An Introduction to the History of American Quiltmaking
An Annotated Bibliography
By Olivia Esteban
Callahan, N. (2005). The Freedom Quilting Bee . University of Alabama Press.
This book highlights a cooperative of Gee’s Bend’s Black women quilters who used their work to start the Freedom Quilting Bee, a quilting cooperative that was started in 1966 to generate income to the community of Black Americans who lost their homes and jobs after registering to vote. Published in 1987, Callahan provides a history of the FQB, the artists who founded it, and its significance during the Civil Rights movement.
https://search.worldcat.org/en/title/1395183427
Freedom Quilting Bee Legacy. (2023). FQB Artists. Freedom Quilting Bee.
The webpage for the Freedom Quilting Bee provides biographical information of the founding mothers and other artists who have continued to champion the work of the FQB. This pages serves as a good introduction to the artists of the FQB as well as photos of the quilts that they have created.This book highlights a cooperative of Gee’s Bend’s Black women quilters who used their work to start the Freedom Quilting Bee, a quilting cooperative that was started in 1966 to generate income to the community of Black Americans who lost their homes and jobs after registering to vote. Published in 1987, Callahan provides a history of the FQB, the artists who founded it, and its significance during the Civil Rights movement.
https://fqblegacy.org/fqb-artists/.
Library of Congress. (n.d.). About this Collection | Quilts and Quiltmaking in America, 1978-1996 | Digital Collections | Library of Congress. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.
This webpage features two collections in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress from the Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project Collection, and the Lands’ End All-American Quilt Contest Collection. It provides a good example of the quilt styles that were popular during the late 20th century. This collection also provides images of not only the quilts but photos of the artists as well.
Linda Elisabeth LaPinta. (2023). Kentucky Quilts and Quiltmakers (Hardcover). University Press of Kentucky.
LaPinta’s book provides a history of quiltmaking in Kentucky from Colonial America to today. The author discusses both the history of quiltmaking in Kentucky with chapters such as “Early Black quiltmakers and Quilters,” “Frontier Needlework to Commonwealth Quilt Commerce,” as well as detailed explanations and histories of various techniques and advancements in quiltmaking like the impact of the sewing machine. LaPinta also provides a lot of miscellaneous information for quilters in Kentucky and beyond, with appendixes like “Quilt Care,” “Kentucky Quilt Care and Online Quilt Resources,” and “How to Pad and Fold a Quilt for Storage.”
https://search.worldcat.org/title/1395183427
Lisa Gail Collins. (2023). Stitching Love and Loss: A Gee’s Bend Quilt. University of Washington Press.
Tells the story of how Arlonzia Pettway’s mother, Missouri, stitched a quilt out of her husband’s clothes after he passed. The author describes the role of grief in both the Pettways’ story and the larger history of quiltmaking among the Black women quilters in Gee’s Bend, Alabama.
https://search.worldcat.org/title/1381106399
MacDowell, M., & C. Kurt Dewhurst. (1997). To Honor and Comfort: Native Quilting Traditions. Museum of New Mexico Press in association with Michigan State University Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
To Honor and Comfort originally began as an exhibition showcasing Native American and Hawaiian quiltmaking. The book features essays on quiltmaking techniques and traditions among different Native American communities, such as the Winnebago Ribbon Quilts and the Yuwupi giveaway quilts.
https://search.worldcat.org/title/37261019
National AIDS Memorial. (2021). The History of the Quilt. Www.aidsmemorial.org; National AIDS Memorial.
This website provides information and photos about the AIDS Memorial Quilt that was created in rememberance of those who died during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. The website provides a history about the quilt’s origins, and how its legacy has lived on for the past 35 years. This website is a great resource about the Memorial AIDS Quilt and provides a lot of vital information about the impact that the quilt made.
https://www.aidsmemorial.org/quilt-history.
National Parks Service. (2022, February 9). Quilt Discovery Experience - Homestead National Monument of America (U.S. National Park Service). Www.nps.gov; National Parks Service.
