Iowa Heritage Illustrated

Harker, Michael P

Schools Left Behind

Kelly's Army Crosses Iowa

March Mud: 1859 Reflections on Surviving  Till Spring

Jellinger, Susan

The Big Read Crosses Iowa

Swaim, Ginalie

George Washington Carver: A Life Wrapped Up in Flowers

Such Orderly, Good People: Behind the Scenes in the Hoover White House

Balducchi, David E

English

Tall Stalks and Plain Talk: Truman's 1948 Whistle-Stop Campaign in Iowa

T
“ Patterns for Learn ing fea tu ring  the collections o f  quilt historian 
M ary Barton, is on exhibit at the State Historical Society o f  Iowa 
through October 19,2008.
0
Patterns for Learning
❖ The Mary Barton Quilt Collection ❖
Between 1987 and 2001, Mary Barton of 
Ames, Iowa, donated more than 1,500 items 
to the State Historical Society of Iowa. Most 
of these items related to her work as an ama­
teur historian documenting the life and times 
of 19th-century and early 20th-century quilt­
ing women.
Now, a new museum exhibit,“Patterns for 
Learning,” features Mary Barton’s quilt sam­
ple notebooks, fashion print collection, cata­
logs, a large number of her quilt study panels 
(see /eft), items from her clothing collection, 
and, of course, quilts.
A special feature will be the Mary Bar­
ton Heritage Quilt, which was voted one of 
the 20th century’s Best American Quilts and 
exhibited at the 1999 International Quilting 
Show.
As a whole, the Mary Barton Quilt Col­
lection presents a microcosm of quilting his­
tory. Beginning with the oldest quilt in the 
collection, a LeMoyne Star (circa 1940), and 
continuing through a plethora of quilting pe­
riodicals, one can see how quilting fell in and 
out of favor, changing back and forth from a 
necessary skill to a leisure activity in accor­
dance with the times.
In addition to quilts, Barton assembled a 
world-class collection of materials and doc­
umentation that today helps us understand 
the quilting woman— what she read, what 
she wore, her choices in fabrics and patterns, 
the demands on her time, and how those 
demands changed with improvements in her 
way of life. ❖
186 Iowa Heritage Illustrated
9
Winter 2007 187
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Patterns for Learning: The Mary Barton Quilt Collection

