Wauwatosa Historical Society

Sarah Clapp Quilt

The Sarah Clapp quilt is a Victorian Crazy quilt that the historical society is hoping to preserve and research. The quilt is silk and velvet, with hand embroidery and some painted designs.

The quilt was made for Sarah Boardman Clapp for her "life in China". Sarah went to China as a missionary in 1879, at age 24. Sarah was the daughter of the prominent pastor of the First Congregational Church in Wauwatosa, WI. Rev. Luther Clapp and his wife Harriett. Luther and Harriett arrived in Wauwatosa from Massachusets, in 1845. Sarah was born in 1855, the fifth of the six Clapp children.

In China in 1880, Sarah married another missonary, Rev. Chauncey Goodrich. Sarah founded a school which was named in her honor, the "Goodrich School for Girls", in Tungchou, China. Except for visits home, Sarah remained in China until her death n 1923.

The Sarah Clapp crazy quilt is composed of 36 ten inch blocks, each displaying differnet levels of urgency for preservation. Problems include shattering silks, broken warp threads, loosening and missing embroidery stitches. We are currently undergoing procedures to help maintain and preserve the quilt. The restoration project entails methods to both strengthen the fragile quilt for handling and display and to improve the quilt's overall appearance by the containment of shattering silk with creppeline, and the careful stabilization and repairing of warp strands and weak fabric with hand stitching/stabilization techniques.

The quilt was given to the Wauwatosa Historical Society in 1985 by Sarah's son Luther Carrington Goodrich, then Professor Emeritus of Chinese Studies at Columbia University. The quilt is stored in the collections area of the Wauwatosa Historical Society.

We are currently looking for volunteers who are willing to assist with research of the quilt as well as experienced sewers who would be willing to be trained in the preservation, hand stitching and stabilization techniques.

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