Publications

Since 1982 Laurel Horton has shared her research findings through a wide range of both scholarly and popular publications. Her work is frequently cited by others, and she has extended the influence of her knowledge and experience by serving as editor and mentor for the work of other researchers.

Research Publications

Mary Black’s Family Quilts: Memory and Meaning in Everyday Life (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2005).

Uncoverings, the Research Papers of the American Quilt Study Group, editor, 1988—1993, 2008—2011.

“Turn-of-the-Century Quilts: Embodied Objects in a Web of Relationships,” co-authored with Beverly Gordon, in Women and the Material Culture of Needlework and Textiles, 1750-1950, ed. Maureen Daly Goggin and Beth Fowkes Tobin (Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2009), 93-110.

“Simple and Complex: Allover Styles,” in American Quilts in the Modern Age, 1870—1940, ed. Marin Hanson and Patricia Crews (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2009), 179-212.

“Early-Nineteenth-Century Whitework Bedcovers with Old Salem Connections,” in The Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts 32, no 2 (Winter 2006): 149-68.

“The Underground Railroad Quilt Code: The Experience of Belief,” in Uncoverings 2007, ed. Joanna Evans (Lincoln NE: American Quilt Study Group, 2007), 207-16.

“Early Quiltmaking among the Ulster-Scots in the Southern United States,” in Quilt Studies 8 (Halifax: British Quilt Study Group, 2007): 65-82.

“Mary Black’s “Save All” Quilt,” in Blanket Statements 82 (Fall 2005): 1-4.

“Mary Black’s Family Quilts: Changing Styles, Status, and Fabric Availability,” in Uncoverings 2004, ed. Kathlyn Sullivan (Lincoln, NE: American Quilt Study Group, 2004), 79-108.

“Deciphering Folk Costume: Dress Codes Among Contra Dancers,” co-authored with Paul Jordan-Smith, Journal of American Folklore 117, no. 466 (Fall 2004): 415-40.

“Quilts and Cultural Values: Gender, Race, and Social Class,” in Quilt Studies 6 (Halifax: British Quilt Study Group, 2004), 7-27.

“Mosaic Patchwork: A Personal Experience Narrative,” in Blanket Statements: the Newsletter of the American Quilt Study Group, 71 (Winter 2003), 9-12.

“An Elegant Geometry: Tradition, Migration, and Variation,” in Mosaic Quilts: Paper Template Piecing in the South Carolina Lowcountry (Greenville SC: Curious Works Press and The Charleston Museum, 2002), 10-21.

“Material Expressions of Communality Among Dance Groups,” in “Communities of Practice: Traditional Music and Dance” special issue, ed. Paul Jordan-Smith and Laurel Horton, Western Folklore 60, 2-3 (Spring/Summer 2001): 203-26.

“The Quilts of the Chattahoochee Country Dancers,” in Uncoverings 2001 (Lincoln NE: American Quilt Study Group, 2001), 117-39.

“An Old-Fashioned Quilting in 1910,” in Uncoverings 2000 (Lincoln NE: American Quilt Study Group, 2000), 1-25.

Quilts: Threads of Our Heritage. Gallery guide to private collection. (Spartanburg, SC: Mary Black Foundation, 1999).

“Blue Ridge Quiltmaking in the Late Twentieth Century,” and “‘If Quilts Could Talk’: Voices from the Late-Twentieth Century,” Folklife Center News 21, no.3 (Summer 1999), 3-12.

“Quiltmaking in Ireland and America,” in What’s American About American Quilts? A Research Forum on Regional Characteristics (Washington: National Museum of American History, 1997), session 3:1-10.

Quiltmaking in America: Beyond the Myths (Nashville: Rutledge Hill, 1994), editor/contributor.

“Rethinking Quilt Projects: A Folklorist’s Perspective,” The Quilt Journal 1, no. 1 (1992): 10-11.

“Textile Traditions in South Carolina’s Dutch Fork,” in Bits and Pieces: Textile Traditions, ed. Jeannette Lasansky (Lewisburg, PA: Oral Traditions, 1991), 72-79.

“Economic Influences on German and Scotch-Irish Quilts in Rowan County, North Carolina,” in Arts in Earnest: North Carolina Folklife (Durham: Duke University Press, 1989).

