A new exhibit shows historic quilts have stories to tell. (Hint: Go, Quakers. Go, Phillies)

Old quilts tell old tales. Names scribbled on fabric blocks, stories left behind by the signers, and a bona fide sleuth to bring it all to light:

A Quaker woman who voted before women lost the right to vote in New Jersey in 1807.

A Moorestown Friend who chronicled the hanging of abolitionist John Brown and a 1861 ferry disaster on the Delaware River.

And let’s not forget the Philadelphia Phillie who pitched a perfect game on Father’s Day 1964.

All this and more are part of a new exhibit opening Friday evening at the Historical Society of Moorestown.

Titled “Inscribed Quilts: A Portal to Moorestown History,” the show goes beyond the beautiful craftsmanship of several mid-1800s quilts (and some newer ones) to unearth the bustling life buried in the fabric and the many stories behind the names inscribed on stitched squares.

“One signature opens the door into history,” said Linda Vizi, vice president of the Moorestown society and curator of the exhibit.

As the person in charge of the society’s textile collection, Vizi was well-acquainted with the inscribed quilts in their possession. But in addition to putting the lovely creations made for weddings and other life events on display, she was curious about the many people who signed the blocks of each quilt.

Who were they? Why did they sign the quilt? What were their lives like?

Vizi is uniquely qualified to search for the answers. Now retired, she was a career FBI agent who worked on cases involving Russian organized crime and art theft, as well as foreign counterintelligence. For several years, she was the public face of the bureau’s Philadelphia Division, acting as spokesperson on major local cases and others like the anthrax scare and the crash of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pa., on Sept. 11, 2001.

The FBI agent is a quilter, too. Over the years, she’d gotten some of her sisters-in-arms into the hobby.

Some 28 years ago, Vizi and some of her fellow female agents had just finished firearms practice and gone out to their cars. Vizi, who had been quilting with an FBI colleague and women from Trinity Presbyterian Church in Cherry Hill, showed them a project she was working on that she had in the trunk of her car. So did another.

“One girl said, ‘We need to be the Needle and Gun Club,’ the tools of trade,” Vizi recalled.

Twenty-eight years later, the club is still going strong, now a mix of agents and women from other professions, and members from Trinity. They’ve never had a man join, but Vizi said they’d welcome one. Before the quilting, some of the female agents enjoyed the camaraderie of doing needlework. One male agent went for that.

“We had one guy, he was on the SWAT team. We taught him how to cross-stitch,” Vizi said.

Through the years, the Needle and Gun Club club made lots of quilts for FBI babies, as well as law enforcement officers around the country injured in the line of duty.

Putting together the historical society’s quilting exhibit called for full use of Vizi’s skill sets.

“I have all kinds of stories — great stories,” she said.

When Vizi set out to research the people who signed the 19th-century quilts, she found many answers at Swarthmore College’s library and the digital collections of Bryn Mawr and Haverford colleges, which have records such as letters written by Quakers who had lived in the South Jersey area.

A wedding quilt of a Moorestown couple married on May 25, 1843, had about 100 signatures on it of family members and friends. Vizi has unearthed detailed information about many of those people. The exhibit will include reproductions of letters Vizi found as well as artifacts like an old family Bible, wedding dresses, and more.

“The cool thing about Quakers is they saved everything,” Vizi said. “We have glimpses into history that are just amazing because they were such prolific writers — and hoarders.”

During her research, Vizi unearthed a tale of kidnap during the Civil War; the story of local Quakers who bought land from George Washington’s granddaughter and went to the South to prove that successful farming didn’t require enslaved people; the mystery of a local woman born at sea and named Atlantic by the ship captain who, years later, gave her a very expensive frock; and an account of what may be the first hot-balloon flight — witnessed by Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams — that took off in 1793 in Philly and landed several hours later in Woodbury.

The exhibit’s newer signed quilts will tell tales, too. One is a retirement quilt made for an FBI colleague. Another is an inscribed quilt made by a Needle and Gun Club member while she was quarantined on a ship in the early days of the coronavirus epidemic.

And then there is Vizi’s Phillies quilt.

Over the years, she made quilts which the Phillies signed and the team auctioned for their ALS charity. As Vizi collected signatures for that, she got signed blocks for herself — about 19 in all, including Tug McGraw, Robin Roberts, perfect game pitcher and former U.S. Senator Jim Bunning, along with more recent players like Chase Utley and Cole Hamels.

Her Phillies quilt is awaiting its debut.

“I just put it together last week, but I left four extra spots should Bryce (Harper) or somebody else take pity on me,” she joked. “They could help me finish this quilt. They could come to the historical society.”

Just imagine what people will think when they look up the Phillie Phanatic, in 200 years?

The exhibit’s opening reception is Nov. 4 from 5 to 8 p.m. It will be open Tuesdays from 1 to 4 p.m. and every second and fourth Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. Groups can attend by appointment. The Historical Society of Moorestown is located at 12 High St., Moorestown, 08057. Admission is free, but donations are welcome. The exhibit is expected to run through to about Mother’s Day.