Continuity and Change in Nebraska Quiltmakers,1870-1989

Abstract

Using information garnered from questionnaires completed during Nebraska Quilt Project (NQP), we developed a profile of Nebraska quiltmakers in four time periods (1870-1919, 1920-1945, 1946-1969, and 1970-1989) and examined how quiltmaking practices and motivations changed over time. Quiltmaking in Nebraska continues to be predominately an activity of rural women; however, it has become increasingly popular among urban women since the 1970s. The majority of Nebraska quiltmakers of all periods were rural homemakers of German descent, affiliated with either a Methodist or Lutheran church. Proportionately fewer Catholic women quilted than did members of other denominations. And, proportionately more women of English and Scottish ancestry were quiltmakers than would be expected based on percentages of those ancestry groups among Nebraskans as a whole. Of those quiltmakers who were gainfully employed, most worked in fields traditionally chosen by women. These findings are consistent with the conservative nature of the population of an agriculturally-based economy as found in Nebraska.

Quiltmaking in Nebraska is a feminine skill usually transmitted by female relatives from generation to generation. There has been, however, a definite trend since the 1970s for quiltmakers to learn quiltmaking skills through formal quiltmaking classes. Most Nebraska quiltmakers began quilting as young adults. A smaller, but significant number of quiltmakers of the 1970s and 1980s began quilting in mid-life, a time when few quiltmakers of the earliest period began to make quilts.