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The exhibit at the Heritage Center Museum in Lancaster features a large private collection of politically themed quilts, textiles and memorabilia.
"The quilts range from a George Washington piece down to examples with Nixon and Clinton, and there are a number of wonderful quilts in between," says Julie Powell, a quilt historian who is guest curator.
One of the earliest exhibits is a quilt for a large bed made from an English copper-plate printed toile with the images of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin that dates to the years after the first president's death in 1799.
Also on view is an early-19th-century French toile fabric, made for the American market, depicting Washington, Adams and Jefferson.
Invoking the Founding Fathers has been standard electioneering procedure virtually since the nation was born. Lincoln printed advertising bandannas with his portrait by Washington's. (Later, candidates began comparing themselves to Lincoln, in hopes that some of his glory would rub off.)
Of course, running for president and winning have always been two different things. Witness the exhibit's fine star quilt with a central portrait of Henry Clay, who ran for the highest office between 1824 and 1844 - an ambition ultimately doomed by the label "Washington insider."
And few people today realize that Grover Cleveland battled Benjamin Harrison in the late 19th century in a win-lose-win sequence. "Patchwork Politics" offers two quilts with their images, dating to 1888-1892, when campaign passions were running high.
One of Powell's favorite quilts is a streak-of-lightning pattern made from campaign ribbons from the contest between James A. Garfield and Winfield Scott Hancock (a Montgomery County native) in 1880. There are almost 1,000 ribbons in that quilt, she says, carefully selected by color to form the contrasting streaks, and stitched together by hand.
Two quilts designed by folk artist Edward Larson focus on recent administrations. One shows 11 former presidents crying over the events that led to Richard Nixon's resignation. Another is simply titled "Clinton Wins."
Political textiles and memorabilia are a popular collecting area - examples can be found at antiques shows and auctions.
"There are many people interested in political quilts or quilts that document a historical event," says Maryland quilt dealer Stella Rubin, who exhibits at the Philadelphia Antiques Show each April. "I've had quilts with the names of political candidates, either a name written in or on a political bandanna or ribbon. I've had several temperance quilts that had messages about the evils of drink."
For price information on political quilts, I consulted Betsey Telford of Rocky Mountain Quilts in York Village, Maine.
"They're very desirable, and they always have been. . . . Any time is a great time to have one - but particularly in an election year," Telford says.
She has examples with ribbons, banners and flags, but her convention-of-the-week offering has four donkeys in blue and brown for $2,900.
"The donkey quilt is folk art - it's a feed-sack political statement," Telford says.
She cautions, however, that prices for political quilts tend to be all over the place: "They can be $1,000; they can be $30,000 or more. It depends on the quilt and what it is. You look at graphics, age, colors, condition."
If you're interested in a broad range of political memorabilia, you can connect with American Political Items Collectors through its Web site, www.apic.us.
With a history stretching back to 1945, APIC held its most recent national convention earlier this month in Las Vegas, but local collectors can attend the regional APIC show Nov. 14-15 at the Sheraton Bucks County Hotel in Langhorne (see the Web site for more details).
If you love quilts in general, combine a trip to the "Patchwork Politics" show with a visit to the Heritage Center's other half, the Lancaster Quilt and Textile Museum, nearby at 37 Market St.
To read more on political textiles, check out the classic reference Threads of History by Smithsonian historian Herbert Ridgeway Collins, available in libraries and through online book-sellers.
"Patchwork Politics: From George to George W." runs through Dec. 31 at the Heritage Center Museum, 5 W. King St., Lancaster. Information: www.heritagecenter-
museum.com or 717-299-6440.
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