December 27, 1999 – January 1, 2000
These restored messages come from the Quilt History List, an online forum where quilt historians, collectors, researchers, appraisers, and enthusiasts discussed antique quilts and related textiles. The archive dates from 1996 through approximately 2016 and is being restored gradually. Sign up in the form at the bottom of the page if you want to know when a new page is added. Original spelling, opinions, formatting, and inactive links may remain unchanged.
Primary topics of this QHL Digest:
- Jewish Quilting Traditions in America — A thoughtful thread on whether a distinct Jewish quilting tradition exists, with members sharing documented quilts made by Jewish immigrants and a personal story from a Canadian-born quilter.
- The “19th Century Enslaved African Quilt” eBay Listing — Members debate the authenticity and inflated value of a controversial eBay quilt listing tied to provenance claims.
- Solving a Mystery Textile Tool — Follow-up guesses on Lauri Klobas’s mystery wound-wood holiday gift, plus TV shows and local groups members suggest for identifying odd sewing artifacts.
- Naming a New Study Group — Inspired by Fran’s Vintage Friends, members brainstorm names for Xenia’s proposed quilt history study group. (see the article on quilt study groups)
- Quilt History Events and Resources — Announcements for museum quilt film screenings and a seminar in Washington, D.C., plus a shared link to an expanded paper-conservation manual.
Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 08:19:08 +0000 | From: Bobbie Aug <qwltpro@>
The main reason the silk was weighted with metal was because silk was sold by the pound; hence, it weighed more! It also draped better for clothing and home furnishings such as draperies. It was this addition that eventually made/makes the silk deteriorate – shard. This was a 19th century “thing.”
Bobbie Aug
Jocelyn wrote:
> My one and only crazy quilt has some shattered fabrics but the silk embroidery remains intact and seems strong.
> I remember seeing an exhibit of centuries old Chinese clothing, many made of silk and they were in excellent condition. Many had embellishment in silk and gold threads.
> I wonder if the silk thread made these days will shatter as the silk fabric of the Victorian period or will it remain strong as the earlier silks have.??
> Laurette,
The Victorian silks shattered because they were made with metal salts as a
> sizing agent, to make them nice and ‘rustley’. The thread wouldn’t’ve
been
> treated in the same way, since there was no benefit to having it treated. Older Asian silks weren’t treated with metal salts, either, so they have survived in good shape.
Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 11:06:47 -0500 | From: “Gloria Infinger” <gloria@>
The unusual sewing artifact.
There is a program on SCEDT called, “What in the World is IT?”
This sounds like a good place to try to get it identified.
This program comes out of Columbia South Carolina.
PAX TV has a program called “Treasurers In Your House”; there is also a web site.
Gloria in SC gloria@
Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 11:41:06 -0500 | From: Lesters <jeanntom@>
I don’t know how I sent out that schedule to the group. I copied and pasted for my daughter but have heard from several of you that I evidently sent it to the list. My computer has no record that I did that. Gremlins are everywhere!!
Jean Lester
Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 17:51:29 -0600 | From: Mary Waller <mswaller@>
The South Dakota PBS program guide lists “Treasures in the Attic” to air in place of the regularly scheduled educational shows over the holiday break. Among the episodes is one on “Vintage Fabrics” and two on “Victorian Children’s Costumes”.
There’s also “More Than Memories”, which looks like it covers photos and documentation. Like they say on TV, check your local listings….
Mary Waller, Vermillion, South Dakota, USA
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 21:26:37 -0500 | From: “susanlk” <susanlk@> (by way of List Mom <qrs@>)
Does anyone know of any reference books, or other resources, on Quilts as part of Jewish needlework history? There are many traditional religious and cultural artifacts Jews have carried throughout history wherever they go, but I’ve never heard of quilts being among them. Thanks for whatever you may know. SusanLK
Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 10:49:29 -0500 | From: Alan Kelchner <quiltfix@>
I hope everyone had a wonderful ________ (insert your holiday here). My holiday was Christmas, and it turned out much better than it seemed to start 🙂
Anyhow, there was a largish package under the tree from my folks. We debated the possibility that someone got brave and bought me a quilt (small chance – I’m too difficult to buy for – oh, for those days when every quilt was marvelous …..). Saved said box until last. It *was* a quilt, but not a purchase. Mom gave me her childhood quilt that her gre-mum made her in 1937 (it has mom’s initials and the year in red embroidery. Even better, there’s information about how she made quilts for all her grandchildren, and mom even sent a photograph taken at the time this quilt was being made. Gre-mum (great-gramma Decker to me) is holding my 2 y.o. mother, and all but one, future grandchild is in the photo. I’ve always wished I could meet this woman. She looks so formidable in all her photos (she was born after the Civil War). I assume she was in the habit of not ever smiling for photos since she grew up with photographic technology that made smiling difficult (five-minute poses). But my mother says she was a wonderful, attentive woman to have for a grandmother.
