The Log Cabin quilt tradition dates from Abraham Lincoln's 1860 "log cabin" campaign. Log Cabin quilts introduced a new technique known as foundation piecing, in which individual pieces of fabric—the logs of the cabin—are stitched to an underlying foundation fabric as well as to each other. In the most basic pattern, the logs are laid around a central block that symbolizes the hearth of the fireplace in the cabin. Many Log Cabin variations are possible and rely upon the strategic placement of light and dark fabrics to create different effects.

This quilt is constructed in a Barn Raising pattern in which light and dark fabrics are arranged to form concentric diamonds. It was made by Mary Jane Smith, who was born in Clintonville (now Whitestone), Queens County, New York. Mary Jane was the daughter of John Smith, a prosperous farmer, and Mary Morrell Smith, who helped her daughter make the quilt. It was part of Mary Jane Smith's trousseau, made in anticipation of her marriage to Ephraim Gladfelter, a young man from Philadelphia who had served in the Union Army throughout the Civil War and whom Mary Jane met at Fort Totten, in New York, during the war. The day before the wedding, Mary Jane and her mother met Gladfelter at his Manhattan hotel and then journeyed back to Queens. Shortly after their return home, however, a messenger arrived to inform them that Gladfelter had died of pneumonia. Three years later, Mary Jane also died, unmarried, and the quilt—like the rest of her trousseau—was never used. This is the earliest Log Cabin quilt in the museum's collection. Made mostly of cotton and wool with some silk pieces, it was probably intended as a functional bedcover.

Stacy C. Hollander, "Log Cabin Quilt: Barn Raising Variation," in American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 345.