I ran across an article written for the Longmont, CO newspaper, The Daily Times Call. It was written by, quilt historian, Jeananne Wright of Longmont, CO. I found it quite interesting and thought you would too! 
"Quilt-making started in Europe in the early 1700s, and immigrants brought the skill to the United States, where it started catching on in the late 1700s. At first, only the wealthy could afford to buy expensive imported cotton, but as the textile industry took hold in New England, by the 1840s, middle-class women could afford to make quilts.
As people migrated West along the Oregon Trail, they brought the craft with them, and the Gold Rush of 1858-59 brought hordes of people and quilts.
Quilting went out of favor during World War II, because women returned to the work force and there wasn’t time to make quilts. By the 1950s, city women stopped quilting, because they wanted only modern household items, but women on farms continued to quilt.
In 1969, the back-to-the-earth movement brought renewed interest in quilting. In 1971, a huge quilt exhibit at the Whitney Museum of Art started a movement for valuing quilts for their artistic properties.
Since then, quilts have branched out to become works of art, depicting nature scenes or abstract designs."
(Artwork by Henry Mosler as shown on bestpriceart.com website.)
"Quilt-making started in Europe in the early 1700s, and immigrants brought the skill to the United States, where it started catching on in the late 1700s. At first, only the wealthy could afford to buy expensive imported cotton, but as the textile industry took hold in New England, by the 1840s, middle-class women could afford to make quilts.
As people migrated West along the Oregon Trail, they brought the craft with them, and the Gold Rush of 1858-59 brought hordes of people and quilts.
Quilting went out of favor during World War II, because women returned to the work force and there wasn’t time to make quilts. By the 1950s, city women stopped quilting, because they wanted only modern household items, but women on farms continued to quilt.
In 1969, the back-to-the-earth movement brought renewed interest in quilting. In 1971, a huge quilt exhibit at the Whitney Museum of Art started a movement for valuing quilts for their artistic properties.
Since then, quilts have branched out to become works of art, depicting nature scenes or abstract designs."
(Artwork by Henry Mosler as shown on bestpriceart.com website.)
comments
The renewed interest in quilting in the 70s was probably more heavily influenced by the 1976 bicentennial.
Posted by: Leslie | March 28, 2006 5:53 AM
Leslie, you are right about that! As further evidenced in another article from the The Daily Times Call which states:
"The quilting industry took off after the bicentennial celebration in 1976. In the late 1970s and early ’80s, quilters began experimenting with new techniques, and quilts started coming off the beds and going onto the walls. At the same time, the industry started to get organized."
Posted by: gina | March 28, 2006 7:01 AM