This collection is from the National Parks Service webpage for the Quilt Discovery Tour Homestead National Historical Park in Nebraska. The styles of the quilts that are on display were popular among women of families as they headed West after the enactment of the Homestead Act of 1862. Each pattern type is explained in detail, like the Log Cabin style, the Double Wedding Ring, and Sunbonnet Sue.
https://www.nps.gov/home/planyourvisit/quilt-discovery-experience.htm
Phipps, E. (2009, August). The Materials and Techniques of American Quilts and Coverlets - The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Metmuseum.org; The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
This essay by Elena Phipps from the Metropolitan Museum of Art discusses the history of quilt production in the United States from an art history perspective. While most sources in this list focus on the construction of quilts, this essay details the processes in which fabrics were acquired, dyed, colored, and printed as well. Additionally, the online essay is embedded with in-text references that users can click on to access and photos of the referenced quilts.
https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/the-materials-and-techniques-of-american-quilts-and-coverlets.
Smithsonian. (2025, March 11). National Quilt Collection. National Museum of American History; Smithsonian.
This website from the National Quilt Collection provides photos of each quilt in the collection with a brief description of each work. The metadata for the collection provides a history of the quilt, the materials used, the size, and the artist. This is a great introduction to the quilts from different time periods of history, and a great way to see the variations in quilts throughout American history.
https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object-groups/national-quilt-collection.
Smucker, J. (2017). Amish Quilts: Crafting an American Icon. In Johns Hopkins University Press eBooks. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Explores the history of the Amish style of quilting in the United States through an artistic and commercialized lens. This book catalogs the history of how the patterns and styles of Amish quilts’ evolved into an art style that has been commercialized in the US today.
https://doi.org/10.1353/book.72093
The Quilt Index. (n.d.). Quiltindex.org. Retrieved March 11, 2025 from https://quiltindex.org/.
The Quilt Index was originally published in 2003 as a digital repository of information about quilting and patchwork. It is currently a digital humanities research and education project of Matrix: The Center for Digital Humanities & Social Sciences at Michigan State University. Information is categorized under essays, exhibitions, galleries, lesson plans, and ephemera. For researchers just starting to learn about quilting, the Quilt Index is a great place to start.
Visit Gee's Bend. (2014). Visit Gee’s Bend. Visit Gee’s Bend; Souls Grown Deep. Retrieved March 11, 2025
The history of Gee’s Bend, Alabama is outlined on Gee’s Bend’s website. It’s a good introduction to the town of Gee’s Bend and the community of Black patchwork quilters whose work spans generations and continues to influence contemporary quilting techniques today. Gee’s Bend’s quilts are an integral aspect of contemporary American quilting and patchwork and its historical and artistic significance remains a pillar of US quilting history.
https://www.geesbend.org/history-of-gees-bend
Wallach, A. (2006, October). Fabric of Their Lives. Smithsonian Magazine.
This article from Smithsonian Magazine discusses over 60 quilts from Gee’s Bend, Alabama that were pieced between the that were on display as a traveling exhibition across art museums in the US in 2006 and interviews Anna Mae Young who made six of the quilts, who was 78 at the time of writing. The article outlines the history of the distinctive style of the quilts in Gee’s Bend, Alabama that became popular during the Civil Rights Movement in the US. The techniques and stylistic structures from the quilts of Gee’s Bend are a great example of the influence of Black quiltmakers on contemporary quilting and patchwork in the US today.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/fabric-of-their-lives-132757004/.
Wong, T. D. (2022). Sewing & survival : Native American quilts from 1880 - 2022. Third Floor Quilts.
Sewing and Survival by Teresa Duryea Wong gives a history of Native American quiltmaking from 1880-2022. Wong provides a history of how quiltmaking rose to prominence in the late 19th century and how the traditions of Native American quiltmaking influence the quilts being made today.