March 24 – 30, 2002
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:
- Quilt Week Exhibit Guide — A member rounds up other vintage-quilt exhibits near Lancaster, PA worth visiting during the upcoming AQSG Quilt Week conference.
- The Underground Railroad Quilt Code Debate — The list revisits “Hidden in Plain View,” sharing historian Giles Wright’s critique and a new Traditional Quiltworks article, reigniting skepticism about the secret-code story’s historical accuracy. (see the article on Underground Railroad quilts)
- To Label or Not to Label — A heartfelt, multi-message debate over whether quiltmakers should sign and document their work, sparked by one member’s preference to remain an anonymous quilter.
- Enterprising Women Exhibit — An exhibit technician previews a major traveling show on 250 years of American businesswomen that will feature quilts from the Marie Webster family.
- Identification & Research Requests — Members trade help identifying an antique Willcox & Gibbs sewing machine and an Anne Orr quilt, seek contacts for the California Heritage Quilt Project, and ask for Swedish-quilting book titles.
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 23:17:47 -0500 | From: Barb Garrett <bgarrett@>
For those of you venturing to Lancaster during Quilt Week the first week of April, these are some other locations of vintage quilt exhibits —
Feedsack Club Conference –
http://members.aol.com/feedsack1/conference.html
Patterns of Pennsylvania: Quilts from the Heritage Center’s
Collection
Schwenkfelder Library and Museum
http://www.schwenkfelder.com/
Then click on Museum Exhibits
Quilted for a Special Occasion
Mennonite Heritage Center
http://www.mhep.org/
Then click on Changing Exhibits
Historic Quilts Unveiled
Landis Valley Farm Museum
http://www.landisvalleymuseum.org/press_022702c.htm
Plain and Fancy
People’s Place Museum, Intercourse
http://www.ppquiltmuseum.com/
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2002 10:10:47 -0500 | From: “Cinda Cawley” <lrcawley@>
Images of U.S. Presidents.
http://www.the-forum.com/EPHEMERA/s77silk.htm
Cinda on the Eastern Shore
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2002 14:24:55 -0500 | From: “Evans, Joanna” <joanevan@>
In the 1980s and early 1990s, I was a member of the Hands Across the
Valley
Quilt Guild in Amherst, Mass. At that time the guild was very active
in
raising funds for the New England Quilt Museum (which was started by
the New
England Quilt Guild). There were a lot of local guild members who
belonged
to the regional guild and supported its mission to start the museum.
Once it
opened, members would drive to Lowell (about 1.5 hours or so each
way) to
volunteer at the museum for the day. HAVQG always donated a portion
of the
proceeds from its raffle quilt to the Museum. AT HAVQG meetings we
periodically had quilt history programs although the emphasis was on
new
methods and techniques for making quilts. There were quite a few
quilters in
the guild who were interested in quilt history. One of them was Lynne
Bassett, who is now at Old Sturbridge Village.
When I moved to Bloomington, Indiana, in 1994, I was surprised that
although
the guild was similar in size (about 130 members), there was very
little
interest in quilt history and in supporting the Quilters Hall of Fame
and
the restoration of the Marie Webster house (about 3 hours to the
north of us and in the same state). The focus of fund raising activities was on getting more nationally known teachers (of quilt making methods) to come to the
guild and on being able to offer good technique workshops while
holding down the cost to members. There were two people who were active in AQSG and a couple of people who volunteered their time at a historic house in town. I was not aware of any other interest in quilt history.
Over the past few years we have made some progress. Merikay Waldvogel has been very well received when she was the featured speaker. I present
annual mystery quilt workshops; folks have to make a minimum donation of $10 to
AQSG to attend (my way of getting the guild to support AQSG when I
cannot get them to do so on their own). The number of members interested in quilt
history is steadily growing and the membership is more open-minded
about having a quilt history program. There is hope.
Joanna Evans
Bloomington, IN
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2002 19:15:09 -0500 | From: “judygrow” <judygrow@>
I e-mailed Giles Wright, the author of the 2-page critique on HIPV I
linked
y’all to last week, and he has answered me.
