QUILT INDEX RECORD

8-5-436

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

University of Louisville Archives and Records Center

Who documented this quilt?

Kentucky Quilt Project; Black Diaspora Quilt History Project

Kentucky Quilt Project Number:

34-24-3

This is a:

Finished quilt

Owner's name for quilt:

Harriet Tubman Quilt

Names for quilt's pattern in common use:

Applique

How wide is the quilt?

96"

How long is the quilt?

120"

Shape of edge:

Straight

What color is the quilt?

Black; Beige or Tan

Time period:

1950-1975

When was the quilt finished?

1951

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton

Features or notes about the quilt's appearance, materials, or construction:

120" x 96"

Quilt top made by:

Negro History Club of Marin City and Sausalito

Quilted by:

Negro History Club of Marin City and Sausalito

Where the quilt was made, city:

Marin City and Sausalito

Where the quilt was made, state:

California (CA)

Where the quilt was made, country:

United States

Describe anything about the design of the quilt that wasn't already recorded in a previous field:

Designed by Ben Irvin.

Publications (including web sites) where this quilt or maker was featured:

Mazloomi, Carolyn L and Patricia C. Pongracz. Threads of Faith: Recent Works from the Women of Color Quilters Network. Museum of Biblical Art, New York, NY, 2004, page35.

Ownership of this quilt is:

Private

Essay:

From Threads of Faith: Recent Works from the Women of Color Quilters Network:
Born as a slave in Maryland's Dorchester County around 1820, Harriet Tubman is perhaps the most well-known of all of the Underground Railroad's "conductors". During a ten-year span, Tubman made nineteen trips into the South, escorting over three hundred slaves to freedom. She proudly pointed out that in all of her journeys she "never lost a single passenger." In Tubman's memoirs she told the story of her most prized possession - a patchwork quilt she crafted as her wedding trousseau.¹ A self-taught quiltmaker, Tubman called the quilt the most beautiful thing she ever owned. She was helped in her first escape from Maryland by a white woman, to whom she gave her cherished quilt as payment for her aid. Evidence of the importance of this quilt in Tubman's life is the fact she reminisced about its beauty to the end of her life. Sadly, no images of the quilt survive.
¹Petty, Ann. Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad (New York: Pocket Books, 1955).

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

Copyright holder:

Kentucky Quilt Project