Now to get the photo and information transferred onto the quilt (it’s a boat pattern, well-worn and well-loved). Mom used it for many years before it got put away. She finds it interesting that she didn’t know why the top edge was shredding until I became a restorer and told her it was from pulling it up around her chin.
It certainly finished off a wonderful quilt month !
Alan
Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 23:48:30 -0500 (EST) | From: JOCELYNM@
On 27-DEC-1999 22:54:28.6 quiltfix said to JOCELYNM
>the Civil War). I assume she was in the habit of not ever smiling for photos since she grew up with photographic technology that made smiling difficult (five-minute poses).
Alan,
I had thought that was the reason for it…but my mother explained that during her childhood, photographs were considered a very serious, solemn occasion, and that if you smiled, your face was all wrinkled and crinkled up, and ‘no one could see what you really looked like!’ It was a preference for formality in portraits, rather than just a technological problem.
Jocelyn
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 00:57:27 -0500 | From: “Judy Grow” <Judygrow@>
>It’s 18 inches long, 2 inches wide, made of rough wood with rounded “spear point” tips. It’s two-sided, with the two long, skinny halves doweled together at either end. The dowels are about two inches long and about 2
1/2
>inches in from the points. The whole thing is wound with about 27 yards
of
>an old indigo print that looks to be teens or twenties. It’s about an
inch
>wide, folded in half. I thought it could be an edging; it’s cut on the
grain
>and not on the bias; nor are the raw edges turned under as for bias tape. Just folded over. It’s not a continuous piece; has about two joins in it. I think it’s some sort of bobbin and I guess it’s just wound with edging trim… maybe it’s a store display bobbin for dry goods???
Does this sound
>familiar to anybody?
Lauri,
Could it possibly be a tool used for rug hooking? Are there any moving parts?
Judy in Ringoes, NJ judygrow@
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 08:30:16 +0200 | From: Ady Hirsch <adamroni@>
Hi,
I don’t think there is such a thing as a Jewish quilting tradition as such (or I would have heard of it <G>), but Jewish immigrants to America seem to have adopted quilting, so that there are documented quilts made by Jewish women. See for instance The Quilt Digest 1 (1983), The Reiter Quilt: A Family Story in Cloth, by Julie Silber – an album quilt made by a Jewish immigrant. See also E. Sienkiewicz, Baltimore Beauties and Beyond (1989) quilt no. 3 – a Jewish bride’s quilt with blocks depicting a Jewish wedding canopy abovr a table bearing a kiddush cup and candles.
Ady in Israel
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 08:34:05 EST | From: SadieRose@
This book review is in answer to a question posted on QuiltNet, but thought it might be of interest to my other lists, as well:
<< My question is about a book featured on page 119 of the Keepsake Quilting
Catalog, titled “Encyclopedia of Designs for Quilting” by Phyllis Miller.
I haven’t seen the book in stores and wondered if any of you out there had had a chance to review it and if you recommend it. It is $34.95 so takes more than pocket change. >>
Carol, and anyone else interested….
I have a copy of this book & think it is great. The author was the chair of the Kentucky Quilt Registry, and her purpose was to fill “the need for a comprehensive reference of quilting designs that gives the same mental image to both those doing documentation and the ones reading the information. I have attempted to make this book a reference library of historical quilting designs in addition to being an instructional book.”
She has documented
375 traditional quilting designs, and includes over 500 illustrations in the book.
This is a hard cover book, published by the American Quilting Society (so you might be able to order it through AQS at a lower cost), 198 pgs.
Chapter
One gives a brief overview of the book, a list of quilting terminology & explains several simple methods of drafting designs. Types of quilting designs are broken into Chapters 2-10: Straight Lines, Squares, Diagonals & Diamonds, From the Pattern, Circles, Ovals, Crescents & Curves, Ropes & Cables, Hearts & Feathers, Representational & Naturalistic designs. Each chapter starts with the simplest version & then more complicated variations &
combinations, with a bit of history, and suggestions on how to mark, tools needed & where to use. Some photos showing quilts with the designs are given.
