Janneken Smucker

Janneken Smucker

2016-11-21

PA19383-01

Students in West Chester University's HIS 480: Digital History course interviewed their professor, Janneken Smucker, for their final project. Smucker talks about her background as both a quiltmaker and quilt historian, weighing in on issues including the Underground Railroad Quilt Controversy, the importance of quilts in American society, and the iconic role of Amish quilts in the late twentieth century.

video

Janneken Smucker

Drew Politski

Elizabeth Joe

4 2016-11-21 Janneken Smucker PA19383-01 Quilters' S.O.S. -- Save Our Stories Pennsylvania QSOS Quilt Alliance Amish quilts antique quilts Mennonite quilt industry Janneken Smucker Drew Politski 1080p 1:|20(8)|31(10)|43(1)|58(12)|69(8)|81(11)|93(4)|107(5)|117(13)|128(12)|138(16)|148(11)|158(4)|170(14)|181(8)|192(4)|204(4)|215(3)|229(8)|240(1)|249(8)|263(3)|273(14)|291(11)|301(7)|313(1)|322(11)|332(5)|343(5)|353(9)|365(11)|377(6)|387(7)|401(5)|412(4)|423(9)|433(7)|444(1)|457(10)|468(13)|479(5) 0 http://youtu.be/DeivpYa7src YouTube video 0 Interview Introduction Welcome my name is Andrew Politsky, a student of history here at West Chester University. Andrew Politsky, a history major at West Chester University, introduces the interview with Janneken Smucker, assistant professor of history and president of the Quilt Alliance. The interview takes place at the Francis Harvey Green Library on West Chester University's campus. 39.950630, -75.598820 17 Francis Harvey Green Library, 25 W Rosedale Ave, West Chester PA 19383 http://www.janneken.org/ Provided is a link to Smucker's web page with background information and her work on quilt projects. 52 When did you first get involved with quilting? Well I grew up with quilts around my house. Smucker had grown up with quilts throughout her childhood. She grew up in a Mennonite family in northern Indiana. Her maternal grandmother and great-grandmother made many quilts, which her immediate family had in its home. She became interested in quilts as part of her cultural heritage. Mennonites learned quilt making in the 19th century once they lived in North America. When she was sixteen, Smucker created her own sampler quilt with the help of her mother and grandmother. She continued the hobby through high school and college. Amish quilts ; Home sewing machine ; Mennonite quilts ; Quilt Frame ; Quilt Purpose - Artistic expression ; Quilt Purpose - Personal enjoyment ; Sampler quilts 17 http://quiltalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/3-generations.png Smucker with her mother, Barbara McDowell Smucker and grandmother, Esther Beechy McDowell quilting her first quilt, 1996. 219 Do you see quilting as a family tradition? Sure I do see a real strong connection to my family heritage and I think that is where a big part of the appeal was. For Smucker, quilts are a significant part of her heritage and go back several generations. Her grandmother played an important role in introducing her to quiltmaking. Smucker's daughter (Calla) has shown interest in the hobby, helping shape designs and create patterns, as well as helping with the sewing machine pedal. Baby Quilt ; Generational quiltmaking ; Home sewing machine ; Quiltmaking for family ; Tradition 17 http://quiltalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/esther.png Smucker with her grandmother Esther Beechy McDowell. Esther is showing her granddaughter the first quilt she made. 310 Smucker's quilts, including the one hanging during the interview Well I would hesitate to even say that I have a quilt collection. Though her collection is not of substantial size, Smucker has made several quilts and still has her very first one she made as a teenager. In the past she has both sold and given quits as gifts. Smucker has also received quilts for different occasions and hangs on to antique quilts made by her grandmother. Baby Quilts ; Collecting quilts ; professional quiltmaker ; Quilt Collection ; Quilt Purpose - Gift or presentation ; Quilt Purpose - Personal income ; Quilt Research ; Quilts as gifts 17 http://quiltalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/JLS_sunrise_quilt.jpg The quilt Smucker displays in the interview. 455 On the relationship of quilts and memory Absolutely, I think that is one of the really distinct things about quilts as objects in material culture. According to Smucker, quilts tie us closely to our memories, sometimes due to family connections or an experience had with the quilt. Smucker sees quiltmaking as a convention of the young Mennonite women of the 1920s, such as her grandmother. Generational Quilting ; Material Culture ; Mennonite quilts ; Quilt Experience ; Quilt in the Community ; Quilt purpose 17 543 Where do your ideas for quilts come from? I would say the biggest inspiration for me in my quilt making is historic quilts. Smucker is drawn to historic quilts. As a graduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, she worked as a curatorial assistant at the International Quilt Study Center &amp ; Museum, home to the largest public collection of quilt. Smucker was exposed to thousands of different kinds of quilts. Working with volunteers, her job included handling, creating object descriptions of, and re-folding historic quilts. Personally, she is drawn to geometric, patchwork designs. Antique quilts ; applique ; Art quilts ; Contemporary quilts ; Curator ; Fabric - Printed patchwork ; Folding ; graduate school ; International Quilt Study Center &amp ; Museum ; Museum ; Patchwork quilts ; Quilt history ; Quilt shows/exhibitions ; University of Nebraska-Lincoln 40.829267, -96.673500 17 International Quilt Study Center &amp ; Museum, University of Nebraska-Lincoln http://quiltstudy.org/ International Quilt Study Center &amp ; Museum, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 700 Tell me about the quilt behind you This is one of the first quilts I made intended as a wall hanging. Smucker explains the quilt she brought today which is roughly seventeen years. Composed of various colors that represent different parts of nature, it reflect a sunset and landscape type of imagery. She made this particular quilt with leftover fabrics from other projects she had been working on. Color theory ; Fabric - Multiple scrap ; Materials ; Nature ; Stitches ; Symbolism 17 http://quiltalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/JLS_sunrise_quilt.jpg The quilt displayed in the interview. 