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Good Afternoon, This announcement is being sent to a number of lists; please accept our apologies for any duplicate announcements. Quilts and Quiltmaking in America now available on American Memory The 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. 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 wide range of quiltmaking activity, from highly traditional to innovative. This addition to the American Memory Historical Collections can be accessed at the following url: <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/qlthtml/qlthome.html> The mission of the Library of Congress is to make its resources available and useful to Congress and the American people and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations. The goal of the Library's National Digital Library Program is to offer broad public access to a wide range of historical and cultural documents as a contribution to education and lifelong learning. Please direct any questions to NDLPCOLL@loc.gov -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-= All postings to LM_NET are protected under copyright law. To quit LM_NET (or set-reset NOMAIL or DIGEST), send email to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL or 3) SET LM_NET DIGEST 4) SET LM_NET MAIL * Please allow for confirmation from Listserv For LM_NET Help & Archives see: http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=