The variety of quilting ideas you will gain is well worth investing in this book. If you are interested in quilt history & documentation, the notes on when certain types of quilting patterns were popular will be helpful.
If you are currently working with quilt documentation, the last 26 pages of the book wonderful!! Phyllis has created a “Guide to the Numerical Index of Designs for Quilting”. The 2 quilt documentation programs I have worked with designated Barbara Brackman’s “Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Block Patterns” as the official pieced pattern reference. We use the numbers from this book to help identify the block pattern, along with finding a pattern name (if the owner does not know what the quilt pattern was called) & dates when it was published. Phyllis’ guide is set up so you can also list numbers to reference various quilting designs that might appear on a quilt. This would make it easy to record information for a quilt with a variety of quilting motifs.
Instructions are given to help you draft your own designs, rather than giving full size “ready to use” designs, which I find to be a very practical approach. Most of our quilting ancestors used these same methods to mark their quilt tops…as they didn’t have access to (or maybe I should say, weren’t dependent on) commercially available pre-cut stencils. This probably pushed their creativity a little, and is one of the reasons we have a wealth of designs to choose from now!!
If you have some gift $$ to use, (IMHO, of course) this book would be a good investment.
(No affiliation, etc)
Karan from snowy Iowa
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 07:53:06 -0800 | From: Teresa Sayler <saylert@>
Happy holidays to all,
I have enjoyed everyone’s comments in the past few weeks. I will soon be teaching a quilting class at the local college. A focus of the class will be quilt history. Since you all seem to be experts in the subject, are there “beginner” quilt history books? This is a quilt 101 and I don’t want to get too technical at the beginning. I want them to learn quilt block names, when, where, etc without going into a history lesson the first term. I sure appreciate any help you can give me. I have been a quilter for years but not much into the history of quilts until recently. Thanks Teresa Sayler
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 10:27:56 -0800 | From: “Melissa Devin” <mldevin@>
Here is an interesting quilt on Ebay (will close in two hours), titled 19th Century Enslaved African Quilt
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=222180816 For such historical interest, and the number of museums that it has been in,
I am wondering if other auction houses would have been better to go through?
Maybe they chose ebay because it is less expensive to list with?
Keep in mind with the price that this is a quilt top.
Melissa
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 14:02:35 EST | From: Qltldy10@
Hello!
I watched Antiques Roadshow, from Maryland, last night, and I thonk Dr. Frye was there. She had a Baltimore album type quilt, which also had Harriet
Powers kinds of renditions, also (That’s my interpretation, not hers). I thought she was holding a copy of Tennesee’s book, although I also thought she said she got it in Kentuckey. It was valued by Leigh Keno at about 15,000-20,000, to which Dr, Frye replied she was working on a book, and this would help her continue. ‘Course, I have no idea when the piece was filmed, coulda been 1966 for all I know.
Re: Dr. Frye’s offering on e-bay. Yikes. The first bidders e-mail address is cheapskate.something@hot-mail, the other is as much a seller as a buyer, and seems to both buy/sell items at less than $100.00. Regardless, I don’t see any museums bidding, and it hasn’t met it’s reserve, anyway… Seems more like a price only a famous type would pay- any body know a museum today who’s buying “fragile” quilts at that price? Not me. Well, maybe the museum of Atlanta did pay that much to get one of Harriet Powers quilts back, but that was prtetty specific. I wonder why it didn’t go to Christies, etc. Of course, if the reserve was high enough, and it was talked about in the right circles, the cost of a sale is less on ebay, but the seller pays it, not the buyer…
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 23:12:22 -0500 | From: laurel horton <kalmia@>
>Does anyone know of any reference books, or other resources, on Quilts as part of Jewish needlework history? There are many traditional religious
and
>cultural artifacts Jews have carried throughout history wherever they go, but I’ve never heard of quilts being among them. Thanks for whatever you
may
>know. SusanLK
Susan,
Last summer I found a book, _The Work of Our Hands: Jewish Needlecraft for Today_, by Mae Shafter Rockland, (New York: Schocken Books, 1973), at a used book/antique shop in Kent, Washington. Typical of needlework books of this period, it contains a variety of stitchery projects, including a “Joseph’s Coat patchwork cushion and some appliqued table linens, but no bedquilts. I’ve only leafed through it, but it’s more of a how-to (as in “how to translate traditional Jewsih symbolism into hand-crafted items for your home) than a history. Like you, I’ve been curious about the dearth of information on Jewish quilts, so I was glad to find this source at all. Sounds like a good research project for somebody.
