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Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Sunbonnet Sue Quilt
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.

Sunbonnet Sue Quilt

Object numberMO 2024.6
Name Quilt
Maker (American, 1926 - 2019)
Date1937
Mediumfabric (cotton), thread, yarn
Dimensionsoverall (uneven edges) H 82 in x W 59 1/4 in (208.3 cm x 150.5 cm )
DescriptionA pieced, appliquéd, and embroidered cotton quilt featuring a profile of the character "Sunbonnet Sue,” a young girl wearing a dress and bonnet. The quilt is divided into 70 blocks, each featuring Sunbonnet Sue holding onto two balloons by embroidered strings. Each block uses different scraps of fabric for the bonnet, dress, and balloons. Also within each block is an original signature of one of the maker’s family members, friends, teachers, and others over which a running stitch has been sewn to preserve the signatures. The quilt includes two blocks with the original signatures of Eleanor Roosevelt and her daughter, Anna Roosevelt Boettiger, both dated May 5, 1937.

The edges of the quilt are bordered with a flowered fabric that also forms the reverse side of the quilt.
Label Text11-year-old Mary Kathleen (aka MaryKathleen) Carden of Georgetown, Washington State made this Sunbonnet Sue quilt in 1937. While working on the quilt, Mary Kathleen heard that First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her daughter, Anna, would be staying at a hotel in Seattle. Mary Kathleen and her mother took a bus to downtown Seattle and left two quilt blocks, along with a self-addressed stamped envelope, at the hotel with the hope that the two Roosevelts would sign the blocks and mail them back – which they did. These two signature blocks show up on the fourth row of the quilt.

The quilt also includes the signature of Mary Kathleen's brother, Jim Carden, who went on to serve during World War II as a navigator on a B-17 Flying Fortress as part of the 100th Bomb Group/418th Bomb Squadron. He was shot down over Berlin, Germany on March 18, 1945 and was a prisoner of war until May 1945 when he was released.
Additional Details
Custodial History NoteDonated to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum by Barbara Kellogg Coulson in 2024.
Credit LineGift of the Kellogg family in memory of MaryKathleen Carden Kellogg
National Archives Catalog CollectionFranklin D. Roosevelt Library Museum Collection (National Archives Identifier 735948)
National Archives Catalog SeriesGift Items and Commemorative Artifacts (National Archives Identifier 782690)
Use Restriction StatusUnrestrictedCopyrightReproduction or other use of these holdings or images thereof is unrestricted.
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