“Quiltmaking Traditions in Georgia,” in Patterns: A Celebration of Georgia’s Quilting Traditions (Madison: Madison-Morgan Cultural Center, 1990), 12-18.

Glorified Patchwork: South Carolina Crazy Quilts, exhibition catalog (Columbia: McKissick Museum, 1989).

“In Search of the Appalachian Quilt,” Now and Then 6, no. 3 (Fall 1989): 19-21.

“Nineteenth Century Quiltmaking Traditions in South Carolina,” Southern Folklore 46, no. 2 (1989): 101-15.

“The Textile Industry and South Carolina Quilts,” Uncoverings 1988, ed. Laurel Horton (San Francisco: American Quilt Study Group, 1989), 129-50.

The Oral Interview in Quilt Research. Technical Guide #2. (San Francisco: American Quilt Study Group, 1988).

“Quilt Patterns in the Frank C. Brown Collection,” North Carolina Folklore Journal 35, no. 1 (Winter/Spring 1988): 3-13.

“Quilt Patterns in the Frank C. Brown Collection,” Uncoverings 1987, ed. Laurel Horton (San Francisco: American Quilt Study Group, 1989), 57-72.

“How I Do Research: Local History and Folklore Fieldwork,” Uncoverings 1987, ed. Laurel Horton (San Francisco: American Quilt Study Group, 1989), 164-67.

“Downhome and Uptown: A Patchwork of Carolina Textiles,” in Carolina Folk: The Cradle of a Southern Tradition. (Columbia SC: McKissick Museum, 1985), 45-53.

“Quiltmaking Traditions in South Carolina,” in Social Fabric: South Carolina’s Traditional Quilts, ed. Laurel Horton and Lynn Robertson Myers (Columbia SC: McKissick Museum, 1985), 11-33.

“South Carolina Quilts and the Civil War,” in Uncoverings 1985, ed. Sally Garoutte (Mill Valley CA: American Quilt Study Group, 1986), 53-69.

“South Carolina’s Traditional Quilts,” in Uncoverings 1984, ed. Sally Garoutte (Mill Valley CA: American Quilt Study Group, 1985), 55-69.

“Nineteenth Century Quilts in Macon County, North Carolina,” in The Many Faces of Appalachia: Exploring a Region’s Diversity, ed. Sam Gray (Boone NC: Appalachian Consortium Press, 1985), 11-22.

“Nineteenth Century Middle Class Quilts in Macon County, North Carolina,” in Uncoverings 1983, ed. Sally Garoutte (Mill Valley CA: American Quilt Study Group, 1984), 87-98.

“Nineteenth Century Middle Class Quilts in Macon County, North Carolina,” in Quilt Close-up: Five Southern Views, (Chattanooga: Hunter Museum of Art, 1983), 3-10.

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Online articles and presentations

Click on the highlighted title to visit the site containing the piece.

“Swedish Quilts in the Context of the Hemslöjd Movement,” Digital Commons, University of Nebraska—Lincoln

“An Upcountry Legacy: Mary Black’s Family Quilts,” Southern Spaces: An Online Journal and Scholarly Forum

“The Underground Railroad Quilt Controversy: Looking for the ‘Truth’,” International Quilt Study Center, University of Nebraska--Lincoln, April 2006

“Quilts and Quiltmaking in America,” American Memory Historical Collections, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, 1999.

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Encyclopedia Entries

“Quiltmaking” in:

“Dilsey Snoddy,” African American National Biography, 2008.

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Book Reviews

This I Accomplish: Harriet Powers’ Bible Quilt and Other Pieces, by Kyra E. Hicks. Arlington, VA: Black Threads Press, 2009. JFR Reviews, posted January 2010. http://www.indiana.edu/~jofr/review.php?id=1025

Crafted Lives: Stories and Studies of African American Quilters, by Patricia A. Turner (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2009), reviewed in Journal of American Folklore, forthcoming.

Quilting: The Fabric of Everyday Life, by Marybeth C. Stalp (New York: Berg, 2007), reviewed in Western Folklore, forthcoming.