835 Working with quilt oral histories Well as a board member and current president of the Quilt Alliance I've really been involved in our oral history projects. As a board member and president of the Quilt Alliance, Smucker has been involved with oral history projects documenting the stories of quiltmakers. Her primary goal is to make them accessible on the web. According to Smucker, technology has made this process easier but can be hard to implement due to budgetary reasons. Volunteers often help contribute to the sharing of these quilt stories. Transcribing has been difficult in the past since many interviews were recorded on cassette tapes, but new technologies today such as the Oral History Metadata Synchronizer allow for easier methods of creating access to interviews. According to Smucker one of the obstacles as a historian is adapting to these new technologies. Archive ; computer ; Computer Systems ; Digital History ; Indexing ; Knowledge transfer ; OHMS ; Oral History ; Quilt Alliance ; Quilt history ; Quilt Interviews ; Quilt Projects ; Quilters' S.O.S. -- Save Our Stories ; Speech Recognition Software ; Technology in quiltmaking ; Volunteer 17 http://quiltalliance.org/projects/qsos/ About Quilters' S.O.S. -- Save Our Stories 1131 On the significance of quilt history There is a lot of fascinating things about the history of quilt making. As Smucker explains, quiltmaking has been transformed by industrialization, including through the widespread use of commercial fabrics and materials. Adding to this, technologies such as the sewing machine, led to a real “democratization” of the art. The later portion of the twentieth century saw the biggest explosion of quiltmaking, transforming it into a multi-billion dollar industry. She also notes that since the early 19th century in United States history, Americans regarded quilts as “old timey,” and “something on the way out.” However, having stuck around as an art form, quilting has maintained that feeling of old-fashionedness and quiltmakers have embraced it the nostalgic aspects of the artform. American culture ; Fabric - Reproduction ; Hand quilting ; Home sewing machine ; Industrialization ; material culture ; Old fashioned ; Quilt culture ; Quilt history ; Quilt industry ; Quilt Purpose - Personal income ; Technology in quiltmaking 17 http://worldquilts.quiltstudy.org/americanstory/business/industrialrevolution &quot ; Industrialization,&quot ; World Quilts: The American Story, International Quilt Study Center &amp ; Museum. 1279 Technology and quiltmaking You mentioned technologies and how it advanced the art of quiltmaking. Do you think technology is taking away the art of quiltmaking or taking away this old fashioned approach? Smucker explains how technology has affected quiltmaking in that there is now a greater emphasis on precision and that this, in a way, takes away from the tactile quality of a more traditional quilt. She mentions her recent experience at the International Quilt Festival in Houston Texas, where she saw many technically amazing quilts. She notes that some of the creativity and idea of making a quilt for the sake of a quilt may be lost in the focus on technical excellence in competitions. To her it is more the “expression” and “symbolism” of giving a quilt that motivates her to create. Awards ; creativity ; excellence ; experimentation ; expression ; fabrics ; giving ; grandmother ; Houston, Texas ; International Quilt Festival ; meaning ; old fashioned ; precision ; Quilt competitions ; Quilt shows/exhibitions ; symbolism ; tactile ; Technology in quiltmaking ; workmanship 17 1414 Her book: &quot ; Amish Quilts Crafting an American Icon&quot ; Why would you consider Amish Quilts an American Icon? She first explains how Amish quilts rose to an iconic status, becoming, in a way a, “cult objects” in the 1970s and 80s through New York art enthusiasts &quot ; discovering&quot ; these objects and appreciating their abstract/ minimalist characteristics. Smucker notes that these characteristics were similar to the works of notable artists such as Mark Rothko, Josef Albers, Barnett Newman, and Kenneth Noland. This discovery helped to launch the craze for Amish quilts. She cites their use in advertising. The Amish had distinct patterns that truly became classic after this movement, reaching an “elite status.” Absolute Vodka ; abstract ; Aesthetics ; Amish quiltmakers ; Amish quilts ; antique stores ; art enthusiasts ; Barnett Newman ; classic patterns ; countryside ; distinct ; elite status ; Iconic status ; Josef Albers ; Kenneth Noland ; Mark Rothko ; marketing campaigns ; minimalism ; money ; outdoor markets ; painting ; patterns ; postage stamps 17 https://www.amazon.com/Amish-Quilts-Crafting-American-Anabaptist/dp/1421410532/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp ; qid=1481761656&amp ; sr=8-1&amp ; keywords=amish+quilts+crafting+an+american+icon A link to her book &quot ; Amish Quilts Crafting an American Icon,&quot ; on amazon.com 1555 The Underground Railroad Quilt Code as folklore sure it's a great question it's become known now as among the quilt circles as the Underground Railroad Quilt Code this is a bit of folklore that's been perpetuated through several publications Smucker discusses the folklore of quilts as used in the Underground Railroad. She points to the books &quot ; Sweet Clara the Freedom Quilt&quot ; and &quot ; Hidden in Plain View,&quot ; which talk about the folklore that slaves secretly sewed hidden maps and codes into quilts that would help enslaved individuals find freedom through the Underground Railroad. There is little evidence supporting the Quilt Code because the Underground Railroad, while inspiring, only helped a limited number of slaves to freedom, and there is no other supporting evidence to verify the use of quilts. She does not believe that perpetuating the folklore is bad, but the Quilt Code should be viewed as folklore instead of fact. &quot ; Hidden in Plain View&quot ; (book) ; &quot ; Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt&quot ; (book) ; African American quilts ; Antebellum Era ; Betsy Ross ; Federal Writers Project ; folklore ; slavery ; Underground Railroad ; Underground Railroad Quilt Code 17 http://www.dentonquiltguild.org/images/Storybook%20Folder/Sweet-Clara-and-the-Freedom-Quilt_qb.jpg A picture of the cover of &quot ; Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt,&quot ; a schoolchildren's book about the Underground Railroad Quilt Code. 