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Winterthur Museum's Treasury of Quilts

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From The Quilt Journal - An International Review, Vol. 4, No. 1.

1995

By: Kraak, Deborah and Carpenter, Kathleen

Editor Notes: Winterthur, which houses one of the United States' premier collections of American decorative arts, was in effect the personalcreation of Henry Francis du Pont. Mr. du Pont indulged hispassion for things American by searching out the finest and rarest objects which appeared on the market, buying in significant quantities, and arranging his treasures in carefully orchestrated period room settings. Winterthur is a center for viewing and studying American decorative art in all its forms, and has one ofthe country's best training programs in American material culture study and connoisseurship. Here Deborah Kraak, Associate Curator of Textiles at Winterthur, and Kathleen Carpenter, give us a searching profile of Winterthur's quilt collection, and add complete information for potential visitors.

Author Notes: Deborah Kraak, Associate Curator of Textiles at the Henry Francis Du Pont Winterthur Museum, Delaware, is also an Adjunct Professor in the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Early American Cultures. In 1992 and 1994 she was an Adjunct Instructor teaching a Survey of Textile History at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum and the Parsons School of Designs Masters Program in the History of Decorative Arts. Ms. Kraak has worked also as Assistant Curator, Department of Textiles and Costume of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She has professional experience in the textile and decorative arts field at a number of other institutions, has curated a large number of exhibitions in the field, and has published numerous articles. Ms. Kraak received her BA with High Honors in Art History at Michigan State University, a Museum Training Certificate from The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and an MA in Art History from the latter institution.