>I was pleased to hear my
>critique of “Hidden in Plain View” is being read by some in the quilting community. I’m sending you tomorrow a slightly revised version of my critique, as well as a copy of the guide to New Jersey’s UGRR that I just prepared.
>Giles R. Wright
>Director, Afro-American History Program
>New Jersey Historical Commission
giles.wright@
Finally, I will get his critique in a legible format — I hope. I
don’t
know whether he will be sending it snail mail or e-mail, but I will
share it
when I get it. Let me first figure out how to do that after I get
it. I’ll
let you know.
I have included his e-mail address so that any of you who would also
like to
congratulate him on his stand (or perhaps the few who would like to
enter
into debate with him) can also have access. Wouldn’t it be great to
get
this knowledgeable and articulate man into a public debate with the
authors?
Jacqueline Tobin requested debate I remember, but no one came forward
back
then.
Judy in Ringoes, NJ
judygrow@
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002 16:46:25 -0500 | From: “Brown Vera” <ilene3@>
Hi to all,
My name is Ilene Brown. I am a new (2 yrs.) Quilter and new to this
group. I love History and am very interested in the Quilt History
all of you have been sharing. I am learning to restore and finish old
quilt tops and quilts. Last year, I went on a binge on Ebay and
purchased several from the 40’s and 50’s.
I, also, am into old sewing machines. I have nine at present
including Singers-treadle, handcrank, and electric. I have a Willcox & Gibbs, 1927, near mint, portable in wood case that I love to piece quilt tops with. I hand quilt and piece, also, depending on mood and time. I always worry that as the older generations die, we lose a little of history and knowledge. I go to a sewing machine repair shop with
three generations of experience, but found out when I took in my Willcox & Gibbs that only retired Mr. Johnson could work on it. What happens when he dies?
So, what I’m saying is keep it up. Do not let History die with us.
Ilene Brown of Raleigh, NC
Ilene3@
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002 18:41:47 -0800 | From: chrisa@
Hi Julie,
I recently saw an Anne Orr quilt too, and was nicely surprised as
well.
They seem so rare. It was at an antique store in Glendale AZ and was
fashioned after her cross stitch patterns. As I recall, it had small
blocks with rather wide sashing and a wide border, (these were in a
solid medium dark green, 1940 ish). The edge may have been scalloped
too, it’s fuzzy. The small blocks were made up of many colorful
squares
laid out to form a flower head. In the center of the quilt, was a
large
square (or rectangle) with a blue basket filled with flowers, on a
white
background.
I have not seen yours, but the center reminds me of the seven sisters
pattern.
Kim Wulfert
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002 18:49:20 -0800 | From: chrisa@
<<I have a Willcox & Gibbs, 1927, near mint, portable in wood case
that
I love to piece quilt tops with. >>
Dear Vera,
The wood box you are talking about, is it real heavy unpainted, but
stained, wood, clunky and homemade looking? Does it have metal ornate Victorian designs decorating the outer corners? Are they yellow by chance?
I was recently told that this describes the original case for the old
Wilcox and Gibbs I have, It’s the first one they made that is
supposedly quiet and it’s electric. Sounds like it from the same era as yours. I thought it was homemade and I sold it at a gargage sale last year. It was so heavy and ugly, it looked like a highschool project for mother’s day. Please tell me your’s looks nothing like this!!
Thanks,
Kim Wulfert
Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 11:16:34 -0500 | From: Newbie Richardson <pastcrafts@>
Dear all,
I am involved (as an exhbit technician for the textiles) in a HUGE
upcoming exhibit on 250 years of enterprising women. It is a joint
venture by the Schessinger Library at Radcliff(Harvard) and The
Museum
of Our National Heritage, Lexington, Mass. It focuses on the
history
and impact of women in American business. Among the gals featured is
Marie Webster.( They are borrowing quilts from the family) The show
will travel for 2.5 years. It opens in Lexington,Mass in October
’02,
then on to NYC, then DC, then Atlanta, Then Dallas, Then LA, then
Detroit. They are hoping that there will be symposiums in each city
related to the topic. We are hoping to do one in DC – maybe on
dressmakers? as one of the items is a bodice made for Mary Todd
Linoln
by her dressmaker, Elizabeth Mckechnie (sp?)) Anyway, it would be a
good idea for a quilt symposium on early 20th c quilts. Anyone
interested in catching this ball? I can give you the info on the
curator
and Exhibition designer. This is being funded by Ford Motors and ATT.
