A rare collection of 90 antique Amish quilts for children os showcased in this brilliantly colorful volume.
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About the Author
Janneken Smucker is the Graduate Curatorial Assistant for the International Quilt Study Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She expects to complete her Master of Arts degree in Textile History and Quilt Studies with a minor in Museum Studies from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in May 2003. Her research interests include Amish and Mennonite quilts and quiltmakers, intercultural aspects of material culture, and Anabaptist history. She was a 2002 scholarship recipient from both the Lincoln Quilters’ Guild and the American Quilt Study Group.
Patricia Cox Crews is Director of the International Quilt Study Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Professor in the Department of Textiles, Clothing and Design. She served as primary editor for Nebraska Quilts and Quiltmakers (University of Nebraska Press, 1991), which won the Smithsonian’s Frost Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in American Crafts in 1993. More recently she edited the exhibition catalogue A Flowering of Quilts (University of Nebraska Press, 2001).
Her research interests include American textile history, particularly American quilts and 19th century dyeing and printing techniques. Her research also focuses on textile conservation issues, including the lightfastness of natural dyes and environmental effects on museum textiles.
Linda Welters is Professor in the Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design Department at the University of Rhode Island. Her research interests include American quilts, archaeological textiles, and European folk dress. She edits Dress, the scholarly journal of the Costume Society of America. She co-edited and contributed to Down by the Old Mill Stream: Quilts in Rhode Island (Kent State University Press, 2000). Welters directed the Rhode Island Quilt Documentation Project, which won an Award of Merit from the American Association of State and Local History in 2001. She was a Visiting Faculty Fellow at the International Quilt Study Center for the 2002-2003 academic year.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Introduction
by Patricia Cox Crews
Amish quilts, in general, and Amish crib quilts, in particular, represent a unique tradition within the broader context of American arts and crafts. Amish quilts in crib and youth-bed sizes are not made with the frequency that full-sized Amish quilts are made, despite the relatively large families common within Amish society. Collectors, dealers, scholars, and quilt aficionados appreciate Amish quilts for their visual qualities and exceptionally fine needlework, but some collectors especially prize the so-called crib quilts made by Amish women because of their rarity and special status. Therefore, I was intrigued when a collection of 90 Amish crib quilts was offered to the International Quilt Study Center (IQSC) by Xenia Cord, owner of an antique quilts brokerage in Kokomo, Indiana. The collection had been assembled by Sara Miller from Kalona, Iowa, a woman who had spent much of her life as a member of the Old Order Amish church.
Our surprise at being offered such a unique collection prompted us to engage Darwin Bearley to survey and evaluate the Miller Collection. Bearley, an antique quilt dealer located in Akron, Ohio, owns a personal collection of Amish crib quilts numbering about 50. He expressed surprise that he had never heard of the Amish woman who assembled such a large collection of crib quilts. After viewing the collection, he stated that he believed all were authentic and that the quality in general was "extremely high." He felt that a number of the crib quilts were "very unusual and unique ones." With the Sara Miller Collection of Amish crib quilts vetted, Robert and Ardis James generously decided to acquire the remarkable collection on behalf of the IQSC in September, 2000, preserving it for future generations to study and enjoy.
The Miller Collection consists of 90 Amish crib quilts, dating from the early 1900s to the 1960s. With single-minded purpose and a discerning eye, Sara Miller assembled this extraordinary collection. She occupies a unique position among collectors of Amish quilts. She is one of the few insiders (possibly the only insider) who has amassed a collection of Amish quilts, and the only collector affiliated with the Amish who has assembled a collection of crib quilts, so far as we can tell.
Soon after we acquired the Miller Collection, IQSC Curator Carolyn Ducey and I began to explore possible venues for an exhibition on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus. Since most of the Miller quilts were believed to have a Midwestern provenance, we decided to approach Reese Summers, Curator of the Great Plains Art Collection. He responded with enthusiasm and a willingness to devote one part of the new Christlieb Gallery for an entire year to the proposed exhibition. As planning progressed for the future exhibition, we determined that it would not be possible to display all 90 quilts at one time in the Great Plains Art Collection Christlieb Gallery. At the same time, it was the firm belief of Reese Summers that the exhibition would have greater appeal to audiences if all 90 quilts were displayed. Therefore, we decided to display 22 to 23 quilts at a time, with a new group every three months, so that visitors could see the entire collection by returning to view each of the four rotations between February 2003 and February 2004.
