Cuesta Benberry has engaged in the study and research of quilt history for nearly fifty years. Her research areas have included myriad quilt history subjects; and many of her seminal studies have encouraged later researchers to investigate those topics further. Since 1975, her investigations have been primarily conducted on African-American quilt history. She has published numerous quilt history essays and research papers, served as a quilt research and history editor, as a consultant for quilt exhibitions and for authors, and has lectured widely in the United States and abroad.

Read about Cuesta's work, view images from her books, and hear her discuss her research and insights in this Quilt Treasures web portrait.

Mini Documentary Interview "Always There" Gallery
Photos from Always There: The African-American Presence in American Quilts by Cuesta Benberry. Louisville: The Kentucky Quilt Project, Inc. 1992. Cuesta Gallery
View the materials and products of Cuesta Benberry's research and writing -- including newsletter and magazine covers from Aunt Kate's Quilting Bee, Nimble Needle Treasures and little 'n BIG; materials found through her research such as Mountain Mist Batting packages; blocks designed for her, and patterns she researched, such as an 1860s slave-made block. Timeline

9/8/1923	Born in Cincinnati, Ohio; later moved to Grandmother's in St. Louis, MO.
	Attended St. Louis public schools.
	Graduated from Harris Teachers College in St. Louis with a B. A. in education.
c1945-85	Taught school in the St. Louis Public Schools.
1951	Married George Benberry.
	Son, George Benberry, Jr. born.
	Began studying and collecting quilt patterns.
	Joined "Round Robin" mail circles for sharing quilt patterns.
1965	Cuesta's collected rhymes reprinted in Little'N' Big. "Kennedy Eternal Flame" Cuesta's original quilt block design won Honorable Mention in Aunt Kate’s Quilting Bee Magazine, edited and published by Glenna Boyd.
1967	Graduated from University of Missouri, St. Louis with a master's degree in library science.
1970-75	Nimble Needle Treasures (NNT) a new quilt magazine featuring history and background articles about patterns began; Cuesta began writing for 2nd issue with Hatfield and McCoy article, followed by Victory Quilts article. Wrote steadily for NNT on her quilt research about pattern history and quilt makers.
1977	Began contributing articles to Quilters' Journal.
1979	Friendship Quilt presented by Betty Hagerman and forty-one of Cuesta's friends. Began contributing articles to Quilters Newsletter Magazine.
1980	Attended first meeting of American Quilt Study Group (AQSG) in California.
	Made sampler quilt, Afro-American Women and Quilts.
1981	Prepared Afro-American Women and Quilts for the AQSG seminar.
1983	Inducted into the Quilters Hall of Fame.
1986	Traveled to Soweto and began lecturing on patch work quilts of Zamani Soweto Sisters Council of South Africa and the anti-apartheid struggle. Purchased Maria Holmolka's quilt at London exhibiton Soweto: The Patchwork of our Lives.Curated exhibition Hear My Quilt for the St. Louis Art Museum.
1988-93	Wrote occasionally for the Women of Color Quilters' Network Newsletter edited and published by Carolyn Mazloomi.
1991	Curated Always There: The African American Presence in American Quilts exhibition and book, produced by The Kentucky Quilt Project in conjunction with the Louisville Celebrates the Quilt. Curated exhibition Hear My Quilt for the St. Louis Art Museum.
1993	Edited A Patchwork of Pieces: An Anthology of Early Quilt Stories with Carol Crabb, published by The American Quilter's Society.
1994	St. Louis Art museum commissioned Faith Ringgold to make a quilt in honor of Cuesta Benberry for its permanent collection. Jo Baker's Birthday installed March 1994.
1997	Curated 20th Century Quilts: 1900-1970: Women Make Their Mark exhibition with Joyce Gross, for the Museum of the American Quilter's Society in Paducah, Kentucky.
2004	Recipient of the 2004 Distinguished Scholar's Lifetime Achievement Award for her groundbreaking research on the history of African-American quiltmaking, awarded by the Anyone Can Fly foundations.
8/23/2007	Cuesta passes away.

