Kansas Master Folk Artist Helen M. Ericson will be featured in a show of family and historic quilts April 7 - 6 at Hollenberg Station State Historic Site in Hanover. Quilts on exhibit in the show span 1831 - 1920.

Ericson, a 1984 Kansas Master Folk Artist, lives in Emporia. She will share a number of quilt blocks, including some from her family. These blocks trace the development of patterns and tell the history and migration of settlers to Kansas. Ericson’s wall quilt, "Emigrants Crossing the Plains," which received fourth place in the Oregon Trail 150th Anniversary Quilt Contest in 1993, will be on display. She has been quilting and collecting for 35 years, making more than 300 quilts. Ericson has worked with many apprentices, demonstrated at folk-life festivals, and has an extensive collection of quilt patterns and other memorabilia.

Visitors will have the opportunity to stitch on the "Jacob’s Ladder/Road to California" quilt made by members of the KANZA chapter of the Oregon-California Trail Association. The quilt will be used as a fundraiser for the 2003 Oregon-California Trail Association convention. Other highlights include small samples of nine block made in 1997 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Amelia Earhart’s birth.

The quilt show is open to the public, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Saturday, April 6, and 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. Sunday, April 7, in the Hollenberg Station visitor center. A contribution of $2 adults, $1 children is suggested.

Hollenberg Station State Historic Site is located four miles north of junction U.S. 36 and K-248; one mile east on K-243, at 2889 23rd Road, Hanover KS 66945-9634; 785-337-2635. The site is open 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Wednesday - Saturday, 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. Sunday. Hollenberg Station is administered by the Kansas State Historical Society. Visit the KSHS on the web at www.kshs.org.