Newbie
Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 12:36:16 -0800 | From: “nms” <nms@>
I am responding to the person requesting information about the
California
Heritage Quilt Project. I worked on that project in 1997 and if I
remember
correctly Sharon Peters is/was the project chairman. I also know
that
Laurel Horton was a consultant. Email me privately and I will
provide you
with any information I have regarding contacts.
Nance Searle
Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2002 10:38:33 -0500 | From: “Cinda Cawley” <lrcawley@>
Newbie, please keep us up to date on the “Enterprising Women”
exhibit.
What’s the venue in D.C.? I’ve been to The Museum of Our American
Heritage
a couple of times (Quilts from the James Collection and Patchwork
Souvenirs). They exhbit some great stuff and Lexington/Concord area
is
heaven for a history buff!
Cinda on the Eastern Shore
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2002 12:37:44 +1100 | From: “Archer”
Hi guys I was fascinated to read about the many programs on quilt history available over there. This list certainly has some really talented people! But it made me wonder something.
When you present to people about quilting history, is it normal to also talk about how they document their own quilting? I recently wrote an article on quilt documentation or journalling for the Australian magazine I write for, Down Under Quilts. When I asked around among quilters I know, not many people were making any sort of record about their quilting, and some still don’t bother to label their quilts. They usually say, “I know I should but…” That’s really where the article came from.
It seems to me that there is a huge interest in quilting at present, certainly in Australia. I imagine, like those pin and string things from the seventies and macrame, for most it will be an ephemeral interest, and maybe in a few years it will be back to the rest of us diehard quilters again. But in fifty or a hundred years’ time, people will want to know what made quilting so popular in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. And I wonder what records we are leaving them. Maybe there will be quilt documentation projects still happening in 2100, gleaning crumbs fro here and there as we do, which would be rather sad, wouldn’t it?
Cheers Nola in Sydney
Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2002 23:28:12 -0600 | From: “Karan Flanscha”
I think I have successfully gotten my QHL subscription switched to my new e-mail address!! I have worked at numerous quilt documentation days, and we often family members brought in quilts they had found in a trunk, an attic, a closet, etc. and not know who had made them or when. There were many more of the “anonymous” quilts than quilts where the maker’s name & history were known. I share this with my quilting classes, and say “The quilt’s not done until the label is on!!” I encourage them to not only make a label, but keep a journal, notebook or database with info on their quiltmaking activities, including photos of their completed work. Wouldn’t we all love to find something like that with info on the Baltimore Album quilts, for example?? Although I have included the label/documentation info in my classes for years… I had never really pushed the “quilt history” aspect- I would say that I really liked the connection to quiltmakers and women’s history, that I personally enjoyed studying old quilts & fabrics, etc. but I hadn’t taken any quilt history books to share with classes.
I had a Beginnning Quilting class start Tuesday night, so in addition to the usual books I take to share, I included the Connecticut book (“Quilts and Quiltmakers Covering Connecticut”). I used some photos in the book to illustrate what we were covering (color & fabrics). The class was at least as interested in this book as the basic books I sent around. After class, one lady came up & was really excited about the history aspect, she is into Genealogy & thought the quilt history was just wonderful. So…maybe those of us who are already fascinated with quilt/fabric history need to make a little more effort to share our enthusiasm with other quilters.
I am going to take at least one quilt history book for each session, and find something in each book to illustrate our topic for the class. One of the best things about quilting is that it is such a multi-faceted art… and maybe we just need to encourage quilt history as one of the specialty “flavors” to whet the appetite of quilters who haven’t been exposed to this area before. Well, I am thinking of ice cream now…so better get to bed before I act on that thought!! Happy Stitching!! Karan
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2002 08:35:41 -0500 | From: mreich@
In reference to Karan’s message. Three weeks ago, I gave a presentation and slide show about Connecticut quilts at the Guilford Antiques Show on the Shoreline. After the lecture, I was approached by a man who was actually using information from our research on the Mary Geer Dennison quilt to trace his ancestry. There just happened to be another person in the audience that descended from Mary’s line. These two people had never met but both of them were at the lecture to gather more information about their ancestral roots.
