Museum of Rexburg, World’s Fair Tapestry
Rexburg, Madison County
- Grants: 2019 – Restitched places and re-hung in accordance to conservation standards.
Location: 51 N. Center Street, Rexburg, ID
Alongside many other interesting artifacts, the Museum of Rexburg is home to a truly unique piece of needlework, the immense tapestry named “Desire”. The work is over ten feet tall and eight feet wide and features 108 different shades of silk thread adorning a royal purple satin background. The central globe is surrounded in a heart-shape by the merchant flags of the 53 independent nations at the time of its conception in 1913. The flags are wreathed in a garland of golden poppies, also heart-shaped, all of which is encased in a massive six-pointed star, representing the six senses. Beyond the star are the sun, moon, planets, and other symbolic flourishes. The tapestry was made by Jennie Elizabeth Lewis Stevens of Silver City, Idaho over the course of two years with information provided to her by then Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Idaho’s senators, and the final product was displayed at the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exhibition in California, where it received a gold medal.