1858 On quiltmaking and gender Do you think that quilt making is confined to just women? Smucker discusses the role of men in the history of quiltmaking, noting professional male quiltmakers existed prior to the industrial revolution. She notes that there are many successful male quilt makers in the field in the 21st century. She then discusses how historically, while quiltmaking is considered a domestic craft for women, that men played a partnership role. Smucker also discusses why quilt making is gendered toward women and the phenomenon of celebrity male quiltmakers. domesticity ; Gender in quiltmaking ; home craft ; household ; Industrial Revolution ; men ; needle ; social media, quilt cruise ; tailors ; textiles ; women 17 http://manquilters.ning.com/ ManQuilters, an online community for male quiltmakers 2002 In what ways do your quilts reflect your community or region? ; I think historically quilts have indeed often had a very regional connection, its part of the pleasures of sitting star quilt making have been able to you know see in large numbers Smucker discusses the differences in quilts based upon regions where they were made. She then talks about the preservation of quilts through State Quilt Documentation Projects. She also discusses how the regional differences are less noticeable today and is more of a urban and suburban divide. Groups like the Modern Quilt Guild work to make quilts based on styles from the past like the Amish and African American quilts. African American quilts ; Amish quilts ; Antique quilts ; community ; consumer culture ; demographic ; grassroots documentation projects ; Modern Quilt Guild ; pattern ; Quilt history ; Quilt preservation ; Star quilts ; State quilt documentation project ; style 17 https://www.themodernquiltguild.com Website of the Modern Quilt Guild 2148 What do you think is the biggest challenge confronting quiltmakers today? ; How do you think quilts can be preserved for the future? ; Today's quilt industry is experiencing rapid consolidation among many of the large publishing houses that publish patterns and magazines, among some of the fabric companies as well. Smucker discusses the expansion of quiltmaking through the large corporations and the competition that it creates with local small businesses and online stores. She cals on the leaders of these corporations to make an effort to understand the traditions and heritage of quiltmaking instead in addition to caring about making a profit. business ; companies ; consumer culture ; die cutter ; Double Wedding Ring - quilt pattern ; fabric store ; heritage ; Home sewing machine ; local ; nonprofit ; online ; Plastic templates ; Published work - Patterns ; Published work - Quilts ; quilt industry ; Rotary cutter ; Technology in quiltmaking ; tradition 17 2405 Quilts as symbolic objects I think we now associate quilts with all these very warm loving qualities of feeling safe, feeling comforted. When tragedy hits hard wide when the tsunami hit in Japan five years ago, to the aftermath of 9/11 , to the AIDS Memorial Quilt, to the Quilts of Valor Project that creates a quilt for every veteran following their stint of duty. Smucker talks about what she believes the purpose of a quilt is. She believes that quilts provide a sense of comfort amid situations like the tsunami in Japan in 2011, September 11, and the AIDS epidemic. In each of these cases, quilters immediately made quilts to comfort those suffering and to process grief. She believes that ultimately quilts are an outlet of creativity, but are also a representation of comfort and safety. 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami ; 9/11 ; AIDS Memorial Quilt ; Japan ; physical representation ; Quilt Purpose - Charity ; Quilt Purpose - Comfort ; Quilt Purpose - Memorial ; Quilts of Valor ; tragedy ; tsunami 17 http://www.qovf.org Website for Quilts of Valor, a group who makes quilts for Veterans returning from the battlefield 2492 Interview conclusion Thank you Dr. Smucker an honor listening to your answers and what perspectives you have called making and quilt history. Conclusion of the interview with Dr. Janneken Smucker 17 http://quiltalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/2016-10-07-16.42.00-2-e1481079157606.jpg Smucker at an exhibit she curated: “Amish Quilts and the Crafting of Diverse Traditions” on Oct 2016, at International Quilt Center &amp ; Museum, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Students in West Chester University's HIS 480: Digital History course interviewed their professor, Janneken Smucker, for their final project. Smucker talks about her background as both a quiltmaker and quilt historian, weighing in on issues including the Underground Railroad Quilt Controversy, the importance of quilts in American society, and the iconic role of Amish quilts in the late twentieth century. AP: Welcome my name is Andrew Politsky I am student of history here at West Chester University. We are at Francis Harvey Green Library and with Dr. Janneken Smucker. Dr. Smucker is an assistant professor of history at West Chester University, president of the Quilt Alliance, a published author and co-curator of The World Quilts the American story which is a project of the International Quilt Study Center and Museum at the University of Nebraska. Her book featured right there Amish quilts an American icon provides an in-depth history of our schools and their growing business practices today. Without further ado Dr. Smucker how are you feeling? Dr. Smucker: Very well thank you so much for having me today. AP: You staying warm? JS: I'm trying my best. AP: Alright first question, when did you become interested in quilting JS: I grew up with quilts around my house my grandmother had made quite a few quilts on my mother's side of the family. And her mother have made even more quilts and there were also quilts that my dad's side of the family there a common thing and in my home I grew up in Northern Indiana in a Mennonite family this is the kind of modern Mennonite family that we drove cars and we had electricity and dress like everybody else. But we were part of the long greater Anabaptist tradition of Mennonites and Amish and many of my ancestors had come to North America as Amish in the 18th century but by the late 19th century had become part of the Amish Mennonite Church. Eventually just part of the Mennonite church, so it was sort of ingrained in my own cultural Heritage's quiltmaking tradition Mennonites didn't bring quilts with them from Europe but they learned in the 19th century. So I was used to always having quilts around me. As a child I slept under them there on the couches so forth. I learned just so when I was pretty young but it wasn't until I think I was around 16 one summer vacation kind of kid who always wanted a project to work on during summer. And I decided I was going to make a quilt. I pulled a book off my mom's shelf that was called “How to make a Sampler Quilt”. She had made I think one quilt already at that point in her life and a sampler is a kind of quilt where each of the blocks is a different pattern and so I took off this book and began to look at all the pattern options chose on my favorites and had so much fun going to fabric store picking out the fabrics I wanted to use and I knew how to sew so it was something I could easily figure out.  