Pattern, Quilt - "Dutch Doll"
Object number1988.017.10
Dateca 1940-1950
Associated LocationMagnolia, Arkansas, United States of America
MediumPaper
DimensionsSee description
Credit LineOld State House Museum Collection
Terms
a: paper "Top of Bonnet" in pencil, on reverse 4 3/4" long
b: cut from paper sack, "Front of Dress" in pencil on reverse, 6" length calculations in pencil on front
c: grey paper "sleeve" in pencil, on reverse 3 5/8" long
d: grey paper "cuff" in pencil, on reverse 1 1/4" long
e: grey paper "shoe" in pencil, on reverse 3 1/2" long
Current media view shows marked side of pattern pieces.
All have "pin" holes where pinned together.
The quiltmaker is Herma Wilson Williams. Herma Wilson Williams grew up around Magnolia, Columbia County, Arkansas. Her parents Lucy and Herman Wilson were sharecroppers/ tenant farmers. She was named after her father. She learned how to quilt at a very young age and had completed her first quilt by age 8. She married Ray Williams in the late 1930’s in Arkansas. The two moved from near Magnolia to Shreveport, LA in 1957 because Ray accepted a position as a laborer at Norther Louisiana Pipeline Company. In 1988, Herma moved to Los Angeles, California to live with her daughter.
This quilt pattern is classified as a heritage quilt pattern made by Black Arkansas quilters. The pattern is referenced by the quilter as being brought to Louisiana from Arkansas when she and her husband moved to Shreveport in 1957 as a quilt pattern fragment. The quiltmaker said she “intended to use them someday.” In the book A Piece of My Soul: Quilts by Black Arkansans.
Status
Not on view
1940's
ca 1930
ca 1940
ca 1940