While researching for the Connecticut book, I found that for centuries, women were only recorded in reference to their fathers or husbands. Now through their quilts, women can also take their place in Connecticut’s history. Connecticut’s libraries are filled with histories of the state, each county, each town and village. Most of the information recorded in those volumes revolve around stories of men. All of the big events, the wars, the church, the establishment of the industries are remembered from the male perspective. I found only two pamphlets promoted by the Connecticut Historical Society and one small book written by the DAR at the turn of the 20th century that concern only women. This may be one of the first extensive books written about the women of Connecticut.
I was hoping that amateur genealogists would find the research we conducted helpful. It is a great honor to know that after 200+ years, the names of these women are once again being spoken because of the quilts they made. All of our documentation is now stored at the Connecticut Historical Society. This information is available to you or anyone for research. That leads me to Nola’s message. With the proceeds from the sale of our documentation book, we are endowing Connecticut’s Quilt Registry Legacy.
Beginning in September, we will once again be documenting old quilts. In addition, working through the 50+ guilds throughout the state, we will also begin to register new quilts. Each quiltmaker will be able to record the information about her own quilt or quilts. Our original form has been altered to include present day quilts. These documentation forms will be added to the archival documentation already kept at the Connecticut Historical Society.
I agree with Nola. Don’t you all think that quilt researchers in 200 years will want to know what quiltmakers were thinking and making at the turn of the new millennium!!! The CQSP Legacy to the state of Connecticut is to make that research way easier than it was for us at the end of the old millennium!!! This is just some food for thought. Documenting quilts can be done the right way by utilizing the quiltmakers while they are still alive. I’ll keep you all informed as the Registry progresses. Sue Reich, Connecticut
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2002 09:43:43 EST | From: ZegrtQuilt@
I was quite pleased to see that The Art Institute posted the acquisition of my collection on QHL. The Art Institute has an incredible textile collection and with the addition of these quilts, I feel confident that they will add quilts to their exhibition schedule in the future. As you can well imagine, it is quite wonderful for me,on many levels, to have The Art institute make this committment to the art of the quilt . When quilts are publicly acquired by major art museums it adds to the increasing recognition of quilts as great art objects-good for all quilts ,old and new. Shelly
I have added a few statements about the quilts that I think are of particular note for the quilt world.
Most of these quilts have been heavily published and exhibited. Zegart was well known for her choice collection of pictorial quilts, all of which have been acquired by The Art Institute. Three additional pictorial quilts were purchased by The Art Institute in 1999 bringing the total number to 24.
The group includes the three quilts that were chosen from the Zegart Collection for inclusion in “The Twentieth Century’s Best American Quilts”,a publication by Primedia and exhibition at International Quilt Festival in Houston in Fall 2000 following a nationwide search for the best examples.
Some of the pictorial quilts acquired by The Art Institute include Settling the West, The Sunday School Picnic, The Sarah Ann Wilson album quilt , Tobacco Sacks, The Indians, and others
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2002 11:42:54 EST | From: Palampore@
Traditional Quiltworks (issue 79,until May 13, 2002) has an article out right now which tells of a woman who says her great-grandmother taught her family this secret code. They have an article—EXCLUSIVE Unerground Railroad Quilts: More Secrets Revealed—This is a headline on the cover.
Inside the story is: THE SECRET QUILT CODE by Serena Strother Wilson. She is a neice of the woman in SC who told Tobin this story. Apparently the family is now fighting for the old aunt’s story to be kept alive. This woman has a section in the back that says that she and her husband are available to give speeches, and they have a museum exhibit. She says this secret was never shared outside of her family until her aunt told it in SC at the market.
You must see some these patterns she claims were used. One is the sun bonnet southern belle of the 1940’s and she writes,”In the northern states, Free Black and white women wore long dresses with Sue Bonnets. In the Quilt Code, the Sue Bonne! t and Bandanna helped women recognize the clothes they would be given to wear in the Northern States.” This is 1 of 19 patterns she gives and then writes how it fits into the “secret code”.
