Quilt Treasures
Encyclopedia
The Quilt
Treasures Project is an oral history
project that documents the stories of a number of notable individuals who were instrumental in moving the 20th Century Quilt Revival forward in some significant way. These individuals include:
Quilt Treasures seeks to make this documentary
material available in two different kinds of media:
These Web portraits are intended for the use of researchers and students in the field of quilt history and have been featured in both scholarly publications, such as Uncoverings, the academic journal of the American Quilt Study Group, and popular magazines for quilters, including the Quilter's Newsletter. The project is a collaboration of the Alliance for American Quilts, the Michigan State University
Museum, and MATRIX: Center for Humane Arts, Letters, and Social Sciences OnLine.
history. Cuesta Benberry
, for example, was a noted scholar of African American
history and culture. Scholars of oral history
use the documentaries produced by this project to document and understand various aspects of American culture. One of the most popular min-documentaries, "On Pimento cheese
sandwiches," provides insight into an aspect of Southern culture and foodways
.
Quilt
A quilt is a type of bed cover, traditionally composed of three layers of fiber: a woven cloth top, a layer of batting or wadding and a woven back, combined using the technique of quilting. “Quilting” refers to the technique of joining at least two fabric layers by stitches or ties...
Treasures Project is an oral history
Oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...
project that documents the stories of a number of notable individuals who were instrumental in moving the 20th Century Quilt Revival forward in some significant way. These individuals include:
- quilt makers
- designers
- business people
- collectors
- historians and other scholars
- publishers
Quilt Treasures seeks to make this documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
material available in two different kinds of media:
- digitally on the web through web portraits
- mini-documentaries in archival form in a museum repository
These Web portraits are intended for the use of researchers and students in the field of quilt history and have been featured in both scholarly publications, such as Uncoverings, the academic journal of the American Quilt Study Group, and popular magazines for quilters, including the Quilter's Newsletter. The project is a collaboration of the Alliance for American Quilts, the Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
Museum, and MATRIX: Center for Humane Arts, Letters, and Social Sciences OnLine.
Web Portraits
The Quilt Treasures Web portraits feature biographies and videotaped interviews, mini-documentaries, photos, a timeline of activities, bibliographies and other resources relating to each individual. Other components have been developed as needed based on the interviewee’s life and work. These components have included testimonies from friends and/or colleagues, exhibit histories, teaching portfolios, and poetry. Individuals currently documented with web portraits include:- Virginia Avery
- Cuesta BenberryCuesta BenberryCuesta Benberry was an American historian and scholar. Considered to be one of the pioneers of research on quiltmaking in America, and was the pioneer of research on African American quiltmaking. Her involvement in quilt research spans from founding and participating in various quilt groups, to...
, scholar on the history of African AmericanAfrican AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
quilting - Jinny Beyer, professional quilter and fabric designer
- David and Patricia Crosby, founders of MississippiMississippiMississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
Cultural Crossroads - Joyce Gross, editor and publisher, The Quilt Journal (1977–1987)
- Jean Ray Laury
- Bonnie LemanBonnie Leman-Early life and education:Bonnie Hale Leman was the founder of Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, and one of the nation's first female magazine publishers. Born September 28, 1926, in Purdin, Missouri, to Rex and Laura Hale, she left home for college at age 16 and graduated from Park College three...
, founder of Quilter's Newsletter Magazine - Yvonne Porcella
- Bets Ramsey, co-founder of the TennesseeTennesseeTennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
Quilt Project - Hystercine Rankin
- Mary Schafer
- Merry Silber
- Woodard and Greenstein
Impact
Many of the individuals documented as Quilt Treasures have had wide-reaching impacts not only within the quilting world, but beyond the field of quilting and quiltQuilt
A quilt is a type of bed cover, traditionally composed of three layers of fiber: a woven cloth top, a layer of batting or wadding and a woven back, combined using the technique of quilting. “Quilting” refers to the technique of joining at least two fabric layers by stitches or ties...
history. Cuesta Benberry
Cuesta Benberry
Cuesta Benberry was an American historian and scholar. Considered to be one of the pioneers of research on quiltmaking in America, and was the pioneer of research on African American quiltmaking. Her involvement in quilt research spans from founding and participating in various quilt groups, to...
, for example, was a noted scholar of African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
history and culture. Scholars of oral history
Oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...
use the documentaries produced by this project to document and understand various aspects of American culture. One of the most popular min-documentaries, "On Pimento cheese
Pimento cheese
Pimento cheese is a common food in the Southern United States. The basic recipe has few ingredients: sharp cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, pimentos , salt and pepper, blended to either a smooth or chunky paste...
sandwiches," provides insight into an aspect of Southern culture and foodways
Foodways
In social science foodways are the cultural, social and economic practices relating to the production and consumption of food.- Definitions :...
.
Quotes
According to Alliance for American Quilts co-founder, Shelly Zegart: “Quilt Treasures are the special women and men who were key to the American quilt revival of the 1960s and 1970s, reawakening interest nationwide in the history, craft, and social and aesthetic value of quilts. They ensured the preservation and documentation of quilts through the state and regional quilt projects and they took quilting as a cultural expression to new heights. As creators, teachers, communicators, and links in a growing network, these ‘quilt treasures’ built an art form and an industry that today involves and touches millions of Americans. As these individuals began to retire from active involvement in the quilt world, an important piece of American social and cultural history was at risk of being lost.” (Zegart, 2003)Related Publications
- Crosby, David. Quilts and Quilting in Claiborne County: Traditions and Change in a Rural Southern County. Port Gibson, Mississippi: Mississippi Cultural Crossroads, 1999.
- Dubois, Jean. The Colonial History Quilt. Wheat Ridge, CO: Leman Publications, 1976.
- Gross, Joyce and Cuesta BenberryCuesta BenberryCuesta Benberry was an American historian and scholar. Considered to be one of the pioneers of research on quiltmaking in America, and was the pioneer of research on African American quiltmaking. Her involvement in quilt research spans from founding and participating in various quilt groups, to...
. 20th Century Quilts: 1900-1970: Women Make Their Mark. Paducah, KY: American Quilter's Society, 1997. - MacDowell, Marsha (2003). "Collecting Stories: The Oral Interview in Research," in Studs TerkelStuds TerkelLouis "Studs" Terkel was an American author, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for The Good War, and is best remembered for his oral histories of common Americans, and for hosting a long-running radio show in Chicago.-Early...
: Conversations with America. Chicago: Chicago Historical Society, 2002. Consulted February 1, 2005. http://www.studsterkel.org/education.php - Marston, Gwen and Joe Cunningham. Mary Schafer and Her Quilts. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Museum, 1990.