Quiltmakers

Scope and Contents Carolyn Malzoomi is a scholar, author, curator, quilter and founder of The Women of Color Quilters Network. In the interview, Mazloomi discusses the origins of the Network as a forum for African American quilters to learn the historical significance of African American quiltmaking and develop as working artists. Throughout the interview she speaks about the process of designing and creating her quilts, the significance of using cotton in her work, and the challenges she faces when making...

Abstract The Eleanor Loos Boelte Quilt Collection primarily contains quilt kit materials used by Eleanor Loos Boelte (1906-2000), likely in her late-teens to early adulthood, or approximately the mid 1920s to the early 1940s. Materials in this collection directly relate to a pink and white embroidered kit quilt made by Boelte, which was accessioned into the American Folk Art Museum’s collection in 2014. This collection exemplifies the process of making kit quilts in the early 20th century and is...

Abstract This collection primarily comprises letters written by self-taught artist Mary K. Borkowski to Jacqueline Loewe Fowler, former trustee of the American Folk Art Museum (AFAM), in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In her letters, Borkowski updates Fowler on events in her work and life, from the status of the pieces she is working on, to career achievements, to personal challenges. The letters are beautifully candid. Borkowski clearly held Fowler in high esteem, not only as a customer and...

Abstract The New York Quilt Project (NYQP) was initiated by the American Folk Art Museum and attempted to locate, document, preserve, and create an archive for the quilts made in New York State prior to 1940. The documented quilts were made from 1753 to 1940. Archival material includes photographs and questionnaires for more than six thousand quilts, administrative files for the NYQP, research files for the 150 quilts featured in the catalog New York Beauties, as well...

Abstract

The Roy Marie Williams Quilting Collection includes a variety of quilting patterns from Texas and national publications from approximately 1929 to 1950s.