Catalog Record:
The Lands' End All-American Quilt Collection consists of visual images, essays, entry forms, and administrative materials from three quilt contests held in 1992, 1994, and 1996. The collection was donated to the American Folklife Center by Lands' End in 1997. The 1996 national first place winning quilt, made by Candy Goff of Montana, was displayed at the reception to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress in September 1996.
The contests were sponsored jointly by Coming Home, the linens and home-decorating division of Lands' End, Inc., a catalog and home-shopping service, and
The rules for the contest specified that quilts must be of an original design or an original interpretation of a traditional pattern, and no quilts made from kits would be considered. Quilts made by groups and children were also eligible. Monetary prizes of $10,000, $3,000, and $2,000 were awarded to the national first, second, and third place winners. Additionally, a winner was named from each state and the District of Columbia, and those winners were awarded $100 gift certificates from Coming Home. Winners were announced and photographs of their quilts were published in the
Each year a panel of five distinguished judges made their choices based on quality of workmanship, quilting techniques, suitability of fabrics, color choices, over-all design, eye appeal, and originality. From among thousands of entries submitted, 250 finalist quilts were selected each year to be shipped to Lands' End headquarters in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, where the judges made final selections (See Appendix: Names of Finalists) in choosing the year's winners.
The winning entries are arranged initially by prize and then alphabetically within the following categories-- National, Judges' Choice, Kids' Quilts, and State winners. Each folder contains the contestants' original entries (including slides, photos, personal essays, and forms) and a survey of contestant information requested by the American Folklife Center for the online presentation, “Quilts and Quiltmaking in America, 1978-1996.”
Other items in the collection include photographs from the judging activities of 1996 (folders 36-46), and the entries to an employee quilt contest at Lands' End staged in 1992 (folders 3114-3131).
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.
For a list of the names of quilt finalists, see Appendix A. For a list of quilt types found in the collection, see Appendix B.
In 1992, 1994, and 1996, Coming Home (the Bed & Bath Division of Lands' End Inc.) co-sponsored a national quilting contest with Good Housekeeping magazine. Taking into account the dissemination of promotional material, the processing of entries, and the selection of winners, each contest took approximately two years to complete. Due to the nature and scope of the contest, in 1994, the Archive of the American Folklife Center expressed interest in co-sponsorship; however, after some deliberation, the Archive instead chose to recommend candidates for the 1996 judging panel. After Lands' End announced its decision to discontinue the contest, the Archive expressed interest in acquiring the winning contest materials for their collections.
In September 1996, the acquisition of the Lands' End gift was officially announced at the 20th anniversary celebration/board meeting of American Folklife Center when the 1996 first place national winner made by Candy Goff of Montana was displayed at the meeting reception. The Archive received collection materials between late fall of 1996 and early 1997. In the spring of 1997, the collection was chosen by Librarian of Congress Dr. James Billington for digitization for the American Memory online presentation on the Library of Congress website. The resulting web presentation “Quilts and Quiltmaking in America, 1978-1996” was released in the summer of 1999.
The processing of this collection began in the summer of 1997 under the general supervision of Nora Yeh. In addition to arranging the acquisition of the collection, Theadocia Austen began the initial inventory and survey of the materials. Later that summer, volunteer Marie Walter and Junior Fellow Catherine Bowers organized the administrative files and grouped the contest entries by state. In the summer of 1998, Junior Fellows Clare Norcio, Steven Pape, and Rebecca Fan worked with team leader Carol Moran to complete the labeling, rehousing, and final count of collection materials. In the fall of 1998, Christa Maher processed all materials related to the contest winners, and from 1998-99 worked with Laurel Horton (consultant) and Thomas Bramel (digital coordinator) on the digitization of the on-line presentation for this collection. The collection guide was completed by Carol Moran in September 1998, updated by Judy Ng in April 2002, by Valda Morris-Slack in 2004, and by Nora Yeh in 2009.
This collection is arranged in the following series: Series I. Administrative files for 1992, 1994, and 1996 (Boxes 1 to 6); Series II. Contest entries, for 1992 (Boxes 7 to 55), 1994 (Boxes 56 to 108), and 1996 (Boxes 109 to 147) and an oversized box (Box 148); and Series III Contest winners 1992, 1994, 1996 (Boxes 149 to 154). Posters featuring the 1996 winners are housed in the map cabinet drawer.
Within each of the three years of the contest, the entries are organized alphabetically by states. Within each state, entries are organized alphabetically by last names of the contestants. Washington, D.C. appears as "District of Columbia." Each folder may contain both manuscript and visual materials. Thus a typical folder of entry consists of the original envelope submitted by the contestant; the contest entry forms; essays and newspaper articles (if submitted), photographs and/or slides and negatives, and in some cases, samples of fabrics used in the quilts.
Winning entries were not processed as part of the original collection because they were separated out for digital conversion (See Boxes 149-154) in 1999. As a result, they were processed in August 2002 by Rosemary Graham and Valda Morris-Slack and form Series III.
The collection is open for research. Access restrictions apply, some
collection materials are stored offsite; please contact the Folklife Reading
Room before requesting materials at 202-707-5510, folklife@loc.gov. National
and state winning entries from the three contests are available in the
presentation “Quilts and Quiltmaking in America, 1978-1996.” See
Lands' End All-American Quilt Collection (AFC 1997/011), Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Contains materials which were requested for the competition.
Every item is accessible by the year of entry, the state, folder number, and personal name. Please consult with the reference staff at the Folklife Reading Room.
Some "slides" and "negatives" may be "positive transparencies."