What is a Quilt Documentation and why we do them?

 

Quilt documentation is important because it preserves our historical information.  It also conveys a testament that reflects how we live, our values, and beliefs.  Quilts are a part of a family’s history.  By documenting a quilt, you are documenting your own history for the future generations of your family.

 

A quilt documentation also provides historians and researchers data to analyze a quilt's social and cultural significance.  Many African American quilts have no documentation of the history of the quilt. In most cases, all that is known has been handed down orally and not recorded anywhere.

 

Quilts are so much more than fabrics and threads because they carry our family stories.  A quilt documentation is basically recording the features of your family quilt and telling the story behind the quilt maker.  By publicly documenting your family quilt, you are helping to create a historic public record of African American quilts uncovered in you state.