And I had a lot of help from my mom and my grandmother when I ran into stumbling blocks.  And after that first quilt I was really hooked I finished that quilt around the time I went to college and continue making quilts while i was in college even setting up a quilt frame in my college house when i lived off campus. And invite friends over to help quilt on the big frame was my great-grandmother's frame actually that I had my college house and but then after my friends would leave it usually take out there putting stitches because they were really bad developed that the person acuteness of a real persnikityness. AP: So quilting is definitely been a part of your immediate family do you see it as a family tradition do you want to continue that tradition, are you begin make sure your daughter's interesting cool thing is she interested in? JS: Sure I do see a real strong connection to my family heritage and I think that's where a big part of the initial appeal was that I was doing something that women in my family had done I didn't even know at that point until I started studying quilt a little more seriously in my talking to my grandmother a lot more of we know that I'm at least a fifth-generation quiltmaker and could go back further than that and my daughter has expressed a lot of interest in quilt and quiltmaking she really loves color and she loves pattern and design and she's helped I've had squares that were already cut and she you know it likes to arrange them into Patrick pattern and she's also help me with some sewing craft projects using a sewing machine my sewing machine has one of those foot pedals and social press on the foot pedal and i will they start and stop and that sort of thing and she's really interested in the last baby quilt I was working on we're late we laid out the pieces on the floor to try to figure out which block should go where and my daughter was really intuitive about you know figuring out how to space the different colors out how to make it look very nice and balanced and I think she maybe the gene has been passed on to her as well. AP: Well how how big is your quilt collection and can you tell us a little bit about the one behind JS: Well I wouldn't hesitate to even say that I have a quilt collection i have some the quilts that I've made myself for about 20 years I slept under the quilt my first quilt that sampler quilt that I made when I was a teenager and then I have I think about two other full-size quilt that I made are also around my house I've given quilts away I’ve also sold quilts there was a phase-in my life where I thought maybe I would become a professional filmmaker and I did some quilts on commission also own my grandmother's first quilts well as a quilt made by my great-great-grandmother also we have a few other quilts that are still at my parents’ house in Indiana that they say will go to me which includes the mid-nineteenth century crib quilt i'm lucky enough to receive quilts as gifts as well when my daughter was born I think there were three separate and baby quilts that were made for her which was great since I kept intending to make one for her myself but never got around to it so thankfully some other people beat me to it so I definitely live with quilts I don’t really have the sort of collector’s mentality that some quick collectors really have where they require a lot of quilts I also is part of my own scholarship and research have studied quick collecting and so I there's a certain amount of distance I think i have from that that realm i know a lot about the quilt market for antique quilts and just how over inflated it was particularly in the eighties and nineties and quilts for been far more expensive than i could own that market is deflated to some degree now but they’re still antique quilts are quite expensive even the materials that go into contemporary quilts contemporary quilts are also quite expensive if you consider the materials and the labor as well. AP: In your opinion do you think quilts leave lasting memories for you when you either make them or purchase one or have them brought down from previous generations they have lasting memories JS: Absolutely i think that that's one of the really distinct things about quilts objects of material culture is that they they tie us so closely to memories sometimes that's in like a very tangible form when you use when you use a fabric and a quilt that was left over from another project for making clothes or sometimes it's the experiences you've had with a quilt over the years or in the case of like owning my grandmother's first quilt she made i always think about the time when she first showed it to me and I actually did the first oral history interview I'd ever did about quilts was with my grandmother and I interview her about when she was in her early twenties and made that first quilt and it was very common among young women in her community in eastern Ohio to all make quilts of that age and and I learned so much sort of about quit making it's kind of a convention of the of the young men tonight women in the nineteen twenties when she was growing up when you're when you make quilts worry where your ideas come from there are they from your emotions your from from your experiences to design them from like a place you've been what you're feeling at that time I would say the biggest inspiration for me in my quilt making is historic quilts I worked as the curatorial assistant at the International Quilt Study Center and museum when I was a graduate student and textiles at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and