Quilt History Snippets - March 2025

What:      Review of Uncoverings 1993, Volume 14 of the Research Papers of the American Quilt Study Group, edited by Laurel Horton

Topic:       “Prizes from the Plains: Nebraska State Fair Award-Winning Quilts and Quiltmakers”

Author:     Mary Jane Furgason and Patricia Cox Crews

You may recognize the name of one of these authors. During her academic career at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Patricia Cox Crews was a faculty member in the department of Textiles, Clothing and Design, was at the center of organizational events developing the International Quilt Study Center and Museum (IQSCM) – now known as the International Quilt Museum, and she served as the first Director of the IQSCM. Her scholarly work stands on the authority of her lifetime of scholarship in textile research and reporting. Additionally, Crews was a co-author of the book, Nebraska Quilts and Quiltmakers, based on the results of that state’s documentation project conducted from 1987 to 1989.

This article presents the results of extensive analysis of the records of the Nebraska State Fair. Using a scholarly approach to the information they applied a material culture approach to data that was collected from Fair entries and premium offerings. The stated goal was to better understand the cultural impact of quiltmaking on the state. [p.188]

The authors found that their study of the premiums offered at the State Fair “reflected economic and social changes within the state” with the rise and fall of premiums as well as “inequities based on gender.” [p.188] Combined with information from almost three thousand quilts documented by the state documentation project the authors were able to add information on the levels of education, economic status, aesthetic design preferences –  even ethnic heritages of Nebraska quiltmakers. [p. 189]

This very thorough report on Nebraska quiltmaking practices and those of the State Fair’s naming of categories and awarding of premiums, while it may not reveal unexpected surprises, validates economic and cultural changes over the decades in other areas of Nebraskan and American history from the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. For those interested in the growth and development as well and the influences of State Fairs this report and its extensive Endnotes section should be a source of authoritative scholarly information.

If you don’t have a copy of this issue of Uncoverings, you can access it at https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/aqsg or on the Quilt Index database at the AQSG collection link.