wfn.org | Newsline: Quilts bring to life memories of women's work in China

[CoBNews <CoBNews@brethren.org>]

Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service, News Director Cheryl Brumbau gh-Cayford, 800-323-8039 ext. 260, cobnews@brethren.org

QUILTS BRING TO LIFE MEMORIES OF WOMEN'S WORK IN CHINA

(Dec. 18, 2009) Elgin, IL -- "Archival research and collective memories fro m close at hand and afar are bringing an intriguing story to life--a kind o f SERRV project a decade or two ahead of SERRV, a hunger action program 50  years ahead of the Global Food Crisis Fund," reports Howard Royer.

Earlier this fall Royer--who manages the Church of the Brethren's Global Fo od Crisis Fund--was loaned two unique quilt pieces by Marjorie Morse Kauffm an of Lancaster, Pa.: a bed quilt and a quilted runner. The quilts were mad e of white cloth, appliqued with blue fabric in a floral pattern.

All that Kauffman knew about them were that the tops had been sewn together  and appliqued by women in China as part of the former Brethren mission pro gram there, prior to World War II. The quilt tops were then made available  to churches in the US. Kauffman had found the two quilt tops in a trunk of  things owned by her grandmother, and had the pieces quilted in Elgin, Ill.

Royer asked Ken Shaffer, director of the Brethren Historical Library and Ar chives, and his assistant Denise Kettering to find out more about the origi n of the quilts.

"Denise and I have spent a couple blocks of time this week looking for docu mentation of teaching embroidery/sewing/etc. in China," Shaffer reported ba ck by e-mail. "We found this sentence in a June 1931 report written by Emma  Horning: 'Sis. Bright continues to conduct the beautiful sewing of women o f Ping Ting, the returns of which support a number of budgets on the field. ' Also we found a photo labeled 'Mrs. Bright and Chinese helper planning ne edle work.'"

The same picture appeared in an old issue of the denominational magazine, a ccompanying a story titled "The Hungry Are Fed" by Minnie Bright. Mentioned  in the story was a "Woman's Industrial." A sentence read, "From among the  60 women who are at present doing needlework to support themselves, about 2 5 have been brought to new life through this means."

Shaffer continued: "In an issue of 'The Star of Cathay' (no date but about  1934 or 1935) we found this statement: 'The industrial needlework in Ping T ing is making it possible for more then [sic] 60 women to provide food for  more than 200 mouths. All these women are given class work in reading, hygi ene, maternity welfare, and Gospel teaching.'"

Royer found out more after sharing the story of the quilts with Joe Wampler  of Santa Cruz, Calif., who grew up in China, the son of missionaries Ernes t and Elizabeth Wampler. He pursued the topic with heirs of former China mi ssionaries and reported that embroidery work "was encouraged by many missio nary denominations as a way for widows to earn a living in feudal China. In  the old days, if a woman's husband died the widow was practically without  resources.
So the mission women would set up a cottage industry for these women and th en promote their handcrafts in the big cities and also in America.

"In the Church of the Brethren mission the center for embroidery was in Pin g Ting and was run by Minnie Bright," Wampler continued. "Homer and Minnie  Bright were in China from Sept. 1911 until Feb. 1938.... Marie Oberholtzer  remembers it as a major cottage industry run by Minnie in the 1930s. She sa id that the Chinese women usually embroidered onto linen and made table clo ths, bed covers, etc."

The quilt pieces have been displayed at the Church of the Brethren General  Offices and at Highland Avenue Church of the Brethren in Elgin, Ill. The ch urch's Global Mission Partnerships hopes to display the quilt pieces at the  Church of the Brethren Annual Conference in Pittsburgh next July.

An online photo album offers several pictures of the quilts, go to www.bret hren.org/site/PhotoAlbumUser?view=UserAlbum&AlbumID=9907. Those with mo re information about the women's handcraft ministries that were part of the  Church of the Brethren's China mission are invited to contact Royer at hro yer@brethren.org or Shaffer at kshaffer@brethren.org.

The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to continu ing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its faith in  community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith t raditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrated it s 300th anniversary in 2008. It counts some 125,000 members across the Unit ed States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Nigeria,  Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and India.

># # #

>For more information contact:

>Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
>Director of News Services
>Church of the Brethren
>1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120
>800-323-8039 ext. 260
>cobnews@brethren.org