Fortuitously, about the time that preliminary planning began for the future exhibition of the Miller Collection, a new graduate student, Janneken Smucker, entered the University of Nebraska's masters program in textile history with a quilt studies emphasis. She expressed an interest in undertaking the curatorial research for the exhibition as her masters project. Researching the Miller Collection and serving as exhibition curator matched Janneken's background, education, and interests: Janneken Smucker is of Mennonite background and is a graduate in history and women's studies from Goshen (Indiana) College, a small Mennonite liberal arts college. Not only is she descended from a line of quiltmakers, she is a quiltmaker herself. Her educational and religious background (both the Amish and the Mennonites are Germanic sectarian religious groups) provided her with special insights into the Amish culture, thereby enriching her research of the collection and informing her thoughtful essay in this volume.
Another fortuitous circumstance, which further contributed to the scholarship of this project, was Dr. Linda Welters' application for an IQSC Visiting Faculty Fellowship. Dr. Welters is Professor of Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design at the University of Rhode Island. She proposed to apply symmetry analysis to the Sara Miller Collection of Amish crib quilts. Symmetry analysis can be applied to repeating patterns found in nature and human artifacts. The model for symmetry analysis that Welters proposed to use was set forth by Dorothy Washburn and Donald Crowe in Symmetries of Culture: Theory and Practice of Plane Pattern Analysis. They demonstrate how preferences for particular symmetry patterns offer clues to cultural beliefs and practices, including aspects of group identity and cultural contact. Welters argued persuasively that quilts with their repeating block patterns were well suited to meaningful symmetry analysis. She further noted that, "Connecting quilts to cultural patterns requires a substantial number of quilts from a culture or region. The 90 Amish crib quilts in the Sara Miler Collection at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln offer such an opportunity." The Fellows of the International Quilt Study Center voted unanimously to award her the Visiting Faculty Fellowship for 2002-2003. Her intriguing essay for this volume is the product of her research at the IQSC.
Carolyn Ducey and I anticipated that the exhibition would be of interest to other museums, and, indeed, that proved to be the case. Merle and Phyllis Good, owners of Good Books and directors/curators of The People's Place Quilt Museum in Intercourse, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, visited the IQSC during Sep-tember, 2002, to explore the possibility of future exhibitions and publications in partnership with the IQSC. After learning more about the planned exhibition of the Miller Collection, they immediately expressed an interest in serving as a venue for the Midwestern Amish crib quilt exhibition and in publishing the accompanying book. The timing of their initial visit could not have been better. We are very pleased that in March, 2003, the first of two rotations of this exhibition will travel to The People's Place Quilt Museum, a museum devoted to the exhibition of antique Amish and Mennonite quilts. Located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, The People's Place Quilt Museum promises to bring the Sara Miller Collection to the attention of appreciative visitors and residents of the oldest existing Amish settlement in the United States.
(continued)
by Patricia Cox Crews
Amish quilts, in general, and Amish crib quilts, in particular, represent a unique tradition within the broader context of American arts and crafts. Amish quilts in crib and youth-bed sizes are not made with the frequency that full-sized Amish quilts are made, despite the relatively large families common within Amish society. Collectors, dealers, scholars, and quilt aficionados appreciate Amish quilts for their visual qualities and exceptionally fine needlework, but some collectors especially prize the so-called crib quilts made by Amish women because of their rarity and special status. Therefore, I was intrigued when a collection of 90 Amish crib quilts was offered to the International Quilt Study Center (IQSC) by Xenia Cord, owner of an antique quilts brokerage in Kokomo, Indiana. The collection had been assembled by Sara Miller from Kalona, Iowa, a woman who had spent much of her life as a member of the Old Order Amish church.
