cover and paperback.

Excerpt from the Book

This lovely Goose in the Pond quilt was possibly the oldest one found by the Montana Historic Quilt Project, and it offered a bit
of a mystery to the documenters. The owners knew the quilt had traveled to Montana with Maxine Otis’s parents, who came to homestead near Hobson in 1916;  ther details about the quilt were sparse. Initially this quilt was thought to be made between 1830 and 1850, but these dates conflicted with family tradition that the quilt had been made in 1812. Upon closer inspection, the documenters discovered that the fabric was older than they originally thought, some of it dating to the late 1700s. A second look at the quilt also revealed a date and name buried in the quilting: 1811, Robert McInnis. Soon, additional hints about the quilt popped out of the fabric. An ink inscription appeared stamped in a corner block with the name Sarah H. Jones and the town Erie, Pennsylvania. Robert McInnis’s name was also inked into the quilt elsewhere, although by now the “c” and “I” in his name had started to fade. Whatever the bond Robert McInnis and Sarah Jones shared, the quilt was clearly a treasured possession. As reliable permanent ink was not available until the 1830s, the ink inscription was probably added after the quilt was made to leave a lasting record of those connected to it.

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For more information about Montana quilts, see also the Montana Historic Quilt Project index. According to the site, “The Quilt Index” is a growing research and reference tool designed to provide unprecedented access to information and images about quilts held in private and public hands.”

–Malcolm

New fantasy adventure coming soon

Novel focuses on Saudi oppression of women

While reading Homa Pourasgari’s recent novel, The Dawn of Saudi, I found myself stepping away from the well-plotted story of two women, one from Saudi Arabia and one from the U.S., who marry Saudi men and are trapped inside the barbaric hell of fundamentalist sharia law. I had to step away and remind myself that no, I’m not reading historical fiction, I’m reading a contemporary story.

Anger pulled me away: anger at the oppression of women based on an ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam and outmoded cultural views.

I found myself almost equally angry at the stance of the United States. We condemn human rights abuses around the world, yet we are mostly silent when it comes to those within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I have to agree with Pourasgari that we “remain quiet in the name of oil, greed and politics.” How shameful these reasons are!

The Center for Democracy & Human Rights in Saudi Arabia says that, “as documented by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Freedom House and even the US Department of State, Saudi women are among the most oppressed and marginalized citizens in Arab and Muslim countries.” In an author’s note at the end of her novel, Homa Pourasgari describes the social and legal environment in Saudi Arabia more directly: “Women have no rights and are considered the property of a man.”

Pourasgari’s novel tells a compelling story, but the depressing reality of it is a heavy weight around my neck.
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See my review of the book on Writer’s Notebook.