they are home to the largest publicly held collection of quilts in the world largely in t quilts that they also collect contemporary art quilts and through that work I was exposed to literally thousands of historic quilts that I got to handle one of the regular activities I did was with our volunteers every morning we refolded quilts with a base toward quilts in acid-free cardboard boxes the state-of-the-art storage facility climate-controlled facility and a quilt should be aired out and fold along different lines so that they don't develop really harsh crease lines process so this was like an ongoing thing i would supervise our volunteers which were usually like retired women and we would unfold the quilt i would do an object report usually on them like get the measurements make notes about any damage notes about the fabrics that are being used in those sorts of things and then they would refold them making sure it was on new lines so they wouldn't develop harsh crease lines and so I looked at so many historic quilts that this is sort of like permeate my design sensibilities and and i can think of those designs when I'm making my own quilt and definitely drawn to a patchwork which is sewing and piecing where it's very geometric rectangles squares triangles and rather than applique quilt behind me has some applique as well as piece work on it but a lot of what i really was inspired by was the historic quilts and I am I like fairly simple patterns very geometric graphic designs but rather than for certain emotions into quilts I really I think I'm more of thinking graphically and really drawn to the the historic patchwork quilts joins me to my next question the court behind you what what what do you like about this quilt this quilt that what kind of styles and you like about it to be like these patterns and colors this one of the first like quilts i made as a intended as a wall-hanging sort of my first foray into kind of its sort of more of an art quilt and in that it's not a repeat block pattern patchwork quilt which is more that the historic quilts that i was inspired by usually are but i really liked the idea of kind of using this gradation of colors this sort of hasn't probably more symbolism the most folks that i would make and that we're going from the ground level to this sort of the earth the grass sure this guy fun saying so if anything this was kind of a study in color but colors drawn from nature and the quilting stitches that I used on this sort of AP: Were these materials lying around the house? JS: I would say probably a mixture of some leftover fabric from other projects that as I look at it now and remembering some of the other things i did with with these same fabric, which ties into the question you asked earlier about how a quilt can hold memory but some of these were a I think some of them were fabrics that i am not intentionally for this was probably maybe 17 years ago or so that I made this quilt. AP: As an expert in handling historical quilts and curating the project you are on as president  of the Quilt Alliance, when you work with these stories with people in their quilts was the biggest challenge and gathering these histories and curating them as hard to compile everything as managing the website difficult ones from the base difficulty ? JS: Well as a as a board member and current president of Alliance I’ve really been involved in our oral history projects became to document and preserve the stories of quilt-quilt makers and along with the documenting you know actually listening recording these stories where you become more and more determined to share them and make them accessible and that's simultaneously become easier with new technologies but also more challenging because of budgetary limitations access to the technologies so it's sort of this um at the challenge really isn't how do you have this mass of about 1,300 oral history interviews these are conducted largely with volunteers usually quilt makers themselves who are interviewing other quilt makers and just like we are sitting here with a quilt the interview would always bring a quilt with her or him and that would be sort of the touchstone of the interview so there's 1300 some interviews that are documenting a specific quilt maker yet these are fat largely untouched because it's hard to dive into an interview and know what's in them many times no one aside from the person who wrote the transcript has even or and the interview herself has read them perhaps or it's hard to even ay what kind of sticks we don't have good statistics on that and but there's new technologies that are making the words of an interview accessible as you all were working on some of using some of these technologies in class the oral history metadata synchronizer allows you to search the transcript as well as an index that's created to go along with an interview you can find an exact moment where the interview is talking about Amish quilts for example i think that is great getting to the point where you have a 1300 backlogs an interview to make them have that degree of accessibility is quite a challenge many of these interviews were recorded on analog cassette tapes so the first step for those is to get them digitized so that you have a digital audio file that can be synced up with the transcript and it's someone can create an index to go along with that it's a none of these things are have a terribly high learning curve but when you're talking about that kind of quantity it's a building up a bet you're really dealing with this large archive and moving towards greater access I think we can achieve it but it certainly is challenging AP: Sounds like the advancement of Technology are definitely helping distribute these histories and make it make it accessible for everyone with the ohms and texting and no other multimedia things that can help. JS: The technology absolutely helps and one of the obstacles as he is that we don't anticipate what the new technologies are going to be when we're creating these projects so the filters SOS save our stories oral history project was begun in 1999 and presumed at that time to be fairly cutting-edge digitally in that we publish the full transcripts of each of the interviews on our website yet we didn't really we archived the cassette tapes but didn't really think about a future for those of how those could be accessible and delivered to potential audiences