Quilting has a rich history in Maine and America and its popularity has surged in recent years as people return to traditional handcrafts. The history of quilting in Maine is a story of community and Maine State Museum curator Laurie LaBar coaxes stories out of objects and uses those stories to enlighten, entertain, and bring new voices to Maine history. The first book of its kind, Maine Quilts 250 Years ofComfort and Community is the accompanying volume to a major two-year exhibit at the Maine State Museum. Stories abound, and lesser known aspects of the state’s history are brought to light, but the star attractions are the quilts themselves. Ranging from surviving Colonial era quilts to present day creations, more than 150 are presented in full color.

Founded in 1836, the Maine State Museum is America’s oldest state museum and is known to many as “Maine’s Smithsonian” because of the breadth and diversity of its holdings—nearly a million objects covering every aspect of the state’s cultural, biological, and geological history—and the thousands of stories its collections tell. For this book the museum selected and photographed 112 artifacts and specimens that, together, tell an epic story of the land and its people from prehistoric times to the present. It is a story covering 395 million years, a story told with a walrus skull and fossils, tourmaline and spear points, mammoth tusks and bone fishhooks, Norse coins and caulking irons, militia flags and survey stakes, treaty documents and wooden tankards, a temperance banner and a locomotive, Joshua Chamberlain’s pistol and a cod tub trawl, a Lombard log hauler and a woman’s WWII welding outfit, L. L. Bean boots and German POW snowshoes, and many more objects from the museum’s collections. Short narratives written by museum curators are woven around each item—including photos of related objects—and the ensemble has been honed, polished, and introduced by museum director Bernard Fishman. This is a book that historians and Maine residents and visitors will delve into again and again, unearthing new treasures with each reading.

I spent one winter researching the holiday history, folklore, legend, and more of each and every state,' says Carole marsh. A great coffee-table book or classroom read, this book-in an edition for each U.S. state-shares a wealth of fascinating historical material and trivia about everything from holiday traditions to how we got the Christmas tree, superstitions, and more. From the Yule logs of Maine to snow on the Alamo, you'll love your own state book, but wish you could read them all. Don't forget to send your favorite teacher or grandchild a copy for their state!

Presented on these exquisite pages are the most innovative quilts being designed today, all selected for this world-class 16th biennial international juried Quilt National exhibition. For more than three decades, the exhibition--which travels throughout America--has served as a showcase for contemporary quilt artists who expand the boundaries of the craft. Large, spectacular color photographs and the artists’ commentary will inspire the growing market of home quilters. All the pieces are genuine artworks meant for display, and they set the standard and serve as the model for other art quilts.

Offers information on finding female ancestors in each state, highlighting those laws, both federal and state, that indicate when a woman could own real estate in her own name, devise a will, and enter into contracts. In addition, entries contain information on marriage and divorce law, immigration, citizenship, passports, suffrage, and slave manumission. Material is included on African American, Native American, and Asian American women, as well as patterns of European immigration. Period covered is from the 1600s to the outbreak of WWII. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Great America quilts 2001 / edited by Patricia Wilens.