Symposium explores WWI through antique textiles

HARRISONBURG, Va. — Over the course of three days in July, antique textiles will take center stage in Virginia. The Virginia Quilt Museum is at the helm of this unique review of the First World War. The 2017 Symposium "Friction, Fray, and Fabric: Textiles in the First World War" is scheduled for July 27-29.

Participants will have the opportunity to gain multiple perspectives of the (first) Great War. Visits Thursday and Friday to Dynamic Aviation in Bridgewater, the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum in Staunton, and the Crossroads Valley Brethren-Mennonite Heritage Center in Harrisonburg will set the stage for both the friction and the fray, through the lens of a soldier, a president, and a pacifist. Then on Saturday, textiles will take center stage with a view through the lens of its war-affected manufacture and needful purposes.

The featured speakers during the symposium include:
• Kim McCray, VQM director, speaking about Dwight Eisenhower - his WWI service and Valley ties.
• Madelyn Shaw, curator of textiles at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, presenting "Shortages and Substitutes: American Textiles and the Great War".
• Neva Hart, quilt historian, with the presentation "A Red Cross Quilt from Sugar Grove".
• Jackie Pamenter, of the Greene County, Virginia Historical Society, discussing Green County Red Cross quilts.
• Keynote Speaker: Sue Reich, presenting "World War I Quilts".

For more information visit www.vaquiltmuseum.com, email vqmevents@gmail.com or call 540-433-3818.