digitally through the world-wide-web it just wasn't part of our thinking in 1989 I say our I was not involved in the organization then but um technology advances and so you kind of have to play this catch up well how can we take what we've already done and sort of upgrade it and convert it to the new technologies and we're doing that now playing catch-up but we don't even know what's going to be available in five years or ten years for example speech recognition software is improving rapidly right now it's not a place where if we have to transcribe an oral history interview with speech recognition software you can get a rough maybe eighty percent accurate transcript but you still have to have a human go back in and edit everything we don't really and can't know for sure what what technology with the technology technological landscape in another 10years AP: Is there anything unique in regards to the history of there is a lot of fascinating things about the history of quilt-making JS:  I think culture are really wonderful window into a lot of aspects of American culture culture of other societies as well though I certainly have studied American culture most in terms of quilts because they are this handmade kind of seemingly handmade object there they're using the factory made goods the fabric the thread often the batting as well and often using commercially published patterns so they have sort of this handmade quality and that's what we associate with quilt these ideas of tradition and simplicity and authenticity yet they also reflect this amazing history of industrialization quit making on the scale that we have now on the scale that we had in 1850 wouldn't be possible without the industrial revolution of generating lots of cheap abundantly available fabric that could be cut up only to be sewn back together again technology like the sewing machine also really created as a demo democratization of filmmaking as well so it's really amazing to look at quilts overtime and see how these changes have transpired and how about making reflects the culture with that it came from the late 20th century of to the current day is now seen the biggest explosion yet in quilt-making is a multi-billion dollar industry and yet at the same time most people assume it must be a dying art that it's still this old-fashioned thing I think one of the most unique to get your question unique aspects of world history is that from almost the very beginning in the United States quilt-making was regarded as old-fashioned something that was on its way out because that's what we like about quilts that they make us feel that we're doing this old-timey thing and that's how people felt in cities in the eighteen forties when they had quilting bees and kind of pretended to be old-fashioned colonial women and that's what happens today as well even though people are using cutting-edge technologies to do the work. AP: You mentioned technologies and how its advanced the art of cool making do you think technology is taking away the article baking or taking away this is old-fashioned approach? JS: I think that there's the old-fashioned approach is sort of a myth so i don't i don't see it as taking away anything from that the one thing I've noticed with some of the new technologies is that there's so much emphasis on precision and this degree of workmanship and that you're losing sort of this tactile comforting quality of the quilt Susan with the process of them right the feeling of making it you know and to some extent and I was just at the international festival in houston texas and looking through the award-winning quilts and I kept seeing you know there's this real emphasis on technical precision which is amazing these are fabulous artist they're fabulous crafts people but some of that sort of the creativity comes that comes from sort of experimentation and you know I certainly would would dig into my grandmother scrap bag of fabrics and and that sort of thing some of that might be missing and sort of the idea of just making a quilt just because you love to have a quilt rather than trying to win an award and make sure that you have this technical excellence I think that there is such a wide range of quilt-making going on today in the United States and around the world that we have some of each and there's room for each we don't all have to be winning best of the best in show at the International Quilt Festival I probably won't ever be entering quilt even I think I'd rather give a quilt is a gift to a friend who has a new baby and not worry if my points my triangles matchup that it's more the expression of giving that quilt and knowing sort of the symbolic meaning behind the quilt. AP: Not so much competition JS: Yeah AP: Your book “Amish Quilts: Crafting an American Icon” why would you consider Amish quilts an American icon? JS:  Well they took an iconic status in the nineteen seventies and eighties and they really became sort of cult objects. What happened was New York art enthusiasts in the late sixties early seventies sort of discovered Amish quilts because they they were out tooling around the countryside or seeing them an antique stores or at outdoor markets. They recognized in Amish quilts the similar similar aesthetic to the sorts of abstract and minimalist painting that was going on in New York City at that time so painting by color field painters that Joseph will like Mark Rothko, Josef Albers, Barnett Newman kind of this stripe paintings of artists like Kenneth Noland and I'm supposed to run fairly similar scale you could hang them on a wall an apartment or gallery and they looked a lot like a painting. So this sort of launched this craze for Amish quilts in the nineteen seventies extending into the nineteen eighties at that eventually they became kind of iconic once they were on US postage stamps once they were used in the marketing campaigns of companies like Auntie Anne's pretzels they became this very recognizable figures and an Amish quilts at least certain patterns looked very distinct from the quilts made by non-amish that's not true across the board but there are a few patterns that were fairly distinct the Amish and those are the sorts of quilts that became a classic patterns really recognizable you know Absolut Vodka even used a quilt and in one of their advertising campaigns  because they for this moment in the in the eighties in particular they really reached and sort of elite status as artwork also