  Biography
For nearly 50 years, Cuesta Benberry has been making significant contributions to the quilt world as a lecturer, workshop leader, seminar director, film, tv and radio program participant, curator, researcher and author. She was first introduced to quilts and quilt patterns by women from her husband's family in Kentucky. Her interest was sparked; and it grew into a lifelong passion for pattern collecting and quilt history research, which she initially pursued through round robin pattern exchanges and correspondence. Cuesta's research has contributed considerable knowledge the field of quilt studies. She has written four books and her articles have been published in many venues including International Review of African American Art, Uncoverings (the journal of the American Quilt Study Group), Nimble Needle Treasures, Quilter's Journal, and Quilter's Newsletter Magazine.

Her research areas have incorporated a multitude of quilt history subjects that have served as seminal studies which significantly influenced and encouraged later researchers to pursue the investigations of those topics at great length. From the Hatfield-McCoy's Victory quilt, to a first presentation of the importance of quilts rendered in the WPA sponsored Index of American Design, to a first study of charm quilts, to an initial investigation of the 20th century's first quilt revival, Cuesta's original research covered many quilt history topics never before seriously examined. The broad range of styles and interests of African American quilters received the same concentrated attention characteristic of Cuesta's works. This work, best known through her book Always There: The African American Presence in American Quilts, countered many mainstream art historical assumptions that categorized African American quilting within specific visual styles. In addition, she placed African American quilting in a wider historical context and was able to give evidence of the diversity of black quiltmaking, and the concomitant imprint of quilts in other areas of black endeavors, such as painting, sculpture, poetry, literature, and even religious sermons. A teacher as well as a researcher, Cuesta has presented many seminars and lectures, and worked as a reading specialist in St. Louis public schools until her retirement in 1985. She was an original member of American Quilt Study Group and has been recipient of many awards for her work, including induction into the Quilter's Hall of Fame and a citation in Marquis Who's Who in America. In 2004, she was the recipient of the Distinguished Scholar's Lifetime Acheivement Award for her gournbraking research on the history of African American quiltmaking, awarded by the Anyone Can Fly Foundation. Cuesta passed away on August 23, 2007.

In 1977, she gave the Quilter's Hall of Fame her study collection of over 800 quilt blocks, a scrapbook, and a few pieces of ephemera. In 2003, Cuesta gifted the American Folk Art Museum with the non-African American portions of her quilt ephemera collection. In 2007, Cuesta passed away leaving behind a legacy of public scholarship and her collections. In mid 2008, her family gifted the Michigan State University Museum with her collection of African and African American quilts and her quilt history collection and the museum also acquired Cuesta's extensive collection of quilt kits. In 2009, the American Folk Art Museum transferred their Benberry Collections to the MSU Museum so that the bulk of her work could be in one place where it could be more effectively accessed for research and educational uses.
Biography written by:
Marsha MacDowell
Mary Worrall
Amanda Sikarskie

Bibliography:
Books:
Quilt Research Papers:
Periodicals venues, with selected articles: Forewords, Introductions, and Prefaces:
Interviews:
Credits:
Many thanks to Cuesta Benberry for her generous participation, astute editing, and good humor.
Justine Richardson, MATRIX - project director, videographer, and web portrait co-curator
Merikay Waldvogel – web portrait curator and interviewer
Marsha MacDowell, MSU Museum – assistant web curator

Site design and production: Addie Guzman, MATRIX
Video editing: Simon Perazza, MATRIX
Video linking: Ryan Scott, MATRIX
Curatorial assistance: Mary Worrall, MSU Museum
Image scanning: Pearl Wong, MSU Museum
Interview Transcription: Francie Freese, MSU Museum

Those who contributed questions for this interview:
Shelly Zegart
Marsha MacDowell
Kyra Hicks

Images from Always There: The African American Presence in American Quilts appear courtesy of The Kentucky Quilt Project, Inc.

Special thanks to Al and Jean Waldvogel for hosting us in St. Louis, and to Brandi Searcy for technical assistance with inventorying and compiling Cuesta's collection.

This Quilt Treasures interview was made possible by generous donations to The Alliance for American Quilts from Jinny Beyer (http://www.jinnybeyer.com) and from Lake Mills Studios. Completion of the web portrait was made possible by significant contributions to The Alliance from RJR Fashion Fabrics in honor of Judy Sabanek and from Karey Patterson Bresenhan and Nancy O'Bryant Puentes in loving memory of their mother and aunt, Jewel Pearce Patterson.

The project was completed with additional in-kind support from Michigan State University Museum and MATRIX: Center for Humane Arts, Letters and Social Sciences Online at MSU.