About this Digital Exhibit

This digital exhibit was made to illuminate the story behind Crazy Quilt, a large pictorial quilt attributed to Celestine Bacheller housed in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Celestine was the oldest of eight children, born in Lynn, Massachusetts c. 1839 to Alfred and Hannah Bacheller. After Alfred died in 1863 while fighting in the Civil War, Celestine, her mother, and her two sisters were forced to move to Boston to find work and fend for themselves. Crazy Quilt was made while Celestine worked as a seamstress in the city; it depicts scenes of pre-war Lynn when she lived there as a child. The quilt functioned as both a physical and emotional source of comfort for Celestine and her family.