became worth quite a bit of money at that time show are you have a lot of history with Amish quilts. AP: One of the things I discuss with my partner Liam is the impact of course and the Underground Railroad. Can you tell me a little bit about how well they relate? AP: sure it's a great question it's become known now as among the quilt circles as the underground railroad quilt code this is a bit of folklore that's been perpetuated through several publications initially there is a children's book called “Sweet Clara the Freedom Quilt” and there's also a book called “Hidden in Plain View” and both of these books sort of elevated this idea that enslaved african-americans used quilts as part of their way to get to freedom using the Underground Railroad it's really pretty amazing story how could use sort of an everyday object use your creativity, ingenuity usually done by women sort of empowering story of women helping their community get to freedom . Unfortunately we just don't have evidence that actually suggest that this indeed happened the the book “Hidden in Plain View” which I mentioned was based largely on one woman's family lore and that family may indeed have had this legend that they made quilts to help escape to freedom but investigation of even that story that this particular woman told included patterns that actually weren’t in circulation in the 19th century included a bit symbolism that probably don't don't translate well to Antebellum era and that are using contemporary ideas about quilts applying the retroactively and the thing is we also don't have other kind of collaborating evidence. Could be in the form of the excellent close themselves or more likely in the form of other narratives either recorded in text or recorded orally. There are a lot of slave narratives that were recorded in the early 20th century under the auspices of the federal government, the most well-known or part of the Federal Writers Project during the New Deal that interviewed and hundreds, thousands of people who grew up in slavery and they do talk some talk about the Underground Railroad I think it's important to keep in mind that the Underground Railroad  really only helped a very very small number of people get to freedom in the north it's one of these amazing stories that our culture has blown into something larger than it actually was because it's such an amazing tale of seeking freedom out of slavery , but they were only a few have that it was often border states that were able to to make their way across the make... people living in border states could make the way across the Mason-Dixon line um but this idea of quilts serving a function in an underground railroad has really had a huge appeal to school teachers, filmmakers, to other people who are interested in celebrating this aspect of American culture I think it's an amazing part of folklore, but I think it's important to to view it as folklore rather than view it as a definitive fact and folklore and myth are important parts of our culture just as they were important parts of you know ancient Greek culture. They help tell us who we are they had helped tell us what values we think are important and that's what this myth does and I don't think it's dangerous necessarily to continue talking about this myth but I think it's important to talk about it as folklore rather than as fact and I say the same thing is true about you know talking about Betsy Ross so in the first American flag we don't really have that much evidence that she really did that but her grandson did a really great PR campaign in the late 19th century that celebrated her as the first creator of the American flag as we know it so doesn't do any harm to keep perpetuating that story, hard to say and there aren't that many women who we can name from the Revolutionary era who did a specific concrete thing so there's some there's this appeal to it but we just have to be careful about how we talk about them talk about it as a as a story and that's part of folklore rather than part of evidence-based historical narrative AP: You mentioned women women often are seen as the foundation of quilt-making. Do you think that quilt making is confined to just women? JS: Absolutely not we can see that right now here in the 21st century more than ever there are many professional male quiltmakers, quilt artists and who have achieved a lot of success in the field and professionally but it's not a new phenomenon of the 21st century either. Before the Industrial Revolution when textiles were quite expensive, it was largely men at least in some areas of England other parts of Europe as well who are making quilts they as professionals as tailors and rather than as a domestic home craft and then there's certainly have been other examples throughout the eighteen nineteen twenty century of male called making as well or often males who would partner with the women in their households to help with quiltmaking in addition but there's sort of this interesting kind of occult of the male quiltmakers currently going on there's a number of male artists who have achieved quite a quite large followings either through social media through teaching quitmaking classes there was just this past year a quilt cruise that which is this crazy phenomenon and of itself that people pay money to go and quilt themed cruises and this was a quilt themed cruise where all of the quiltmaking instructors were men so it's it's a significant aspect of quiltmaking today that said I think quiltmaking is very gendered female and especially through the 19th and much of the 20th century, it has largely been a domestic home craft and we sort of have celebrated quiltmaking as one of women's original arts along with other needle arts because it was fell into this role of with the kinds of things that were appropriate for women to do. Women who didn't necessarily have other outlets for creative and artistic expression. AP: In what ways do you think quilt reflect the community or region? Do you see quilts are different in the north, out west, down south? Do they reflect the region that they're made in? JS:  I think historically quilts have indeed often had a very regional connection, its part of the pleasures of sitting star quilt making have been able to you know see in large numbers these historic antique quilts as well as manyof the state quilt documentation projects that were conducted in the nineteen eighties and nineties and early two