Laurel Horton
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 12:50:10 -0000 | From: “Audrey Cameron” <audrey.cameron@>
Hi Everyone,
Hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas & will celebrate safely the arrival of the new millennium.
I had 2 wonderful quilty presents. The first was a small barrel shaped object with a hole in one side from which came a thread. Opening the “barrel” lid revealed a spool of thread. It was a thread holder from 1820. Delightful but not very practical to use. Unfortunately the size of the spool is much different from today’s sizes.
The 2nd was a wonderful Victorian doll’s bed on which I can display my miniature quilts. While it is under the tree I have put a towel over the quilt I put on it because my cat Rufus considers it a wonderful cat bed for him.
Audrey Cameron in Lincolnshire,England where it is crisp, cold & bleak audrey.cameron@
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 10:13:48 -0800 | From: Fiona Galvin <fiona101@>
Dear Folks,
Ady’s comment reminded me of one reference I’ve seen, which is not what you’d call archival, but…
In Ruth Reichl’s memoir Tender at the Bone, she has a section about living in NYC and how there was an old Jewish man who made quilts for the women in the neighborhood and how they always had to wait months and months but they did so because he was such an artist. It’s not a quilting bee, but it could point to a place for quilting in Jewish urban life.
Fiona
In Dry, Dry, Dry, SoCal
Specifically, in Pasadena, where they are preparing for the Rose Bowl Parade
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 17:03:53 -0500 | From: “Phyllis Twigg” <ptwigg@>
I just noticed two more quilt programs at the National Museum of Women in the Arts:
The Art of the Quilt: Two Films by Pat Ferrero
Wednesday, January 19, 2000; 12 p.m. and 7 p.m.
$4 general admission; $3 members, seniors, and students Hearts and Hands (60 min.) and Quilts in Women’s Lives (30 min.) Hearts and Hands is a social history of nineteenth-century women and quilts.
Through letters, diaries, still photographs, folk music, and needlework, it examines the role of women in shaping America from the days of emerging industrialization to westward expansion. Quilts in Women’s Lives presents a series of portraits of quiltmakers who, as they speak about their work, reveal the passion and values behind this continuing tradition of quiltmaking. Seven women, among them a California Mennonite, an African-American woman from Mississippi, and a Bulgarian immigrant, describe how their work has sprung from their daily lives to become an art form which allows them the joy of making pattern, of self-expression, and of creating meaning in their lives.
*************************************************************************** *
Quilters: Pieces of Women’s Lives
Performance by Philomela
Thursday, January 20, 2000; 7 p.m.
$10 general admission; $8 members, seniors, students
Philomela presents a concert version of Molly Newman and Barbara Damashek’s musical Quilters whose tuneful folk melodies evoke America’s musical history. Hymn tunes, early gospel styles, Spanish influences, and Western motifs weave the story of lives of women in a particular family as they construct a quilt. Quilters will be preceded by a selection of songs including Alice Parker’s Women on the Plains. Philomela is a fourteen-woman vocal ensemble that has performed extensively in the Washington, DC area since 1976. Known for its unique blend of music and narrative, its concerts incorporate all styles of music from Renaissance to classical to popular.
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 21:14:16 -0600 (CST) | From: Marcia Kaylakie <marciak@>
Happy New Year one and all! I’m just going to brag a little about finishing the last quilt of the year/century! It is a wall hanging in sea blue-greens with brightly colored batiks in pink, purple, green, blue. And it is a parade of paper-pieced turtles! So I called it “The Turtles’ Parade”. It is a gift for my son’s girlfriend, whom I will see tomorrow. Can’t believe I just finished it, and in time, to boot! Will see you all in the next century! Marcia Kaylakie
Date: Thu, 30 Dec 1999 10:26:01 +0400 | From: Xenia Cord <xecord@>
Sounds like a great idea! I’m game, but how could I create a group with a harmonious name beginning with X <G>?
Xenia (who has an embarassingly large stash of quilts, tops, vintage fabric, ephemera – and on, and on)
Date: Thu, 30 Dec 1999 11:25:56 -0500 | From: Alan Kelchner <quiltfix@>
Nahhh, that’s not it. This photo is quite informal, taken out in the yard. Everyone is in a straggly line. Kind of cute in a weird sort of way (that describes the family in general – kinda weird – <gently eccentric?> – lol). She’s like this, even with Instamatic photos.
Mom is a great woman, her mother was too. Imagine what this woman would be like! It’s a shame that my grandmother and great-grandmother passed before the quilting bug slapped me upside the head …. I’ve often wondered how they would react to my obsessive love of quilts.
