LC National Digital Library Program announces release of "Quilts and Quiltmaking in America"

[Tamara Swora-Gober <tswo@xxxxxxx>]

This message is being widely posted

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Quilts and Quiltmaking in America now available on American Memory

The Library of Congress National Digital Library Program and the
American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress are pleased to
announce the release of the online presentation ?Quilts and Quiltmaking
in America, 1978-1996? at the following url

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/qlthtml/qlthome.html

There are many ways to study quiltmaking, but one of the most rewarding
is to look at the kinds of quilts that were made in a particular time
and place.  To understand the local picture, however, a researcher needs
to know how the local traditions compare with national trends or with
local traditions elsewhere.  Quilts and Quiltmaking in America presents
181 segments from recorded interviews with quiltmakers and 410 graphic
images (prints, positive transparencies, and negatives) from two
collections in the American Folklife Center: the Blue Ridge Parkway
Folklife Project and the Lands? End All-American Quilt Contest
Collection.  The images of the quilts convey the range of contemporary
quiltmaking styles in the United States, while the recorded interview
segments provide a more in-depth portrait of quiltmaking within the
context of the quiltmakers? lives and region.

The quilt-related information in the Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project
is significant because it represents in-depth interviews with a number
of quiltmakers within a limited geographic area during the
late-twentieth-century quiltmaking revival.  Photographs and brief
interview segments were chosen from the collection by the project?s
consultant, Laurel Horton, to provide viewers with a guide to the story
of quiltmaking in the Blue Ridge. She selected six individuals who
represent a cross-section of the quiltmakers in the region at the time
of the project (1978) and selected photographs and narratives of both
historic and newly made quilts.  Because the interview subjects present
a range of backgrounds, motivations, and aesthetic sensibilities, their
interviews reveal the difficulty of defining a single ?Appalachian?
quiltmaking tradition.  The quilts selected represent a range of
functional types, including utility bedquilts, elaborate special quilts,
and those made to sell at craft shops and flea markets.  As a result,
the interviews and visual images demonstrate both continuing local
traditions and the influence of the national quilt revival.

In the years since it was created, the Blue Ridge collection has become
an important source of historical information.  In order to enhance its
accessibility to researchers who may be hearing-impaired, unfamiliar
with the dialect of the subject or interviewer, use English as a second
language, or need clarification of quilt-related vocabulary or local
place names, all audio material in this online collection has been
transcribed by Ms. Horton.

The Lands? End collection provides a different but complementary window
into late-twentieth-century quiltmaking.  This online presentation
documents the 181 state and national winners of contests sponsored by
the company in 1992, 1994, and 1996, and reflects a sampling of
excellent design and technical skill characteristic of prizewinning
quilts during this period.  This collection is important because it
represents a large number of quilt images from all across the country
and because it includes statements provided by the makers in surveys
about their quilts.  The Lands? End contest winners represent a
widerange of quiltmaking activity, from highly traditional to innovative.

Digitizing the Sound Recordings and Photographs

The sound recordings presented in the online collection were taken from
the original seven-inch reel-to-reel tape recordings in the Library's
collections.  The analog audio from the tapes was transferred to Digital
Audio Tape (DAT) to produce a master source for digitization.  Some
background noise may be apparent on the recordings.  The audio files
have not been digitally enhanced or altered in any way from their
original state.  WAVE and RealAudio versions have been supplied for each recording.

For the photographs, an uncompressed archival or master file was
produced for each photograph, as well as three derivative files. The
level of resolution employed ranges from 3000-by-2000 pixels to
5000-by-4000 pixels, depending on the types of original materials.

Please direct any questions to NDLPCOLL@xxxxxxx