Our surprise at being offered such a unique collection prompted us to engage Darwin Bearley to survey and evaluate the Miller Collection. Bearley, an antique quilt dealer located in Akron, Ohio, owns a personal collection of Amish crib quilts numbering about 50. He expressed surprise that he had never heard of the Amish woman who assembled such a large collection of crib quilts. After viewing the collection, he stated that he believed all were authentic and that the quality in general was "extremely high." He felt that a number of the crib quilts were "very unusual and unique ones." With the Sara Miller Collection of Amish crib quilts vetted, Robert and Ardis James generously decided to acquire the remarkable collection on behalf of the IQSC in September, 2000, preserving it for future generations to study and enjoy.
The Miller Collection consists of 90 Amish crib quilts, dating from the early 1900s to the 1960s. With single-minded purpose and a discerning eye, Sara Miller assembled this extraordinary collection. She occupies a unique position among collectors of Amish quilts. She is one of the few insiders (possibly the only insider) who has amassed a collection of Amish quilts, and the only collector affiliated with the Amish who has assembled a collection of crib quilts, so far as we can tell.
Soon after we acquired the Miller Collection, IQSC Curator Carolyn Ducey and I began to explore possible venues for an exhibition on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus. Since most of the Miller quilts were believed to have a Midwestern provenance, we decided to approach Reese Summers, Curator of the Great Plains Art Collection. He responded with enthusiasm and a willingness to devote one part of the new Christlieb Gallery for an entire year to the proposed exhibition. As planning progressed for the future exhibition, we determined that it would not be possible to display all 90 quilts at one time in the Great Plains Art Collection Christlieb Gallery. At the same time, it was the firm belief of Reese Summers that the exhibition would have greater appeal to audiences if all 90 quilts were displayed. Therefore, we decided to display 22 to 23 quilts at a time, with a new group every three months, so that visitors could see the entire collection by returning to view each of the four rotations between February 2003 and February 2004.
Fortuitously, about the time that preliminary planning began for the future exhibition of the Miller Collection, a new graduate student, Janneken Smucker, entered the University of Nebraska's masters program in textile history with a quilt studies emphasis. She expressed an interest in undertaking the curatorial research for the exhibition as her masters project. Researching the Miller Collection and serving as exhibition curator matched Janneken's background, education, and interests: Janneken Smucker is of Mennonite background and is a graduate in history and women's studies from Goshen (Indiana) College, a small Mennonite liberal arts college. Not only is she descended from a line of quiltmakers, she is a quiltmaker herself. Her educational and religious background (both the Amish and the Mennonites are Germanic sectarian religious groups) provided her with special insights into the Amish culture, thereby enriching her research of the collection and informing her thoughtful essay in this volume.
Another fortuitous circumstance, which further contributed to the scholarship of this project, was Dr. Linda Welters' application for an IQSC Visiting Faculty Fellowship. Dr. Welters is Professor of Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design at the University of Rhode Island. She proposed to apply symmetry analysis to the Sara Miller Collection of Amish crib quilts. Symmetry analysis can be applied to repeating patterns found in nature and human artifacts. The model for symmetry analysis that Welters proposed to use was set forth by Dorothy Washburn and Donald Crowe in Symmetries of Culture: Theory and Practice of Plane Pattern Analysis. They demonstrate how preferences for particular symmetry patterns offer clues to cultural beliefs and practices, including aspects of group identity and cultural contact. Welters argued persuasively that quilts with their repeating block patterns were well suited to meaningful symmetry analysis. She further noted that, "Connecting quilts to cultural patterns requires a substantial number of quilts from a culture or region. The 90 Amish crib quilts in the Sara Miler Collection at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln offer such an opportunity." The Fellows of the International Quilt Study Center voted unanimously to award her the Visiting Faculty Fellowship for 2002-2003. Her intriguing essay for this volume is the product of her research at the IQSC.
Carolyn Ducey and I anticipated that the exhibition would be of interest to other museums, and, indeed, that proved to be the case. Merle and Phyllis Good, owners of Good Books and directors/curators of The People's Place Quilt Museum in Intercourse, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, visited the IQSC during Sep-tember, 2002, to explore the possibility of future exhibitions and publications in partnership with the IQSC. After learning more about the planned exhibition of the Miller Collection, they immediately expressed an interest in serving as a venue for the Midwestern Amish crib quilt exhibition and in publishing the accompanying book. The timing of their initial visit could not have been better. We are very pleased that in March, 2003, the first of two rotations of this exhibition will travel to The People's Place Quilt Museum, a museum devoted to the exhibition of antique Amish and Mennonite quilts. Located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, The People's Place Quilt Museum promises to bring the Sara Miller Collection to the attention of appreciative visitors and residents of the oldest existing Amish settlement in the United States.