I am not writing this to be mean, I am saying that this is unfair for history to be rewritten in this manner with no true documentation to back it up. I have a quilt which has a tag on it that says that it belonged to Wealthy Stoddard. She died in 1861. The newspaper inside the quilt is dated Jan. 20, 1869. I immediately knew that the person who wrote the tag found this quilt in Wealthy’s belongings and made an assumption that it belonged to her. But it didn’t, it belonged to a family member of her’s who was alive after Jan. 20,1869. I can no longer say it is a quilt which belonged to Wealthy Stoddard. It belonged to someone in her family. Thanks for listening. Lynn Gorges
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2002 12:16:46 -0500 | From: Newbie Richardson
Pat L. Nickols wrote: > > Newbie Richardson, > > I have enjoyed your posts to QHL. I am responding to your offer to > send information on the Quilt Exhibition you are working on and am > most interested in the fact you mention one of the sites is L.A. as I > live in San Diego. I look forward to hearing from you. > > Thank you, > > Pat L. Nickols > >
Pat, This not a quilt exhibit. It is an exhibit focusing on the impact of women on the history of American business over the past 250 years. Marie Webster gets one exhibition case among 49 others! For example, Eliza Pickney who created the Indigo industry in South Carolina, Hetty Green, one of Wall Street’s most sucessfull financiers at the turn of the 19th/20th century, Carrie Neiman Marcus – the real genius behind the department store, etc.
The importance of this exhibit is, in part, the fact that textiles are being elevated to the same status as other museum artifacts – rather than being considered “separate”. We all know that “separate” is NOT equal! However, because many of the businesses that were started and run by these women did involve textiles, that only sweetens the pot! Thus the organisers are hoping for a major educational spin-off to prove, once and for all, that we are just as capable as our male counterparts in the business world and have been since the founding of this country! Marie Webster was a business woman – her medium was quilts. There is lots of room for some kind of symposium focusing on the business of quilts and the women who paved the way in the early 20th c and then later in the late 1970’s: like Jenny Beyer, maybe? Newbie
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2002 12:50:42 EST | From: Midnitelaptop@
everytime is see the letters UGRR…i want to change the last two letters to HH… let’s face it, a myth has slipped its way into history and it’s here to stay…. jean L
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2002 12:29:17 -0800 | From: Gaye Ingram
May I voice the hope that as long as the Quilt Study Group or one individual who cares about truth and honest scholarship exist, neither this nor any other myth will be “here to stay”?
Any myth is important in itself, for the hopes or mindset or the cultural, political, or personal values it embodies. No doubt there is a truth which this myth was developed to symbolize.
The very fact that this subject has attracted so much interest in this group suggests it is “here to stay” only if it is verified as fact.
From the Deep South that is adrift in azaleas and dogwoods and spring, Gaye Ingram
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2002 19:42:01 -0800 | From: donbeld <donbeld@>
Hi, boy is it ever great to have good quilt documentation. As part of our guild show in May, I am chairing a Civil War era quilt show at the Smiley Library (They have the documented U.S. Sanitary Quilt). One of the quilts we are going to hang is a Courthouse Steps that the daughter of the maker in a small, fine handwriting on the edge of the quilt documented the maker’s name, the date it was finished (1868), and her age (82). The colors in it are brown and turket red with the other sides of the steps in white and yellow. The center square is green. I NEVER would have picked it for 1868–but I am not a certified fabric or quilt appraiser. But the current owner is the great, great, great, great grand-daughter of the maker, so I am sure the dates are true.
I have also seen the Sherman’s march quilts. The one that is burnt is a Robbing Peter to Pay Paul quilt. That family still even has the dresser they were stored in. Quilt history is so fascinating! Don Beld
Date: Sat, 30 Mar 2002 06:36:33 -0600 | From: “Leigh Fellner” <hcquilts@>
I’ve made close to 200 quilts to date, most of them miniature. I think I’ve labeled maybe half a dozen, pretty early on in the game, but I stopped, and I don’t intend to resume the practice. Although I understand some folks’ desire to attach their names to their projects, I’m content to remain part of the tradition of anonymous quilters.
