Russell City Story QUilts

by Marion Coleman

In 2015, master quilt artist Marion Coleman created a series of story quilts dedicated to Russell City. Working with our Archivists, Marion read historic newspaper articles, viewed photographs, listened to oral histories, conducted her own interviews and combined all that information with her personal experiences to craft intricate depictions of the complicated, diverse, and vibrant community of Russell City.

The quilts were originally displayed in the exhibition “Stitching Russell City Stories” here at the Museum of History & Culture. At the close of the exhibit, Marion donated four of the quilts to the Historical Society’s permanent collection and kept the rest to display in other exhibitions.

Marion Coleman passed away in April of this year. She wished for the Russell City quilts to be reunited in our permanent collection and her family made it happen. We are taking this moment to honor Marion’s beautiful work and revisit the story of Russell City.

Special thanks to the Coleman Jongewaard family