Alan
JOCELYNM@ wrote:
> On 27-DEC-1999 22:54:28.6 quiltfix said to JOCELYNM
>the Civil War). I assume she was in the habit of not ever smiling
for
>photos since she grew up with photographic technology that made
>smiling difficult (five-minute poses).
> Alan,
I had thought that was the reason for it…but my mother explained that
> during her childhood, photographs were considered a very serious, solemn occasion, and that if you smiled, your face was all wrinkled and crinkled up, and ‘no one could see what you really looked like!’ It was a
preference
> for formality in portraits, rather than just a technological problem. Jocelyn
Date: Thu, 30 Dec 1999 05:46:34 -0500 | From: “Phyllis Twigg” <ptwigg@>
The National Museum of Women in the Arts is presenting a seminar on Saturday, January 22, 2000 entitled “Quilts of the Future.” The event will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and the ticket cost is $20. The museum is located in Washington, D.C. at 1250 New York Avenue, N.W. The seminar is co-sponsored by the Art Quilt Network/New York. Their web site can be found at www.nmwa.org The phone number is 202-783-5000.
Phyllis Twigg
Below is the information from their web site:
Quilts of the Future
Cosponsored with Art Quilt Network/New York
Saturday, January 22, 2000; 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$20 general admission, $15 members, and $10 students; reservations required This day-long symposium focuses on the current status of art quilts in the United States, with a look toward the future of this rapidly developing art medium. Featured speakers and their topics are:
Rebecca Stevens, Consulting Curator, Contemporary Textiles, The Textile Museum, “Quilts and the Museum”
Cathy Rasmussen, Executive Director, Studio Art Quilt Associates, a non-profit organization devoted to promoting the art quilt, “The Road Not Taken: From Fine Artist to Art Quilter”
Stacy C. Hollander, Senior Curator and Director of Exhibitions, the Museum of American Folk Art, “Crossing the Line: From Quiltmaker to Quilt Artist” In addition, members of Art Quilt Network/New York discuss their work in slide presentations. Sandra Sider, AQN/NY chair for 2000, serves as moderator.
Date: Thu, 30 Dec 1999 07:23:22 -0500 | From: “Phyllis Twigg” <ptwigg@>
Since Xenia is looking for a group name(as in Fran’s Vintage Friends), how about Xenia’s Zealots?
Webster’s definition…one carried away by an excess of zeal. That would qualify me to join.
Phyllis
Date: Thu, 30 Dec 1999 08:47:32 +0200 | From: Ady Hirsch <adamroni@>
Hi, everyone
If I may, I’d like to share a little story that may shed a little light on Jewish quilting in North America. We have in our quilting group a lovely lady, Bertha. She’s in her late seventies and was born in Canada, where she lived as a child in a tiny Jewish hamlet. Later she moved to the US, married, and nowshe’s living in Israel.
Date: Thu, 30 Dec 1999 10:57:06 EST | From: Cml791@
We have a friendship group within our local guild named the 5th Tuesday history group. We meet every month that has a 5th Tuesday and look at, discuss, read about, question or otherwise nitpick antique quilts. We usually have around 20 people so we get a variety of topics and things to look at.
No quilty things for Christmas but Mother did bring me a booklet that her friend thought I would like to have, she found it when going through her mother’s things. It is titled “Quilts” and was published in 1931 by The Farmer’s Wife of St. Paul, Minn. No pictures of quilts, just a drawing of each block and actual pattern pieces including seam allowances. (17 patterns plus a little text) I really like it and am wondering if this is the only quilty item she discovered. I think I’ll call and thank her for it and casually ask for more!
Carolyn in N. Texas
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 1999 09:00:27 +1100 | From: nomad1@
Dear QHL’ers,
I would like to wish you all a Wonderful Year 2000 from Sydney, Australia. Its been such a joy to join in the listening and sharing in our mutual love of textiles, in particular antique quilts.I look forward to more next year. I had the pleasure of meeting and spending some time with QHL’er Debbie Roberts and two cherubs who flew to Sydney for a brief visit. I would dearly love to extend my hospitality to any of you who visit Sydney. So please do remember to let me know if flying down under for the Year 2000 Olympics or even prior to that.
Its also my DH’s birthday today, so I am off to meet him for lunch and then we are dancing the night away :> My wonderful parents are minding my two cherubs, just in case Y2K Bugs so something! Have fun guys!