I suspect this is a reflection of my view on art generally: although knowing something about the creator of a particular work may be interesting, it doesn’t provide any additional enlightenment artistically; the work either stands up or it doesn’t. (For example, it’s entertaining to know that the origin of William Carlos Williams’s famous “plums” poem was an actual note of apology to his wife, and to know something about his marriage, but it doesn’t make the poem any better, nor can it increase my appreciation of it artistically.) All this background “stuff” is People Magazine tidbits – purely incidental, fun to know, but not artistically significant. (This, of course, is in direct opposition to the school of thought that says that a work can *only* be understood, and can only be valued, in its historical and social context, which IMHO reduces art to a sociopolitical statement – as if art for its own sake simply doesn’t exist.)
If a work is only as important as what we know about its author (or its place in the historical continuum), it doesn’t say much for the piece artistically. Yes, I know that a van Eyck with provenance is significantly more valuable, in monetary terms, than one that is merely attributed to the artist. I doubt, however, whether ascribing to such a value system is something to aspire to. Personally I’d feel rather arrogant were I to assume that adding my name to a piece increased its “value” (however you want to interpret that term).
Moreover, the idea that anybody (including the artist) can truly “know what the creator was thinking” during the creative process seems a little far-fetched to me. First, it implies that somehow the work can be plucked from its place in time and interpreted based on whatever data fits – and (more importantly) which the creator decided to put – on a 5″x8″ card. We cannot possibly know the full context in which a work was made, so claiming to derive any accurate historical knowledge from such limited, and selective, information seems unwise. It also ignores the sheer volumes of significantly more detailed contemporary sources of information, including everything from magazines to personal journals. Second, it assumes that the work has some sort of “message” which the creator felt compelled to convey. At least in my experience, the “message” my quilts have is that I liked a particular block design and decided to see what it would look like made up in a particular way, based on whatever I had in my stash at that moment, that I couldn’t find the yellow I wanted so I used orange instead, and that my fingers were still sore from hand-quilting so I decided to machine-quilt.
Perhaps I’m in a minority of one, but I quilt because I like to; my quilts look the way they do because I like ’em that way. There’s no deep meaning there, no message, no historical “significance.” I don’t see my quilts as adding more to the body of “women’s history” or quilt history if they’re labeled than if they’re not; nor do I refrain from labeling my quilts out of some gender-based low self-esteem. And I doubt we have to resort to signing and dating quilts in order to make them Real Art.
Date: Sat, 30 Mar 2002 11:17:44 -0500 | From: “Teddy Pruett”
Leigh, Your post concerning the labels on quilts is beautifully and thoughtfully written, and I agree it is somewhat controversial. As an appraiser who is constantly working with quilts made by “anonymous”, you’d think I would celebrate labelling and documenting quilts. And I do – for everyone else!!
As my work has progressed and become published and noticed, I label. But for many years it was not particularly important to me. I, too, make quilts because I want to feel the fabric in my hands, I want to see how colors work together, or I am in a black ugly mood and quilting lifts my spirits.
Fame, fortune, and name recognition happens to relatively few in the quilt world. Most of us don’t really see that happening to us, and yes, I know, my granddaughters would probably like to know who made the quilts that they will eventually receive. I’ll get around to labelling all these quilts some day. Piece of cake – I only have 110 of my own, and two or three hundred in my collection. I do work in double standards, I fear. I literally preach labelling – but never particularly cared if my own work was labelled or not. When I was interviewed for the QSOS documentation, I was asked about the purpose for my quilts. Purpose? What purpose? Just to make them is the purpose. What happens after that is of little interest to me.
And, I might add, this is also the reason I know I am not a “great artiste” – I cannot bear long, deep, ethereal, soul-searching artist’s statements!!
Now, there’s something controversial!
And no, I am not suffering from the “if-I-made-it-it-must-be-worthless- syndrome”. I may think everyone else’s quilts are masterpieces, but as for me, it’s JUST CLOTH. Teddy Pruett in dogwood, wisteria, and azalea drenched Florida.
Date: Sat, 30 Mar 2002 12:06:06 -0500 | From: “judygrow”
Learned this from another list…….
