 In the January 1932 issue of Good Housekeeping , an article stated, "[t]here is a woman in Kentucky with sixty mountain women working under her direction who will do your quilting. This work is exquisite…"
Merikay Waldvogel and Barbara Brackman, authors of the publication Patchwork Souvenirs of the 1933 World's Fair , "acknowledged that the Kentucky quiltmakers' mystique" as discussed by Cuesta Benberry in her article on cottage industries, "was based on a great deal of truth." When the authors came to Kentucky to research for their book, they realized that "something was happening in Kentucky during the 1930s, something that had not yet been documented."
One of the most successful of the Kentucky Quilt cottage industries was the Eleanor Beard Hedgelands Studio of Hardinsburg. By 1929, Eleanor Beard had offices and outlets in New York City (across the street from the Nancy Lincoln Guild), Pasadena, Santa Barbara, and Chicago. At the height of its business, the studio employed around 1,000 people. Some quilters worked in her studio and many more worked at home. A personal account credits Eleanor Beard for providing employment opportunities that helped her buy shoes for her children. The Eleanor Beard Studio meant the survival of Hardinsburg and the surrounding towns during the Depression. About a year after she sold her first comforter, a beautiful silk one, hand-quilted in a delicate and exquisite original design, business boomed. She then began making pillows, spreads, robes, and novelties such as the ones in the exhibit: water bottle covers, lingerie bags, bed jackets, and even toilet seat covers.
A May 1934 Arts and Decoration Magazine said of trapunto quilt work,"there seems to be no limit to the accomplishment of these craftworkers of the Kentucky mountains." |
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