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 December Collections Spotlight

This year, the McHenry County Historical Society is celebrating 60 years of collecting, preserving, and sharing its county's history with the public. To commemorate this anniversary, our featured exhibit, “60 Years, 60 Objects: Stories from McHenry County,” highlights sixty artifacts from the historical society’s collection. Object #35 is a Dresden Plate quilt made by Vina Williams Ackman and her daughter Muriel Ackman Johnstone in 1932.

The Dresden Plate was one of the most popular quilt patterns during the 1920s and 1930s. The name for this quilt pattern comes from Dresden, Germany, a center of the 19th-century romanticism movement in art. Products included fine porcelain plates decorated with designs using flowers, fruits, and leaves.

This 1930s quilt version showcases typical floral prints of the period. Some were even made with patterned feed sacks. Several fabrics in this quilt have George Washington's likeness in honor of his 200th birthday in 1932.

Quiltmaker Vina Williams, a daughter of Henry and Carrie Williams, was born in Coral Township, McHenry County on July 5, 1884. Vina married William Ackman in McHenry County in January 1906. He was a farm worker. They had three children: Elmer Williams of Coral, Muriel Johnstone of Marengo, and Irene Patsch of Rochelle. Vina Williams Ackman at one time taught in the rural schools of Coral Township. She died in Belvidere, Illinois in 1967 and is buried in the Harmony Cemetery with her husband.


Muriel Ackman, Vina’s Williams daughter, was born in Coral Township on December 29, 1910. She married Robert Johnstone in McHenry County in early 1929. In 1940, the couple was living in Riley Township, where Robert was a farm laborer. He died on May 31, 1976. Muriel Ackman Johnstone died in 2004 and is buried in the Harmony cemetery with her husband.

Visit the McHenry County Historical Society’s Museum during our December holiday hours to view the Dresden Plate quilt and other 60th anniversary objects on display.

 

 

Made by Vina Williams Ackman and her daughter Muriel Ackman Johnstone 

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