The Founding of The Quilters Hall of Fame
Written by Karen B. Alexander, Quilt Historian
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In 1975, as the United States prepared for its bicentennial, Hazel McDowell Carter was busy making a
quilt to commemorate our nation’s two-hundredth birthday, just as American needle-workers have
celebrated historic quilts, carrying on a long tradition among quilters of working together to reach a
common goal.
Hazel McDowell was born in Salem, Iowa, and learned how to quilt early in her childhood from her
mother, Grace McDowell, and her maternal grandmother, Elsie McVey. Hazel still has one of those first
hand-pieced blocks in her possession. In 1958, she moved to Washington D.C. to work in the office of
her Iowa Congressman, and she continued to quilt. In 1964, she married Joseph G. Carter and was
the busy mother of two small children by 1971.
Hazel Carter carried more than her administrative skills with her from Iowa to her new home. She
carried her love of quilting. Her first study of quilting history began with the discovery of an article in a
1970 issue of Needlewoman and Needlecraft magazine about a 1708 English-made patchwork quilt
with accompanying bed hangings and curtains. Over the next few years, Patsy and Myron Orlofsky’s
book, Quilts in America (Patsy Orlofsky), and articles in Quilters’ Newsletter Magazine (Bonnie Leman),
Nimble Needle Treasures, and Quilters Journal (Joyce Gross) would form the backbone of her
knowledge of quilting history. In 1973, Hazel Carter and Jinny Beyer met at a local gathering of
quilters, and together began studying old fabrics in order to learn how to date their growing
collections of antique quilts.
Just months before meeting Jinny, in December 1972, Carter had founded Quilters Unlimited of
Northern Virginia in order to create a quilting community for those individuals desiring to quilt
together, as well as to offer classes for those who wanted to increase their skills. QU would one day
grow into an eleven-chapter, 1,400 member, non-profit organization that would not only offer classes,
but would spread good will throughout the greater community by making and donating thousands of
quilts to hospitalized children, foster children, seniors in long-term care facilities, and victims of natural
disasters. This was grassroots America in action. Quilters coming together to make things happen.
As the then-small group continued to discuss the approaching bicentennial, an idea began to form in
Hazel’s mind. Her vision was of a giant quilting bee where hundreds of quilters could come together in
one place to learn, share, and shop. That dream came to fruition in 1978, when she founded yet
another organization: the Continental Quilting Congress, an educational non-profit entity based in
Vienna, Virginia. It was one of the earliest quilt conferences in the nation, where quilters got together
to learn the art and craft of quilting from Beginner to Advanced, to participate in a Show and Tell, and
to shop at a Quilters Merchant Mall set up just for quiltmakers and their specialized needs. Such
conferences would quickly prove to be one of the great revolutionary movements of twentieth-century
quilting history.
The first Continental Quilting Congress convention in July 1978 brought more than five hundred
delegates to the Sheraton Hotel in Arlington, Virginia, with additional shoppers raising the final
attendance total to more than one thousand quilt enthusiasts gathered under that first hotel roof.
Husbands and families of quilters across the country were in shock. What had suddenly come over
their wives and mothers? Why were they headed for Arlington, Virginia? Why in the world would a
wife/mother/sister/sweetheart pay money to stay in a hotel (sometimes five to a room) just to quilt?
Couldn’t she do that at home? Women had been quilting for generations without going to all that
expense and trouble!
Hazel tells stories of quilters who had never spent a night away from their families in their lives,
suddenly hitting the road with a quilt friend and discovering new dimensions to freedom and self-
expression. Perhaps it is hard for us to contemplate today just how revolutionary this idea was for
quilters at the time, but most quilting had traditionally been done at home or in church groups, with
relatives or friends teaching the how-tos; not a stranger in a hotel! Freedom was in the air for women
in the 1970s. Freedom was in the air for quilting in 1978. Ten Continental Quilting Congresses were
held over a thirteen-year period, as well as five overseas tours to meet with quilters around the world
and learn of quilting in other cultures: Australia, Japan, China, New Zealand, Great Britain, Scotland,
and Ireland.
In 1979, a milestone occurred at the Continental Quilting Congress. As Hazel digested all the
comments and feedback she had received from that first CQC meeting in 1978, she realized another
need existed in the quilt world that was not being met: the need to bring to the attention of her
delegates the work of previous generations of quilters and to recognize and praise the individuals of
the present day who were bringing the story of quilting to the fore. Many delegates appeared to be
ignorant about the history of their quilting heritage, the art from and craft they obviously love with
some passion. How could this be remedied? After careful exploration and discussion with her fellow
quilters, Hazel’s insightful solution was the creation of The Quilters Hall of Fame. The souvenir book for
that first induction ceremony in 1979 stated, The Quilters Hall of Fame has been established to
recognize the people behind the quilting renaissance, to pay tribute to their accomplishments, and
thereby establish documentation of an important part of quilting history. A selection committee was
formed from a cross-section of the quilting community to study nominations for future Honorees.
