From a press release:The Trail End State Historic Site is proud to present "Sheridan: Then and Now," a storytelling project in fabric, completed earlier this year by eighth grade students at the Sheridan Junior High School. Masterminded by SJHS history teacher David Peterson, the project brings together the past and present through the traditional American folk art of quilting.
On exhibit through the rest of the summer, the "Then and Now" quilt incorporates historic and recreated photos, printed on fabric, and stitched together to show how the buildings and landscapes of Sheridan have changed over the years. According to Peterson, the class tried to recreate the historic photographs, some dating from the late 1800s, as accurately as possible. For example, if the students chose to recreate a photo that was taken of five people in front of a certain building, the students would get five people to stand in the same positions in front of the very same building. The original and recreated photos were then printed side by side onto special photosensitive fabric, then sewed together in to a quilt block by the students. Peterson himself then sewed the blocks into one very large quilt.
The quilt consists of 41 then-and-now quilt blocks featuring dozens of junior high school students. Locations range from Trail End to the Courthouse, Main Street to the City Park. Where locations were unidentifiable in the original photo, students used their imaginations to recreate the settings.
The essays students wrote about their experiences working on the project are on display alongside the quilt, accompanied by a log on which visitors can record their reactions. Since the quilt was hung in early June, reaction has been uniformly positive. One visitor, Jane Johnson of Tampa, Florida, noted: "As a professor of English, I can say that this is an excellent project. It is apparent that the students learned from the project. Congratulations on a good job!" Several visitors wrote that they were going to take the idea back home and suggest it to their own schools.
Following its summer on public display in the Trail End ballroom, the quilt will find a permanent home in the halls of Sheridan Junior High School. The quilt can be seen daily from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., seven days a week. Trail End is located at 400 Clarendon Avenue in Sheridan, just two blocks south of the junior high. FMI: 307-674-4589.
