By: Sally Garoutte
The entry is dated Thursday, January 29th, 1846, and reads “All the people attended the quilting at Mrs. Montgomery’s.” This brief notation would be very easy for historians to slide right over it. However, three biographers of Sutter chose to quote or mention the entry in their books. After coming across this reference in the third book, I found myself totally plagued with the questions” who is Mrs.
» Read more about: Uncoverings 1981 California’s First Quilting Party »
By: Mary Katherine Jarrell
In my quest for quilts in Appalachia, I have traveled up the hollows and mountain sides, climbed into barn lofts, explored dusty attics and dank cellars, and found disappointment more often than treasures. But the treasures have been sufficient to keep me following every lead. Many of my treasures were abandoned long ago to rot in dirt and neglect. Often I can learn nothing of the maker.
By: Marilyn P. Davis
This paper is based on a survey of quilters from around the United States; all kinds of quilters – from beginners, who have just completed one quilt, to those who have been quilting for over 30 years. Many respondents to this survey are famous in the quilt world. They are authors, teachers, and artists. Completed a year ago, the survey was not taken with the intention of presenting a research paper.
» Read more about: Uncoverings 1981 The Contemporary American Quilter »
By: Lynn A. Bonfield
The daily routine of New England women changed dramatically during the first half of the 19th century. At the beginning of the century the production of cloth and clothing was home-based but by mid-century was concentrated in factories. In 1800 women spent part of every day at home in the work of textile manufacturing; by 1850 few women produced cloth at home. During the same period, as fashions became more complicated,
By: Katherine R. Koob
Often when we see a quilt at a museum, an antique shop or at friends we get a wonderful story of how this quilt was made by grandmother so-and-so or Mrs. such-and such and when and where it was made. Too often we cannot tell whether these stories are truths or tales. How do we know where to draw the fine line between the two? We would like to believe all the wonderful stories which come with each quilt for which the true stories are lost,
» Read more about: Uncoverings 1981 Documenting Quilts by Their Fabrics »
By: Judy Mathieson
Many quilt patterns are literal interpretations of designs and shapes familiar to the people using them. Patterns named after stars, trees and baskets are examples of familiar shapes used in quilts. The design called Mariner’s Compass probably was suggested to early quiltmakers living on the east coast of America by sea charts that were available in the 17th and 18th centuries. An examination of compass designs on sea charts and maps from this period provides interesting background to the use of compass designs in quiltmaking from a later period.
By: Imelda G. DeGraw
Collecting quilts for museum holding differs drastically from private collecting. The private collector most often has funds for purchasing when the opportunity arises, and is at liberty to trade or sell without any administrative red tape, while most museums are dependant on donors in order to realize growth. With few exceptions, the collection is the result of gifts, a fact which makes us conscious of an obligation to recognize such generosity through this rotating display.
» Read more about: Uncoverings 1981 Museum Quilt Collecting »
By: Flavin Glover
Mrs. Holmes is very gracious to open her unique home for the public to enjoy. She recounts making the decision to become a participant in the Pilgrimage of Homes as an effort to better help her grandchildren gain an appreciation for the historical significance of their Grandmother’s home and furnishings. Visitors to Cedar Heights continuously express amazement and fascination at how the family has maintained and preserved their heritage while living in an atmosphere that depicts utmost style.
» Read more about: Uncoverings 1981 Discovery of the Cedar Heights Quilt Collection »
By: Dorothy Cozart
American authors have not always written about American subjects. As a matter of fact, early American writers usually imitated the English and other Europeans in style as well as subject, and rehashed old-world themes. I was not until Ralph Waldo Emerson and other American critics began asking their fellow Americans to write honestly and originally about subjects they knew best that writers began to look at the daily lives of the ordinary Americans around them.
» Read more about: Uncoverings 1981 Women and Their Quilts as Portrayed by Some American Authors »
By: Barbara Brackman
A white quilt in Safford and Bishop’s AMERICA’S QUILTS AND COVERLETS is described as a trapunto bedcover which won first prize at the Chicago’s World Fair in 1893.
In the catalog of the Atlanta Historical Society a stuffed and appliquéd quilt by Mrs. Sarah A.S. Low is described as one which won first prize at the World’s Columbian Exposition in
Chicago 1893.
The abundance of first prize winners raised some questions I have tried to answer.
» Read more about: Uncoverings 1981 Quilts at Chicago’s World’s Fairs »
