The Quilt Research Collections at UNL Libraries document the history of quilts, quilt makers, and quilt making and include published and primary source materials that support academic studies and independent research. The collections are intended to include:
Reference works and specialized monographs, along with a wide range of journals, periodicals, and newsletters
Research papers and personal ephemera from quilt scholars, historians, artists, and others in related fields
Official records of quilt-related organizations
The core collection, also known as the rare book collection, is housed in the Archives & Special Collections and can be explored through the Libraries catalog. It includes:
- Books on quilts that feature unique characteristics
- Autographed, inscribed, or association copies
- Books containing marginalia and manuscript notations
- Historically significant books, or those authored by renowned figures in the field
- Exhibition catalogs from quilt shows at the local, regional, national, and international levels
Now Available
Michael James
Michael James is a leader of the art quilt movement that began in the 1970s with the exhibition of quilts as an art form. His papers consist of correspondence, manuscripts, exhibit materials, journals, photographs, slides, and other materials that illustrate his creative work and the processes for their exhibition and promotion, along with the teaching and academic administration aspects of his career. The papers enhance the understanding of the art quilt movement, both its development and impact. Researchers will also learn about the deep connections between artists in the quilt community.
Michael James, Studio Quilt Artist Papers
Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. (SAQA)
SAQA is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the art quilt as a creative work. The records show the development of the organization into a community that includes artists and associated professional that support creativity, education, and promotion of the quilt art form. Selected materials in the records include newsletters and journals, historical and administrative records, and those on activities associated with Professional Artist Members, Art in Public Places, and others.
Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA), Records
Mildred Marie Blackerby Dickerson
Born in 1920, in Bessemer, Alabama, Dickerson received her first quilt pattern at age 14, the first in a later focus on collecting quilt patterns. Dickerson sought to create an almost complete collection of quilt patterns that appeared mainly in newspapers, farm magazines, and through mail-order companies. Original patterns illustrate the development of this creative too and business model for quilting. Selected patterns include those by Nancy Cabot, Aunt Martha’s Studio, Home Art Studio, Dutch Girl Quilting, Aunt Kate's Quilting Bee, Mrs. Danner's Quilts, Rainbow Quilt Block Co., McKim Studios, Anne Cabot, Nancy Page, among others. The collection also includes patterns developed by specific newspapers, such as the Kansas City Star.
Mildred Dickerson, Quilt Pattern Research Collection
About the Collections
The Quilt Research Collections at the Archives & Special Collections of the University of Nebraska - Lincoln Libraries tell the story of how quilts have been preserved, studied, and celebrated as both art and history. What began with a single donation in 1999 is now one of the most significant archives of quilt scholarship, research, and creativity.
Supporting Student Success
Kierra Dunnam is exploring stitches in time through an archival internship at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln focused on processing materials in quilt research collections housed in the University Libraries' Archives and Special Collections.
Working with the Michael James, Studio Quilt Artist Papers really solidified for me that this is what I want to do — to be able to witness, learn and share someone’s personal history.
