MEDIA
“Canada’s Forgotten Quilts” Podcast Episode – January 2022.
“Second World War Red Cross Quilts Have Links to Gananoque” – November 2021.
LINKS
“Quilts from the Second World War tell the stories of the Canadian women who sewed them” – The Conversation Canada
“Canada’s Forgotten Quilts” – Episode #26 on the Podcast ‘Haptic and Hue’
“Let’s Talk About Wartime Quilting” – Interview with Karen Brown on ‘Just Get It Done Quilts’
“Canadian Comfort Quilts” – Article by Sharon MacDonald about Nova Scotian quilt making during WW2
Moose Jaw Red Cross Quilt – Canadian Red Cross quilt made in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan with story on the Canadian Red Cross website
“Comfort from Kindness” – Exhibition Catalogue from the 2016 British quilt exhibit ‘Comfort from Kindness
“Volunteering in the First and Second World War” – Article by Dr. Sarah Glassford on the website ‘Wartime Canada’
“The Art of Quilting” – Article by Sandi Wingrove – 2017 – on the web blog ‘Ornamentum’
Brackley Beach, PEI – Minutes of the Red Cross Society
Stitch in Time – A Timeless Story of Remembrance – Article by Sandra Lindsay – 2018 – from the ‘Saugeen Times’ Ontario newspaper
Monarch Handknits for Men and Women in Service 1941 – see page 24-27 for lists of hundreds of groups who were making ‘comforts’ on the Home Front
FILMS
NFB film – “To the Ladies”
NFB film – “Home Front”
Red Cross Film – “There Too Go I”
CANADIAN WWII WARTIME QUILTS IN PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
In Britain:
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
Bromley Museum
Imperial War Museum
Norwich Castle Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
In Australia:
In Canada: Because of the generosity of the CRCQ Research Group in Britain, in 2023 sixty-four surviving quilts were repatriated to Canada and are now located in the following public collections. There are now at least seventy-two of these quilts in our public collections. We expect, over time, that more surviving quilts may surface in Britain, that will be offered back to Canada. If you know of an institution that would be interested in repatriating a quilt in the future, please ask them to contact me to be placed on a waiting list for a Canadian wartime quilt to be acquired for their public collection.
Alberta: Calgary Military Museum, Grande Prairie Museum, Loyal Regiment Museum, Peace River Museum, Royal Alberta Museum
British Columbia: Campbell River Museum, Chemainus Valley Museum, Museum of Surrey, Vancouver Island Military Museum, Victoria Red Cross Museum
Manitoba: Brandon Museum, C2 Centre for Craft, Manitoba Museum, Musee de Saint Boniface Museum
New Brunswick: Canadian Military Engineers Museum, New Brunswick Museum
Newfoundland: Royal Newfoundland Regiment Museum
Nova Scotia: Nova Scotia Museum
Ontario: 1000 Islands, History Museum, Canadian Military Heritage Museum, Grey Roots Museum and Archives, Huron County Museum, Mississippi Valley Textile Museum, MLCRC at Toronto Metropolitan University, Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery, Royal Ontario Museum, Stratford Museum, St. Joseph’s Island Museum, Waterloo Museum
Quebec: Canadian History Museum
Prince Edward Island: Prince Edward Island Museum
Saskatchewan: Fred Light Museum, Lloydminster Museum, Moose Jaw Museum, Prince Albert Museum, Tisdale Museum, Western Development Museum
BOOKS
300 Years of Canada’s Quilts. Mary Conroy, 1976
Alberta Quilt Makers and Their Quilts. Lucie Heins, 2021
Old Nova Scotian Quilts. Scott Robson and Sharon MacDonald, 1995
Ontario’s Heritage Quilts. Marilyn Walker, 1992
Passing on the Comfort: The War, The Quilts, and the Women who Made a Difference. An Keuning-Tichelaar, 2005
Quilts of Prince Edward Island. Sherrie Davidson, 2010
Rilla of Ingleside, Lucy Maud Montgomery, 1921
Threads of Life. Clare Hunter, 2019
WWII Quilts. Sue Reich, 2010
Wartime Quilts. Annette Gero, 2015
Sincere thanks to the members of the Canadian Red Cross Quilt (CRCQ) Research Group in Britain, and to Jo Andrews, creator and host of the podcast ‘Haptic and Hue’, along with a number of British museums, all who continue to ‘rescue’ quilts as they are found. We value their initiative in collecting these quilts and their ongoing enthusiasm championing the cause of continued research in support of ensuring that this story continues to be told. In 2023, sixty-four surviving quilts were repatriated to Canada through the generosity of the CRCQ Research Group and are now located in public collections across Canada. Watch this page for updates on locations of these very unique artifacts that relay the story of the voluntary work done by Canadian women on the home front in the Second World War.