Talana Museum

From QuiltIndex

Address: R 33 to Vryheid

Mail Address: Private Bag 2024, Dundee 3000

el: +27 (0)34 212-2654

FAX: +27 (0)34 212-2376

For inquiries, contact: Pam McFadden, curator, info@talana.co.za

http://www.talana.co.za

The museum is set just outside the town of Dundee, and as their website states, “in a 20 acre heritage park near the bottom of Talana Hill; the Zulu name "Talana" meaning "the shelf where precious items are stored" is a most appropriate name for this large and varied museum.” The Talana Museum is located in the heart of what is refered to as the battlefields, the sites where some of the most major battles between Zulus and British forces were fought.

The Talana Museum has only one quilts — a pictorial block quilt, made by local quiltmakers, to celebrate the town's centennial. The museum does have an extensive collections of clothing, needlework, and needlework tools and books. In February 2010 the museum hosted "African Pizazz," the 2009 South African Quilter's Guild 6th National Travelling Exhibition. They also have a good exhibition on local mining, glasswork, beadwork, and Zulu pottery.

"This information originally gathered in 2010 by Marsha MacDowell, Michigan State University Museum, during research on quilt history in South Africa that was supported by a fellowship from the International Quilt Study Center and Museum at University of Nebraska-Lincoln with additional in-kind support from Michigan State University Museum."