Hiranya from Oz :>
Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2000 01:57:13 -0500 | From: “Judy Grow” <Judygrow@>
If you are at all interested in paper conservation; if you work with archives of your own, or belong to an historic society of any kind, you might be interested in the following. NEDCCS has a web site with lots of info, and the clickable url is at the end of the infomercial.
Judy in Ringoes, NJ judygrow@
>NEW EXPANDED EDITION OF NEDCCS PRESERVATION MANUAL The Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) announces the
publication of the third edition of Preservation of Library & Archival Materials A Manual, in hardcover. This revised and expanded edition, edited by Sherelyn Ogden, has been available electronically on the NEDCC Web site since March 1999, but this is the first time it has appeared in printed form.
Rapid technical changes and their impact on the preservation profession prompted NEDCC to update and expand the manual by adding important contemporary topics that were not included in the previous edition. The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a Federal agency that fosters innovation, leadership and a lifetime of learning, has supported this project. In addition, NEDCC receives major funding for its field service program from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The purpose of the manual is to provide the basic, practical information needed to enable non-conservator staff of libraries, archives, and museums to: plan and implement sound collections care programs. It is intended for those who must make decisions that affect preservation of collections, or who want to upgrade standards of care in order to better preserve materials.
The manual is approximately 412 pages in length and is comprised of 50 individual technical leaflets. Every leaflet from the first two editions has been updated to reflect new information and changing opinions. In addition, the third edition contains eight new leaflets, including Digital Technology Made Simpler; The Relevance of Preservation in a Digital World; Preservation Assessment and Planning; An Introduction to Fire Detection, Alarm, and Automatic Fire Sprinklers; Collections Security Planning and Prevention for Libraries and Archives; and more. The manual is one of few preservation publications written in laymans language that is an authoritative reference source for up-to-date scientific research.
Sections include planning and prioritizing, the environment, emergency management, storage and handling, reformatting, and conservation procedures. Professional illustrations make the “how-to” leaflets easy to understand and use.
The Northeast Document Conservation Center is a nonprofit regional conservation center specializing in the conservation of paper-based materials including books, documents, photographs, architectural drawings, maps, posters, wallpaper, and works of art on paper. For outside clients, it performs paper conservation, book binding, preservation microfilming, and duplication of photographic negatives. Its purpose is to provide the highest quality conservation services and to serve as a source of consultation and training for institutions that hold paper-based collections.
To: obtain a copy of Preservation of Library and Archival Materials A Manual, send a check made out to NEDCC for $50.00 to the Northeast Document Conservation Center, attn Kim OLeary, 100 Brickstone Square, Andover, MA 01810; The cost includes UPS Ground shipping and handling within the continental U.S. All payments must be made in U.S. dollars. Include your name and mailing address, or use an order form, available at www.nedcc.org.
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 1999 14:59:16 -0500 | From: “Ann N. Richardson” <pastcrafts@>
I saw that quilt, too. As i am really very interested by the dispersions (sp?) of cultural influences, I downloaded a pix of it. Quite frankly it is not, IMHO, neither a stellar example of the period or of the genre. Yet, the provenance is very politically correct right now. Therefore the current “value” exceeds its worth. I can see it being bought for what it represents rather than for what it is. I will be curious to see if it does keep its value and become like anything JFK owned or George Washing owned – that fact adding to its “value”, as it is not in the “best” tradition of good, better, best. The 18th c. American furniture which is setting records does stick to the “best” as far as craftsmanship and design. Many of the quilts in the James’ collection reflected this mixture of good, better, best. I hope that the museum will be able to do the kind of exhibit that that compares those qualities with side by side showing of quilts of the same genre. Winterthur (the duPont estate in Delaware) did so with silver and furniture about 4 years ago. It was very illuminating. They have some of it still on exhibit in their visitor’s introduction to the museum. Happy New Year all, I intend to be in bed, assleep by 1215 (2 hours past my bedtime!
Newbie in Alexandria, Va – avoiding the Mall in DC!
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 1999 20:02:58 -0500 | From: “Daniel & Diana Dillman” <dillmand@>
I’ve read with interest the messages about the study groups i.e. Fran’s Vintage Friends. I am in the process of starting a group in Gettysburg, PA area. I put out a sign up list in October at our local quilt shop and have 6 interested people. We’re kind of the blind leading the blind, so we’d welcome someone knowledgeable to join us. We will be setting up a monthly meeting time right after the holidays. If anyone is interested in joining us (whether you’re knowledgeable or not!), please e-mail me and I will get back to you with “where and when”.
Dee
