Middlebury resident recalls making 1976 Bicentennial quilt now conserved at Henry Sheldon Museum

Nancy Foster, who helped make a Middlebury Bicentennial quilt in 1976, described the project as a locally organized effort led by members of the Congregational Church and organized by Faith Scholes, a retired teacher known to Foster.

Foster said she and other women each made an individual square at home that was later assembled into the full quilt. "I made a square of a farm because my husband is a dairy farmer...so I made a farm," she said, explaining she chose a traditional red barn so viewers would immediately recognize the subject as agriculture. She emphasized the squares were meant to reflect Addison County and nearby villages rather than national themes.

The project, Foster said, was more community-centered than analytical: makers focused on representing what Middlebury looked like in the mid‑1970s. She recalled local landmarks still visible today — including the Middlebury Inn and a recognizable railroad station — and noted other sites, such as the Dog Team Tavern, that no longer exist.

Asked why the quilt now sits in the Henry Sheldon Museum, Foster said, "One of the reasons it was donated to the museum was just so that it would be here for future generations." She said many makers supplied fabric from household scraps or purchased from local stores; she specifically recalled a Ben Franklin store on Main Street as a common source for fabric at the time.

Foster also reflected on the wider moment: for her generation the mid‑1970s felt like a time of relief after the 1960s and the Vietnam War, and that celebratory mood shaped local Bicentennial activities. She told the student audience she hoped the quilt remain part of local history and that a future quilt might depict different buildings and themes that reflect change over the past 50 years.

The quilt is included in a student‑curated exhibit produced with the Axon Humanities Lab at Middlebury College and on view at the Henry Sheldon Museum.