Press Release: June 17, 2010

National Archives at Kansas City

Local quilt scholar and author Barbara Brackman to open Partisan Pieces: Quilts of Political and Patriotic Persuasion exhibition at the National Archives

For More Information Contact:
National Archives,
Dee Harris, 816-268-8086

Kansas City, (MO)…On July 1, 2010, the National Archives at Kansas City will open Partisan Pieces: Quilts of Political and Patriotic Persuasion an exhibition which features 12 historical quilts from the 1840s–1940s. Local quilt scholar and author Barbara Brackman will present a special behind the scenes look at political quilts at 6:30 p.m.; a reception will precede Brackman’s lecture at 6:00 p.m. The quilts are from a traveling exhibition, on loan from the International Quilt Study Center and Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Partisan Pieces will be on display from July 1, 2010 to October 1, 2010.

Partisan Pieces features 12 quilts made of pieced and appliquéd stars, flags, eagles, campaign ribbons, and flowers. The theme and focus is on the political and patriotic sentiments of the women who made them during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This exhibition is a sampling of the numerous ways women cast their vote, if not their ballot in the years before suffrage. Partisan Pieces breaks new ground in the search for women’s rights as a new government and a new nation were being created. Rather than reading between the lines you can read between the stitches to gain new insights into the minds and emotions of the founding mothers.

Barbara Brackman is a free-lance writer who specializes in the history of quilts. She has published many books on the topic; her most recent being Flora Botanica: Quilts from the Spencer Museum of Art. In 2001-02, she curated an exhibition for the Kansas City Museum called Quilts: The Ties that Bind. Her book Making History: Quilts and Fabric 1890-1970 was recently named one of the fifteen Kansas Notable books for 2009 by the Kansas Center for the Book.

The quilts in this exhibition were donated to the International Quilt Study Center from several collectors including: Linda Giesler Carlson and Dr. John V. Carlson; Sarah and Byron Dillow; Jonathan Holstein; and Ardis and Robert James. In addition quilts from the greater Kansas City community will be featured along with items from the Union Station/Kansas City Museum Collection.

For more information or to make a reservation call 816-268-8010 or register by e-mailing: kansascity.educate@nara.gov.

Partisan Pieces: Quilts of Political and Patriotic Persuasion is organized and circulated by the International Quilt Study Center and Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Admission, hours and additional information

Partisan Pieces: Quilts of Political and Patriotic Persuasionis a free exhibition. The National Archives at Kansas City is open Tuesday-Saturday 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. for exhibits viewing and Tuesday-Saturday from 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. for research. For additional information call 816-268-8000 or visit us online.

The National Archives at Kansas City is one of 13 facilities nationwide where the public has access to Federal archival records. It is home to more than 50,000 cubic feet of historical records dating from the 1820s to the 1990s created or received by nearly 100 Federal agencies. Serving the Central Plains Region, the archives holds records from the states of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The facility is located at 400 West Pershing Road, Kansas City, MO 64108. The National Archives at Kansas City is open Tuesday-Saturday 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. for exhibits viewing and Tuesday-Saturday from 8:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. for research.

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NREA 10–32

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