Quilts in Material World: Selections from the Winterthur Collection, by Linda Eaton (New York: Abrams, 2007), reviewed in Winterthur Portfolio 42, no. 1 (Spring 2008): 99-102.

The Saturated World: Aesthetic Meaning, Intimate Objects, Women’s Lives, 1890-1940, by Beverly Gordon (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2006), reviewed in Western Folklore 67, no. 2&3 (Spring & Summer 2008), 310-12.

Threading the Generations: A Mississippi Family’s Quilt Legacy, by Mary Elizabeth Johnson and Carol Vickers (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2005), reviewed in Western Folklore 67, no.1 (Winter 2008): 121-23.

Memory’s Daughters: The Material Culture of Remembrance in Eighteenth-Century America, by Susan M. Stabile (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2004), reviewed in Journal of American Folklore, forthcoming.

A Flowering of Quilts, ed. Patricia Cox Crews (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001), reviewed in Arkansas Review 33, no.2 (August 2002): 172-74.

Mississippi Quilts, by Mary Elizabeth Johnson (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2001), reviewed in Arkansas Review 33, no.2 (August 2002): 172-74.

The Planter’s Prospect: Privilege and Slavery in Plantation Paintings, by John Michael Vlach. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002), reviewed in Western Folklore 61, no.1 (Spring, 2002), 112.

Stitched From the Soul: Slave Quilts from the Antebellum South, by Gladys-Marie Fry. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002, reviewed in Western Folklore 61, no.1 (Spring, 2002), 112.

Quilting Lessons: Notes from the Scrap Bag of a Writer and Quilter, by Janet Berlo (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001), reviewed in Great Plains Quarterly 22, no. 3 (Summer 2002): 227-28.

Unraveling the Stories: Quilts as a Reflection of Our Lives, video by Luanne Bole-Becker and Bob Becker (Cleveland: BB Sound & Light, 1997), reviewed in the Journal of American Folklore 114 (2001): 489-90.

A Piece of My Soul: Quilts by Black Arkansans, by Cuesta Benberry (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2000), reviewed in Arkansas Review 32, no. 3 (December 2001): 248-49.

A Communion of the Spirits: African-American Quilters, Preservers, and Their Stories, by Roland L. Freeman (Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 1996), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 62 (Winter 1998): 9.

Quilts of Provence: The Art and Craft of French Quiltmaking, by Kathryn Berenson (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 59 (Spring 1997): 20.

Uncoverings 1996: Volume 17 of the Research Papers of the American Quilt Study Group, ed. Virginia Gunn (San Francisco: American Quilt Study Group, 1996), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 58 (Winter 1997): 15, 25.

Quilt Treasures of Great Britain: The Heritage Search of the Quilters’ Guild, by Janet Rae, et al. (Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 1996), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 57 (Fall 1996): 15.

The Natural History of the Traditional Quilt, by John Forrest and Deborah Blincoe (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 56 (Summer 1996): 13.

Connecting Stitches: Quilts in Illinois Life, ed. Jan Wass (Springfield: Illinois State Museum,1994), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 55 (Spring 1996): 19.

A Maryland Album: Quiltmaking Traditions, 1634-1934, by Gloria Seaman Allen and Nancy Gibson Tuckhorn (Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 1995), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 54 (Winter 1996): 18.

Gatherings: America’s Quilt Heritage, by Kathlyn Sullivan (Paducah: American Quilter’s Society, 1995), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 52 (Summer 1995): 18-19.

Quilt Culture: Tracing the Pattern, ed. Cheryl Torsney and Judy Elsley (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1994), reviewed in Appalachian Journal 22, no. 2 (Winter 1995): 205-8.

Quilt Culture: Tracing the Pattern, ed. Cheryl Torsney and Judy Elsley (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1994), reviewed in Mid-America Folklore 23, no. 2 (Fall 1995): 104-8.

Quilt Culture: Tracing the Pattern, ed. Cheryl Torsney and Judy Elsley (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1994), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 49 (Fall 1994): 16-17.

Quilt Restoration: a Practical Guide, by Camille Dalphond Cognac (McLean VA: EPM Publications, 1994), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 53 (Fall 1995): 12, 20.

Time-Span Quilts: New Quilts from Old Tops, by Becky Herdle (Paducah: American Quilter’s Society, 1994), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 53 (Fall 1995): 12, 20.

