(Quilt from NYPL Digital Gallery)

I learned in today’s New York Times that Cuesta Benberry, a renowned historian of the craft of quilting, has passed away. She worked to collect, interpret, and preserve quilting traditions of African American women over the course of many decades, and her scholarship resulted in books, archives, as well as collections of patterns. If you wish to learn more about her work and about the rich contributions African American women have made to the world of quilting, I would recommend any number of Benberry’s books that we have here at NYPL, including especially Always there : the African-American presence in American quilts and A Patchwork of pieces : an anthology of early quilt stories, 1845-1940.