The Underground Railroad Quilt Display Feb. 1 to March 3. This is free and open to the public. An authentic Underground Railroad Quilt and several modern recreations of Freedom Quilts, a table topper, and doll quilts will be on display.

Panels will explain how quilts were displayed, the interpretations of their hidden codes, and show the abolitionist conductors who helped enslaved people escape to freedom on that unseen, underground railroad.

Reproduction period cloth and clothing, patents of sewing tools, a reproduction Godey's sewing basket, original Godey's fashion plates, a Wilcox & Gibbs chain stitch sewing machine, and knitted wrist and knee warmers will be on view.

Stitch at Crisp: Freedom Quilt Blocks will occur 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Feb. 2, 9, 16, and 23. This is free for all ages. Preregistration is required by Feb. 1 at 4 p.m. Sign up online: semo.edu/museum and click "Enroll in Class" or call (573) 651-2260.

Each Friday in February, supplies and instructions to piece various freedom quilt blocks will be available to hand stitch with fabric or assemble with paper.

Story Time: Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt will be held at 9 a.m. on Feb. 9. This is free for all ages. The book will be read aloud.

Clara, a slave and seamstress on Home Plantation, knows that the Underground Railroad can lead her to freedom. By piecing together scraps of cloth with scraps of information gathered from the other slaves, she fashions a secret map that even the master won't suspect.

A book corner has also been supplied with additional stories to introduce children to the underground railroad, chapter books tell of slave narratives and bondage, reference books about dating period fabics, and a quilt pattern book of the civil war era has stories of unsung heroines as seamstresses, soldiers, and spies.

"Slavery and the Underground Railroad on the Missouri-Illinois Border," a Presentation by Dr. Patrick Hotle, takes place at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 23 at Crisp Museum. This talk is free.

Hotle’s presentation will explore the impact of abolitionism on both sides of the border especially during the years 1831 to 1844 when Marion College in Missouri and the Mission Institute in Quincy, Illinois were most active. Hotle is a Professor at Culver Stockton College at Canton, Missouri.

Any questions, email museum@semo.edu or call (573) 651-2260. Crisp Museum is located at 518 S. Fountain St., Cape Girardeau, Missouri inside the Cultural Arts Center at Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus.