MACHIAS — A new exhibit at the Cattaraugus County Museum will provide visitors with clues to their past and remind them of their heritage through a showcase of vintage quilts.

Titled “Cattaraugus Patchwork: A Display of Quilts,” the exhibit features a number of quilts of several styles handmade or collected by Cattaraugus County citizens dating back to the 1860s.

Curator Brian McClellan said the exhibit opened mid-December and will run through mid-June. He said the museum has a significant textile collection that includes clothing, quilts and other artifacts.

“I change the exhibits every six months or so,” he said. “In past years, I’ve tried to alternate our textile collections with the others to feature them in at least one annual exhibit.”

This year, McClellan decided to showcase the quilt collection that includes Crazy Quilts, Signature Quilts, appliquéd quilts and primitive pieced quilts commonly referred to as patchwork quilts.

“Personally, I have a little bit of interest in quilting because my mother is into it,” he said. “She came down (to the museum) to look some of the quilts over and to help me name the patterns. She explained all the intricacies of the ones that are hand-quilted and how much work went into them.”

McClellan said, with the exception of one quilt, all are part of the museum’s collection. On loan is a quilt referred to as the “Millennial Quilt” that was made in 2000. Volunteer Bill Watkins purchased the Amish-made quilt for his wife years ago and recently brought it in for public display.

Although he does not have confirmed dates of creation for all of the quilts, most are very old. One of the quilts is a very rustic, simple four-square pattern made from corduroy, flannel and wool patches. It appears to have been made from scraps and whatever was available.

According to McClellan, the oldest quilt in the exhibit has a verified date of being made in 1865. Another vintage quilt and one of his favorites has a rosette-type design and dates back to about 1880. He said the “Starburst” with appliqué quilt was made by Amanda Rowley of Ravenwood, W. Va., for her daughter Nancy when she married Adelbert D. Gorsline, circa 1880.

Information provided about the exhibit states that the blocks for the “8 Point Star” quilt on display were worked by Mabel Case Alvers then quilted by Sophie and Maria Case in the early 19th Century.

Also on display are some samples of crazy quilts. According to the museum signage, crazy quilts became popular in the late 1800s, likely due to the English embroidery and Japanese art that was displayed at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.

The signage says the term “crazy quilting” is often used to refer to the textile art of crazy patchwork and does not actually refer to a specific kind of quilting, but a specific kind of patchwork lacking repeating motifs and with the seams and patches heavily embellished. A Crazy Quilt rarely has the internal layer of batting that is part of what defines quilting as a textile technique.

“The research I did indicated there was an entire industry devoted to helping people make Crazy Quilts where they could buy snatches of silk, velvet and other brightly colored materials,” McClellan said. “In the case of the two Crazy Quilts on display, the makers incorporated ribbons from Salamanca, Brocton and Rochester.”

Another display case features an Autograph Quilt and a Signature Quilt, which McClellan said were once a trend and a popular way of raising money. Instead of having the donor’s name engraved on a brick, it was embroidered on a quilt. This example can be seen on the Autograph Quilt at the top of the display that was made by the Ladies Aid Society of Conewango in 1899. He said the Signature Quilt on the bottom was given to Rev. C.R. Bartholomew, pastor of the Randolph Congregational Church, as a gift from his parishioners in 1912.

McClellan said he expects to have a summer exhibit featuring lithographs of the Cattaraugus County Fair in July. The Randolph Mammoth will remain on exhibit until at least July.

The Cattaraugus County Museum is located in the Stone House, 9824 Route 16, in Machias. Admission is free and donations are welcome. Hours are Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the third Saturday of each month, May through October, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more details, call 353-8200.