Kansas Quilts and Quilters, Barbara Brackman, et al. (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1993), reviewed in Great Plains Research 4, no. 2 (1994): 362-64.

Making and Metaphor: A Discussion in Contemporary Craft, ed. Gloria A. Hickey (Hull, Quebec: Canadian Museum of Civilization and the Institute for Contemporary Canadian Craft, 1994), reviewed in Ethnologies 21, no. 2 (1999): 217-19.

Local Color: A Sense of Place in Folk Art, by William Ferris (New York: Anchor Doubleday, 1992), reviewed in Mid-America Folklore 22, no. 2 (Fall 1994) 103-4.

Always There: The African-American Presence in American Quilts, by Cuesta Benberry (Louisville: The Kentucky Quilt Project, Inc., 1992), reviewed in Journal of American Folklore 106, no. 421 (Summer 1993): 355-56.

Wrapped in Glory: Figurative Quilts & Bedcovers, 1700-1900, by Sandi Fox (Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1990), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 37 (May 1991): 18.

Ho for California: Pioneer Women and Their Quilts, by Jean Ray Laury and the California Heritage Quilt Project (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1990), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 37 (May 1991): 18.

Soft Covers for Hard Times: Quiltmaking and the Great Depression, by Merikay Waldvogel (Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 1990), reviewed in Southern Folklore 50, no. 1 (1993): 90-92.

Soft Covers for Hard Times: Quiltmaking and the Great Depression, by Merikay Waldvogel (Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 1990), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 35 (November 1990): 16.

Quilts: Their Story and How to Make Them, by Marie D. Webster, new edition by Rosalind Webster Perry (Santa Barbara: Practical Patchwork, 1990), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 35 (November 1990): 16.

Legacy: The Story of Talula Gilbert Bottoms and Her Quilts, by Nancilu Burdick (Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 1988), reviewed in Georgia Historical Quarterly 74, no. 1 (Spring 1990): 187-89.

Legacy: The Story of Talula Gilbert Bottoms and Her Quilts, by Nancilu Burdick (Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 1988), reviewed in Southern Folklore 47, no. 2 (1990): 184-85.

Clues in the Calico: A Guide to Identifying and Dating Antique Quilts, by Barbara Brackman (McLean, VA: EPM Publications, 1989), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 33 (May 1990): 20.

Legacy: The Story of Talula Gilbert Bottoms and Her Quilts, by Nancilu Burdick (Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 1988), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 29 (May 1989): 27.

North Carolina Quilts, ed. Ruth Haislip Roberson (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 30 (August 1989): 19.

North Carolina Quilts, ed. Ruth Haislip Roberson (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988), reviewed in Appalachian Journal 16, no. 3 (Spring 1989): 267-69.

Who’d A Thought It: Improvisation in African-American Quiltmaking, by Eli Leon (San Francisco: San Francisco Craft and Art Museum, 1987), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 27 (November 1988), 8.

Quilt Collections: A Directory for the United States and Canada, by Lisa Turner Oshins (Washington: Acropolis Books, 1987), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 26 (August 1988), 17.

Quilt Collections: A Directory for the United States and Canada, by Lisa Turner Oshins (Washington: Acropolis Books, 1987), reviewed in Folklore Forum 23, no. 1 & 2 (1998): 132-34.

Hearts and Hands : The Influence of Women and Quilts on American Society (film and book), by Elaine Hedges, Pat Ferrero, and Julie Silber (San Francisco: Quilt Digest Press, 1987), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 25 (May 1988): 14-15.

Lone Stars: A Legacy of Texas Quilts, 1836-1936, by Karoline Patterson Bresenhan and Nancy O’Bryant Puentes (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1986), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 24 (February 1988): 10.

Texas Quilts—Texas Treasures, by the Texas Heritage Quilt Society Paducah: American Quilter’s Society, 1986), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 24 (February 1988): 10.

The Quilts of Tennessee: Images of Domestic Life Prior to 1930, by Bets Ramsey and Merikay Waldvogel (Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 1996), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 24 (February 1988): 10.

Stitches in Time: A Legacy of Ozark Quilts (Rogers, AR: Rogers Historical Museum, 1987), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 24 (February 1988): 10.

