According to the Wright Museum of World War II's website, that Wolfeboro, New Hampshire museum will feature a special exhibit from August 17 to October 31, 2021 which will include sweetheart pillows from World War II. "Shaped by Conflict: Mementos of the WWII Era" is a much anticipated exhibit that was supposed to have been presented last year but was postponed a year due to the pandemic.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with these once ubiquitous textiles, sweetheart pillows and mother pillows were commercially-produced during World War II and were mostly rayon or acetate, except for those silk-screened pillow covers made during World War I (also featured in my book). I donated the World War I pillow covers to the National World War I Museum & Memorial.
In 2018, I donated all of the pillow covers and other related WWII textiles I had collected to the Wright Museum as the Patricia Cummings/Lyell D. Henry, Ph.D. collection. When I was writing the landmark book Sweetheart & Mother Pillows, published by Schiffer Publishing in 2011, Dr. Henry sent me 103 of the pillow covers he had collected over a 40 year span. To those, I added the many pillow covers I acquired which, in all, amount to a hefty collection! Included is a quilt made of pillow covers; and a silk pilot's map of China, as well as other small assorted items. I enjoyed the two humorous ones I collected the most!
I thoroughly enjoyed the research I did on these textiles and my book is the first and only one so far published on this topic. Included is a chapter about the Civilian Conservation Camps, the C.C.C. Pillow covers were available for the recruits to purchase and send home and I found some dandy ones to show in the book. I have since donated all of those pillow covers to the C.C.C. Legacy Foundation.
Mark your calendars now. You won't want to miss this exhibit, if it is possible for you to attend. The museum closes on October 31 so the display will be up until that date.