thousands and these were for grassroots documentation projects where be quick documentation days in a community and people could bring in their quilts and there would  be an expert on hand to tell them a little bit about pattern, help them get the date and in mass all of these quilt documentation projects told us a lot about the regional differences among quilt makers ,but over time those regional differences have diminished which is not a surprise when consumer culture has more of a national reach and quiltmaking trends are more and more influenced by consumer culture it's not a surprise that there is a sort of more unity less distinction regionally among quiltmaking trends. There are some sort of that shifts today I would say perhaps might be like more of a divide between maybe more cities and suburbs and more rural areas. There's a recent movement called the Modern Quilt Guild, modern quilt movement which modern quilts and are inspired by mid 20th century modern design by Amish quilts, by some of the very utilitarian quilts spite made by African-American and other rural women earlier in the 20th century and that's an aesthetic that really caught on somewhat among the younger demographic the quilt makers but often it's this kind of less conservative visual sensibility that has an appeal there I think there's we can we can learn a lot about a quiltmaker maker by the style quilt they make but less and less of that is specific to regionals and them. AP:Any challenges that quiltmakers face today? JS: Today's quilt industry is experiencing rapid consolidation among many of the large publishing houses that publish patterns and magazines, among some of the fabric companies as well. Some of the smaller independent fabric company's been bought out by larger companies. Same thing is happening in publishing and many of the small locally owned and operated quilt shops fabric shops are shuttering because just like other businesses they can't compete with online sales when you have access to every fabric and at much discounted price compared to going to your local fabric and quilt shop and buying directly from the businessperson there. What online fabric stores don't have is that community that still exists in many of these small shops, but it's been hard for these small shops to sustain themselves among that kind of competition. I think quilts particularly today but always or at least since the early 19th century have really so closely been tied to consumer culture because you're not just buying the fabrics, you’re buying all of this other stuff that goes along with it. All of the the gear in the gadgets, the fancy selling machines, the rotary cutters, the templates, the die cutters. All these things make quilt making I think a lot more fun for people, but also really situate it very firmly in this large industry that is about constantly like buying  new things.  so it's hard to keep up if you really want to have the latest and greatest things all the time and you know how does that make it any different than any sort of other hobby or sort of form of consumer culture where it's it's a lot a lot of it is about acquiring even though there's this very creative process that's also taking place. AP: With the problems that that you mentioned that quilt makers face today what do you think we can do to preserve the history the not the history,  to preserve the quilt for the future? JS: Well I think we need to remember that quilt making today is part of a long tradition and rather than see it as a separate thing. Someone makes a double wedding ring quilt today, it is in conversation with all the double wedding ring quilt that have been made over the last century and a half that it's part of this ongoing process of being inspired and making and remaking and adapting that quiltmaking is always sort of represented. One thing i really like to see is the the beneficiaries of this large multibillion-dollar quilt industry would love to see them be real leaders in the effort to preserve quiltmaking history not just preserving the quilt themselves but also the stories of the quilt makers and to understand the significance that they are just the latest iteration of this long tradition and that in order to continue this tradition which helps their bottom line in fact you know if they can keep selling fabric and sewing machines to a future generation of quiltmakers that will only benefit them, but to understand that it's part of this larger story i'd love to see you know corporations, the corporate leaders in the quilt world really help us own this this heritage. I'm involved in this very small nonprofit you know we have a very limited budget and museums that I'm been affiliated similarly are you know just make able to make do you know they're doing all this preservation work. I'd like to see it as part of the mission of the corporate side the industry of the quilt world to see that as their priority as well. AP: And last but not least besides keeping people warm and decorative art, what do you think is the purpose of a quilt? What do you think they symbolically represent? JS: I think we now associate quilts with all these very warm loving qualities of feeling safe, feeling comforted. When tragedy hits hard wide when the tsunami hit in Japan five years ago, to the aftermath of 9/11 , to the AIDS Memorial Quilt,  to the Quilts of Valor Project that creates a quilt for every veteran following their stint of duty. Quilts so symbolically are comforting no matter what they look like, they have this association that's really intimately tied to them and I think that's why we make quilts for all of these occasions to memorialize people, to respond two tragedies because they make us feel safe and they make us feel comforted and I think quiltmakers love the process no doubt and they love you know this creative expression but ultimately then having this thing that that is tangible, physical representation of feeling safe and comforted, its really significant. AP: thank you Dr. Smucker an honor listening to your answers and what perspectives you have called making and quilt history. I look forward to hearing more classes. JS: Thank you thank you very much my pleasure. Interviews may only be reproduced with permission from the Quilt Alliance. video 0 http://quiltalliance.org/projects/qsos/ 0

Amish quilts

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Mennonite

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