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Audio Recording "In 1976, I decided to make a wall hanging."

"In 1976, I decided to make a wall hanging."

About this Item

Title

  • "In 1976, I decided to make a wall hanging."

Names

  • Johnson, Geraldine Niva, 1940- (Interviewer)
  • Todd, Zenna, 1916-2012 (Interviewee)
  • Todd, Zenna, 1916-2012 (Creator)

Created / Published

  • Ennice, North Carolina

Headings

  • -  Quilting
  • -  Quilt patterns
  • -  income
  • -  applique quilts
  • -  commemorative quilts
  • -  Ethnography
  • -  Interviews
  • -  United States -- North Carolina -- Ennice

Genre

  • Ethnography
  • Interviews

Notes

  • -  Mrs. Todd started making quilts for her family to use when she was 25. She teaches quiltmaking and makes quilts to sell through a local shop to supplement her income. Geraldine Johnson described her as "a bubbly, enthusiastic person who would be a natural à interpreter of Blue Ridge quilts." This interview includes good information on the economics and practice of making quilts to sell, criteria for selection of materials to use in quilts, and how quiltmaking has changed over time.
  • -  Transcription: ZT: Oh, I go to tell you this. Uh, you know in '76, I decided I wanted to make a wall hanging. You, know, a thing to go on the wall. But it was made in, like a quilt. But not as big, about a 40-by-40. And I couldn't figure out what to put on it, so it was centennial year? And I thought, I know what I'll do. I'll put a log cabin on it and George Washington. Just a silhouette of him, you know from his shoulders up? And I drawed and drawed, a-trying to get his picture, you know, to make it look like him. And I did it out of black. Well, I put his hair so it come down his back, you know how he wore his hair. And I fixed this log cabin, and then I put red and blue stars in each corner of that, then I put red, red and blue, a little strip all the way around, two of 'em, about a inch wide, and then I quilted on it, and I put 19--17 and 76? To 19 and 76. And I done that in the quilting, and I done it diagonally, you know, go from one corner to the other? And I thought it was just real unique, you know. And I don't know whether, whether Mrs. Berry has sold that yet or not. I sent it to Roaring Gap, and I put a eagle on one, a big eagle with its wings spread out? I appliqued that. And it's a beautiful thing. And this log cabin and this George Washington's pretty too. Real fancy. You ask her if she's got that. And the eagle, I sold it at Roaring Gap. I believe I did. And I just got to thinking about it, you know, bout it being the centennial year, that I would fix something unusual. But I don't know, I don't whether she's sold that for me or not. I can't remember. But I thought that was real, just real pret and you could tell it was him, too. Yeah, you could look at it and tell it was George Washington.
  • -  For rights information please contact the Folklife Reading Room at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/folklife.contact

Medium

  • Sound tape reel : 7 in.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • AFC 1982/009: BR8-GJ-R101

Source Collection

  • Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project Collection (AFC 1982/009)

Repository

  • American Folklife Center

Online Format

  • audio

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that some of the materials in this collection are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions, and are therefore free to use and reuse. For example, the fieldwork in this collection is in the public domain in the United States.

However, the Library has obtained permission for the use of other materials, and presents additional materials for educational and research purposes in accordance with fair use under United States copyright law. For example, some of the recordings contain copyrighted music, and not all of the performers and other individuals who were recorded signed releases for public use of their work.

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Credit line: Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project collection (AFC 1982/009), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Johnson, Geraldine Niva, Zenna Todd, and Zenna Todd. "In , I decided to make a wall hanging.". Ennice, North Carolina, 1978. Audio. https://www.loc.gov/item/qlt000076/.

APA citation style:

Johnson, G. N., Todd, Z. & Todd, Z. (1978) "In , I decided to make a wall hanging.". Ennice, North Carolina. [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/qlt000076/.

MLA citation style:

Johnson, Geraldine Niva, Zenna Todd, and Zenna Todd. "In , I decided to make a wall hanging.". Ennice, North Carolina, 1978. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/qlt000076/>.