The Freedom Quilting Bee, by Nancy Callahan (Tuscaloosa, University of Alabama Press, 1987), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 26 (August 1988): 17.

Michigan Quilts: 150 Years of a Textile Tradition, ed. Marsha MacDowell and Ruth D. Fitzgerald (East Lansing: Michigan State University Museum, 1987), reviewed in The Professional Quilter 26 (August 1988): 17.

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Popular Publications

“Weedin’” (song parody), Western North Carolina Woman 7, no. 8 (August 2009), 7.

“Grandma Effie and the Heirloom,” in The Folklore Muse: Poetry, Fiction, and Other Reflections by Folklorists, ed. Frank de Caro (Logan UT: Utah State University Press, 2008), 179.

“2005 Honoree Bets Ramsey: An Appreciation,” The Quilters Hall of Fame Newsletter 27 (Spring 2005): 1-2.

“Paper, Patchwork, and the Role of Innovation,” foreword to Make it Simpler Paper Piecing, by Anita Grossman Solomon (Lafayette CA: C&T, 2003), 6-10.

“White Work,” The Quilters Ultimate Visual Guide, ed. Ellen Pahl (Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press, 1997), 261-62.

“The Meetin’ Place: Linda Ballou,” Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine 283 (June 1996): 36.

“Quilting and Patchwork in the North Country of England,” Quilting International 37 (September 1994): 8-13.

“Arrowmont School Expands Your Quilting Horizons,” Quilting International 37 (September 1994): 16-19.

“Explorations in String Patchwork: My Dream Come True,” Quilting International 36 (July 1994): 44-49, 59.

“Quilt Dating Service,” Quilt Lovers’ Forum, Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine 258 (December 1993): 58.

“Reduce Paper Clutter,” The Professional Quilter 46 (August 1993): 4-5.

“The Meetin’ Place: Glada Martin,” Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine 251 (April 1993): 30-31.

“The Pleasures of Discovery: the American Quilt Study Group Seminar,” Lady’s Circle Patchwork Quilts (May/June 1992): 24-27.

“An American Quilter Visits Dublin,” Irish Patchwork Society Newsletter (Spring 1992): 8-9.

“Grant Writing: How to Ask for Money,” The Professional Quilter 40 (February 1992): 2-4, 24.

“Efficient Paper Handling,” The Professional Quilter 36 (February 1991): 16-17.

“Southern Highland Handicraft Guild,” Quilting Today 19 (June/July 1990): 18-19.

“Reading History From Quilts,” Tar Heel Junior Historian 27, no. 2 (Spring 1988): 5-8.

“Product Endorsement,” The Professional Quilter 29 (May 1989): 8-9.

“The American Quilt Study Group,” Quilting Today 12 (April/May 1989): 55.

“Four-Star Quilt Slide Shows,” Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine (October 1987): 16-18, 70.

“Have You Read Any Good Quilts Lately?” Ancestoring 11 (1986): 3-7.

“Format for a Quilt Project,” Lady’s Circle Patchwork Quilts (Fall 1984): 7-8.

“Quilted History,” Rural Kentuckian 36, no. 6 (June 1982): cover, 8-10, 18.

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Profiles and Quilts

“Pacific Chain” photo, Mastering Quilt Marking, by Pepper Cory (Lafayette, CA: C&T Publishing, 1999), 28.

“Passionate Inquiry: The American Quilt Study Group,” by Sue Lenthe, Piecework (July/August 1996): 56-59.

“Hot Dogs with Mustard” photo, Quilts: A Living Tradition, by Robert Shaw (New York: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, 1995), 132-33.

“Laurel Horton, for the American Quilt Study Group,” Traditional Quilter (July 1994).

“Laurel Horton, a South Carolina Quilter,” Quilt 15, no. 2 (Summer 1993): 40-41, 104-5.

“Laurel Horton: One Woman’s Dedication to Quilts,” American Quilter 8, no. 3 (Fall 1992): 20

“Hot Dogs with Mustard” photo, Lady’s Circle Patchwork Quilts (May/June 1992): 72.

“Enigma Star” photo, Lady’s Circle Patchwork Quilts (Fall 1984): 34.

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