During Yahoo’s maintenance, Yahoo set us ALL to receive spam! You need to go to your account and change all the YES boxes to NO boxes. They even have it checked that you will want to get phone calls about offers!!!
Go to: http://subscribe.yahoo.com/showaccount and then scroll until you see Edit Your Marketing Preferences. Click there and make the changes.
I just did. I wondered why I was starting to get SPAM!! Never had before at this e-mail address.
Judy in Ringoes, NJ judygrow@
Date: Sat, 30 Mar 2002 12:50:33 EST | From: Kittencat3@
I *always* sign my quilts, at least with my initials. I own a couple of older quilts and very much wish I knew who had made them. I’m not going to be around forever, and I want future generations to know who made my quilts….
Lisa Evans Easthampton, MA
Date: Sat, 30 Mar 2002 13:45:56 -0500 | From: “judygrow”
We are on this list because we love quilt history. What history? Quilt history! If you will study the quilts you must study the world around them or there is no study at all, just an eyeball observation, as the uninformed observer of bedding sees them.
We have come together on this list, and at seminars, and over each others beds piled high with quilts, because we see quilts as more than visual objects and we want to learn more about them —- and their makers, and the times that produced them.
The longer we study quilt history, the more often we find ourselves buying books about the material culture of the worlds of the quilt makers. We especially love signature or album quilts because we can zero in on a time an place and feel a personal identification with the the signers and/or the quilt makers. And so our study usually tries to go beyond the purely visual, or artistic, realm of quilts to their historical importance or use — to their place in the material culture of the times, and of the human being(s) involved with their creation.
I don’t think most quiltmakers (until the last 25 years or so) set out intentionally to make great works of art. I think their intentions were to make something that would be useful and “pretty.” (That’s a difficult word — pretty — if you are studying aesthetics), that would occupy their spare hours and keep their hands occupied. And when they were done, just as the furniture maker was proud of his chest or chair or table and impressed or stencilled his name on the on the bottom or back of his handiwork, so the proud quiltmaker identified this useful and pretty object as of her making.
It is the late twentieth century which has turned the viewing of quilts as the viewing of art. We as HISTORIANS don’t necessarily subscribe to that isolating vision.
This is the QUILT HISTORY LIST. There is another list you can join which is called the QUILT ART list, and where the subscribers are constantly arguing over the definitions of art, and complain when they aren’t taken seriously as artists who incidentally work with textiles and needles and thread.
As a craftsperson I am (usually) proud of my work, and will continue to sign my quilts, for the edification of those who come after. I am also affixing labels to the antique quilts in my collection, trying to at least assign them a history starting with the person who sold the quilt to me. Provenance is important to historians, as well as collectors.
There is nothing to argue about here. This is merely my position.
Judy in Ringoes, NJ judygrow@
Date: Sat, 30 Mar 2002 21:29:06 -0000 | From: “Sally Ward”
I recently had the task of transcribing a large number of labels for items from a quilt collection, ready for use should they go on display. After information on style, construction, fabric, assumed date, and size, I found myself again and again writing ‘maker: unknown’. Only very occasionally would I be able to put a name after that colon. In most cases there was no further information, so knowing the name gave no actual benefit to the reader, nor (in most cases) did it add any ‘value’ to the quilt, although it would of course give a starting point to anyone who had a reason to start research.
What I found myself feeling was not an academic response, but an emotional one: the unclaimed quilts felt like ‘orphans’ and the named ones didn’t. If anyone ever reads my name on a quilt I don’t expect them to know who I was or where I lived, but I do like to think they will ‘remember me’.
Sally W in UK
Date: Sat, 30 Mar 2002 22:39:35 | From: “Ann-Louise Beaumont”
A friend asked me for info on books on Swedish quilting since she is going to give a quilt history talk to an organization composed of people of Swedish descent. It seems to me there was a book out a few years ago on Swedish quilts, but it was one that I didn’t buy and don’t recall the title. I have tried to find it in the AQSG Library , but no joy. Could someone please help me out with titles, etc.? Many Thanks. Best Wishes, Ann-Louise Beaumont in Greeley, CO.
