Following donations of another forty quilts to the TRC last year from David and Bonnie Naifeh Smith of Arizona and Sherry Cook of Seattle, I have now finished documenting them and they have been added to the Quilt Index website (see a previous blog of 16 August 2021). The Quilt Index (Michigan University) is an online depository of thousands of quilts from collections all over the USA and they have been expanding their remit to include collections in Europe and further afield, such as those of the TRC.
We now have a total of 152 quilts documented on their site – these can be accessed via quilt index.org and the TRC page can be found under Museums. A few highlights from the new quilts are illustrated below;
A child’s quilt embroidered with baby animals including rabbits, chickens, kittens and puppies from about the 1930’s (TRC 2022.1147).
A 1930-40’s mosaic quilt comprised of 169 5 inch blocks each containing 32 triangles of a myriad scraps of fabric, including some feedsacks along with multiple others (TRC 2022.1153).
A quilt based on a cross stitch design made by Roberta Cook in 1985, using 10,058 one-inch squares, which she named ‘Basket Case’ (TRC 2022.2745).
At the TRC we now have a substantial collection of American quilts, and the recent acquisitions have filled some gaps that we had, examples of Apple Core (TRC 2022.0987), Sunbonnet Sue (TRC 2022.1145) and a classic red and white quilt (TRC 2022.1160), to name a few.
We are looking to expand the collection to include more quilts from different regions – we have several Indian quilts, but only a couple from Europe and it would be lovely to have some examples from closer to home, hopefully some Dutch quilts!
Large quilt with a top made from connecting 'apple core' blocks in a wide variety of plain, textured and printed materials. USA, 20th century (TRC 2022.0987).
You may be interested to know that the Quilt Index is now taking Public Submissions from individuals interesting in adding details of their own or family quilts to this archive. Look under Collections/Public Submissions on quiltindex.org where you will find full details of submission requirements and some examples of individuals quilts and stories.
Large quilt with a top made up of pale pink blocks with appliqué figures of 'Sunbonnet Sue' in various materials. USA, 1930's (TRC 2022.1145).On a personal note – I have been helping with the TRC quilts for about four years now, becoming interested after seeing the Feedsack exhibition ‘For a few sacks more’ in 2018.
It now looks likely that I will be moving back to the UK sometime later this year and I wondered if there would be anyone reading this who would be interested in taking over this voluntary role at the TRC. It is not necessary to be an expert in antique quilts (although we wouldn’t turn you away….) – I am a quiltmaker, not a quilt historian and I have very much enjoyed the privilege of being able to handle and work with some very fine examples that I could only admire from afar before. If you live within easy reach of Leiden and are interested, please let us know and I would be only too pleased to introduce you to the quilt collection and the way in which we document it.
Beverley Bennett, 14 March 2023
