"I'd druther quilt than to eat on the hungriest day that ever I seen."

--Ethel Hall of Viper, Kentucky

Few items in our culture have been so necessary, colorful, artistic, cherished, cared for, and universally used that the quilt.  In over a quarter century of collecting relics throughout the Southern Appalachian mountains, Museum Founder John Rice Irwin had occasion to go through literally thousands of homes - from the smallest one-room mountain cabin, to the palatial antebellum homes along the riverways.  He recalls only a single instance where the chattels of a household did not include quilts.

The quilt, perhaps as much as any household item, tended to be made by the family which used it.  Probably no craft (or art form) was more widely practiced by women in all stations of life than quilting -- not only in this country, but in the lands from whence the early settlers came.  From Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, to maidens in the most impoverished European cottages, and in America from wives of Presidents to women living in one-room, dirt-floored frontier cabins, the needles flew--and beautiful as well as useful quilts were made.

It would be wonderful if we could view the old time quilt makers as they plied their craft and attended quilting bees so that we could learn firsthand the lore of one of our country's most prevalent and most beloved art and craft forms.  But this scene has largely passed in most areas, except for the revivalist -- the younger folk who have taken up their grandmother's ways.

Several books have been written on the subject of quilts in America, usually emphasizing the inestimable variety of patterns, the artistic qualities, and the intricate and detailed stitching.  The area which seems to have been neglected, however, is that which deals with quilts in direct relation to people.  This is the area where the Museum collection has its greatest interest, relating the quilts to the good people of our region who made, used, and enjoyed them.