Dykstra, Robert R

Capitol Colors

Ulan, Vivian

B asketball G ri
Until she was 13, Vivian Imogene Mor­
gan lived in Clarence, Iowa. The daugh­
ter of a school superintendent, James H. 
Morgan, she climbed trees, hunted rab­
bits, and skinned snakes. Her family's 
move to Sigourney when she was 13 co­
incided with the end of her tree-climbing 
days, and, as her daughter remembers 
Vivian recounting, "I tried my best to 
follow my sisters and be totally female. It 
was hard until basketball arrived. It was 
my salvation. We played to win. No one 
ever preached to us about good sports­
manship. We played with all our hearts, 
always with a regard to the rules so we 
wouldn't foul out."
In 1967, Vivian's daughter, Mrs. 
B. J. Wilson (of Riceville, Iowa), decided 
to write down her mother's description of 
groiving up -  from climbing trees to dating 
boys to playing basketball. Wilson wrote in 
first person, as if her mother were speak­
ing. She sent the manuscript to the State 
Historical Society of law a (Iozva City) in 
1967. Excerpted here are Vivian's memo­
ries of basketball. -  The Editor
I
 was a basketball girl myself. . . .  I 
played center in my senior year 
of 1907-1908 [at Sigourney]. . . . 
Our team was started because our 
high school superintendent was 
also the coach of the boys' first 
football teams and being athletic- 
minded, when two lady teachers 
[Lillian and Ethel Cunningham of 
Malvern, Iowa], who had played 
basketball in college, wanted to or-
by Vivian (Morgan) Ulan
ganize a girls' basketball team he 
gave permission. Volunteers were 
asked for. I loved any activity of that 
kind and properly volunteered.
There was a loud outcry from 
many mothers. It would keep their 
daughters from bearing children 
or it would do so much harm that 
if they were fortunate in bearing a 
child they would never be able to 
nurse it. ...
Uniforms were carefully con­
sidered by not only the teachers 
but the school board itself. Skirts 
[rather than] bloomers were dis­
carded because the school board 
felt if we were ever in a position 
where the skirt might flop over 
our heads, that it would not only 
be embarrassing but most immod­
est. Uniforms were chosen of a 
heavy, light, gray cravanette with a 
darker gray stripe in it. They were 
one-piece suits. The top had elbow 
sleeves and a sailor collar. A black 
silk tie went under the collar and 
tied in a bow held in place by a 
loop at the front where the end of 
the collar sides met. Our bloomers 
were very full so as to not reveal 
the female form. They came below 
the knee where they were held taut 
by rubber bands. We wore heavy, 
black, cotton ribbed hose that came 
above the knee so that no space 
showed any bare skin. We wore 
black, high-laced tennis shoes. 
Underneath our suits we wore 
long cotton vests. What decent girl 
was ever without one? Some were
heavily embroidered at the top. We 
wore a garter belt to hold up our 
long hose. Thank goodness the 
years of the long, beruffled, white 
pantaloons were over so our pant­
ies were short —coming only to our 
knees and each pant leg was ended 
usuallv with a number of rows of
J
tucks edged with embroidered ruf­
fles or heavy lace.
We had no gym so ourgames were played out­doors on grass each fall 
and spring. I never will forget the 
disappointed look on the boys' 
faces when we walked on the 
courts garbed as we were. Every 
boy or young man in the vicinity 
was seated on the grass in a circle 
around the court. One boy in my 
class aroused my anger by gazing 
at us in wide-mouthed amaze­
ment. At the time I thought since 
we wore our dresses to cover our 
shoe tops that he was surprised 
to know that girls had legs —and 
what legs we must have displayed 
with those awful hose on. As I look 
on the girls who play today with 
their freedom from extra clothing I 
often wonder how we ever played 
as we were garbed without being 
overcome with the heat. Because 
we played just as hard as the girls 
of today... .
Way back in the early 1900s 
basketball was played in many
84 Iowa Heritage Illustrated
BO TH  P H O T O S . S H SI (IOW A CiTY)
communities over the state. Our 
group of girls all married and 
nursed their babies in spite of the 
dire prophecies of the few alarmed 
mothers. We rode in hacks to neigh­
boring teams or went by train to 
play other schools.
It's a real treat for even my 
tired old eyes to watch the basket­
ball girls of today.
T
he following are high school 
yells we gave. The seniors were 
bitter enemies of the juniors 
in Sigourney High in those early 
days. The seniors took the fresh­
men under their wings, and the 
sophomores and juniors sided to­
gether. There were really battles 
between those classes. Each class 
had its own pennant and they vied 
with each to place either junior 
or senior pennants on the highest 
building in town.
Hiro biro diro dum 
Ruma stick a 
Bum a diddle 
Fee fo fum 
Rip rap flip flap 
Zip zip zeven 
We're the class of 1907.
Juniors, Sophomores 
O! What lubbers 
O! Slush! Get your rubbers 
O! Scissors! Cut it out 
O! Joy! Hear us shout.
T h e  S ig o u r n e y  H ig h  S c h o o l ta k e s  o n  S o u th  E n g lis h , in  s o u t h e a s t e r n  Io w a ,  1 9 0 7
-7 " 7  * *
Ring-a-rung-a! 
Ring-a-rung-a! 
Ring-a-rang-a-ris 
Sigourney, Sigourney 
1906.
Hippity, hippity, huss 
We're not allowed to cuss 
But never the less 
We will say this 
There's nothing 
The matter with us.
Hulla balloo 
Balia Balli
Basket Ball-o my oh my 
Record breakers 
Sakes alive
Sigourney High School 
Still we thrive.
Oh, thee thy thou 
Ali ca ze ca zi ca zou 
Sigourney High School 
Wow wow wow.
Summer 2007 85


Basketball Girl

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