(continued)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Surprising and lovely...,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Amish Crib Quilts from the Midwest: The Sara Millier Collection (Paperback)
This book presents beautiful and clear color photographs of the Sara Miller Amish crib quilt collection, combined with the authors' detailed knowledge of the Amish quilting experience. Not having known much previously about Amish quilting, I was surprised by how beautiful and modern in appearance the quilts were. If you love to look at photos of interesting quilts, and are interested in American history, this is an outstanding book.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amish Crib Quilts From the Midwest: The Sara Miller Collection,
By Zipper (Southern CA USA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Amish Crib Quilts from the Midwest: The Sara Millier Collection (Paperback)
Sara Miller is Amish and owns her own quilt shop out on the family farm near Kalona, Ia. Who better to have the best collection of Amish crib quilts ever. Crib quilts are used hard and loved to shreds by their owners. These quilts are beautiful rare quilts that have survived childhood. I lost my first book of Sara's quilts that I bought from her at her store 13 years ago. I was very happy to find the current version on Amazon, so I could purchase it again for my quilt reference library. If you love quilts, this book is worth owning.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Colorful and Inspiring,
By
This review is from: Amish Crib Quilts from the Midwest: The Sara Millier Collection (Paperback)
This book contains page after page of richly colored Amish quilts in a variety of patterns and settings - literally a rainbow of quilts! At times I found the text to be a bit dry, but the background and historical information was very thorough and definitely worth reading. The author has put together a wonderful, well-rounded collection of quilts that will inspire you to want to make a few of your own. If you are a fan of Amish quilts, you will absolutely love this book!
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Amish quilts, in general, and Amish crib quilts, in particular, represent a unique tradition within the broader context of American arts and crafts. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
quiltmaking practices, finite designs, crib quilts, quilt features, symmetry analysis, quilting stitches, cotton sateen, glide reflection, quilting patterns, quilting designs, color symmetry, block format, textile history, quilt design, center diamond Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Sara Miller Collection, International Quilt Study Center, Lancaster County, Log Cabin, Holmes County, Nine Patch, Midwestern United States, One Patch, Old Order Amish, Pine Tree, Stars Maker, Barn Door, Ocean Waves, Star of Bethlehem, University of Washington Press, Bow Tie, Ohio Amish, Symmetries of Culture, Barn Raising, Dodge City, Amos Bontrager, Chinese Coins Maker, Eve Wheatcroft Granick, Lancaster Amish, Straight Furrow New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Amish quilts, in general, and Amish crib quilts, in particular, represent a unique tradition within the broader context of American arts and crafts. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
quiltmaking practices, finite designs, crib quilts, quilt features, symmetry analysis, quilting stitches, cotton sateen, glide reflection, quilting patterns, quilting designs, color symmetry, block format, textile history, quilt design, center diamond Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Sara Miller Collection, International Quilt Study Center, Lancaster County, Log Cabin, Holmes County, Nine Patch, Midwestern United States, One Patch, Old Order Amish, Pine Tree, Stars Maker, Barn Door, Ocean Waves, Star of Bethlehem, University of Washington Press, Bow Tie, Ohio Amish, Symmetries of Culture, Barn Raising, Dodge City, Amos Bontrager, Chinese Coins Maker, Eve Wheatcroft Granick, Lancaster Amish, Straight Furrow New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 20
books:
See all 20 books this book cites
- The Amish Quilt by Eve Wheatcroft Granick on 5 pages
- Symmetries of Culture: Theory and Practice of Plane Pattern Analysis by Dorothy K. Washburn on 4 pages
- A Quiet Spirit: Amish Quilts from the Collection of Cindy Tietze & Stuart Hodosh by Donald B. Kraybill in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Amish Society by John A. Hostetler in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- The Riddle of Amish Culture (Center Books in Anabaptist Studies) by Donald B. Kraybill in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
See all 20 books this book cites
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