That first committee consisted of: Mary Graunbaum (TX), Rachel Maines (PA), Bets Ramsey (TN),
Joyce Gross (CA) and Isobel Ann Smith (Canada).
Immediately after the announcement of the first Honorees in 1979, the nominations began to pour in.
In the early years, each new Honoree was recognized at a special luncheon at CQC and a souvenir
booklet prepared that gave a brief history of the contributions of that year’s Honoree(s). Sometimes
the award came posthumously: Dr. William Rush Dunton, Jr., Ruth Ebright Finley, Lenice Ingram
Bacon, Anne Orr, Florence Peto, Bertha Stenge, Carrie A. Hall, and Rose G. Kretsinger. At other times
Honorees were present for the ceremony: Marguerite Ickis, Gail van der Hoof, Jonathan Holstein, Grace
Snyder, (unable to travel due to poor health), Jean Ray Laury, Bonnie Leman (unable to travel at last
minute due to emergency), Cuesta Benberry, Mary Barton, Jinny Beyer, Patsy Orlofsky, Jeffrey
Gutcheon, Carter Houck, and Donna Wilder. And so the tradition would continue. With each new
Honoree, the CQC delegates understanding of their quilt heritage expanded, and word of The Quilters
Hall of Fame began to migrate beyond the bounds of CQC into the larger quilt world. Indeed, many
changes occurred in the quilting community almost simultaneously with that first 1978 CQC gathering:
Bonnie Leman (1982 Honoree), founder and editor of Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine in 1969, helped
compile and write the standard rules judging quilt shows in 1976; Joyce Gross (1996 Honoree) of Mill
Valley, California, began publishing Quilters Journal in 1977; Quilt National in Athens, Ohio, was
founded in 1979 by Karey Bresenhan (1995 Honoree) of Houston, Texas; Barbara Brackman (2001
Honoree) self-published the first version of her quilt pattern dictionary, also in 1979, which would
prove to be the guiding star of many of the State Documentation Project to follow; in 1980, the
American Quilt Study Group (AQSG) was formed by Sally Garoutte (1994 Honoree) in Mill Valley,
California, to promote and publish serious research in quilt history; and North Carolina Public Television
produced its first-ever televised how-to series in 1980 featuring quilt teacher Georgia Bonesteel (2003
Honoree). This gives you just a little taste of the incredibly fertile, productive period in quilt history
immediately before and following the bicentennial in 1976.
Dreams often converge in serendipitous ways that can change the landscape of one’s own vision. In
July 1991 two dreams merged at the West Coast Quilters Conference in Sacramento, California: Hazel
Carter’s vision for The Quilters Hall of Fame and Rosalind Webster Perry’s vision concerning the legacy
of her grandmother, early twentieth-century author and quilt entrepreneur Marie Webster. When Hazel
and Rosalind met, the former was inducting the 1991 Honoree, Marie Webster, into The Quilters Hall of
Fame, and the latter was present to receive that honor in her grandmother’s name. Their paths most
likely would not have crossed in life otherwise. A most unexpected event took place at that ceremony.
Within thirty minutes of their meeting, Rosalind, who had only months earlier rescued her
grandmother’s Marion, Indiana, home from demolition, asked Hazel if she would like to use the house
as the permanent home of The Quilters Hall of Fame. With Hazel’s fearless yes, a whole new chapter in
quilt history began.
How does one create a museum out of a condemned building? With lots of elbow grease! Grassroots
America swung into action once again. Hazel first took her dream to the delegates of the Continental
Quilting Congress while Rosalind approached the citizens of Marion via an article in the local paper. A
core group emerged out of those first efforts that have been that backbone of the restoration of the
Marie Webster House all these many years. Eventually the Marion group would officially organize as the
Friends of The Quilters Hall of Fame became a non-profit organization in 1992 with a Board separate
from its original parent, the Continental Quilting Congress. The significance of the Marie Webster
House was officially recognized in 1993, when it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places
and the Indiana Register of Historic Sites and Structures. It has also been designated a Landmark of
Women’s History and declared a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service; the only one
which honors a quiltmaker! In 1992, Amy Emms, M.B.E. (Member of the British Empire designating an
award given by the Queen for her service to quilting) was the first Honoree to be inducted into The
Quilters Hall of Fame from its new location in Marion, Indiana.
The Friends of The Quilters Hall of Fame (FQHF) has raised and donated over $35,000 through their
own local Marion efforts of organizing opportunity quilts, bake sales, merchandise sales, National
Quilting Day events and the fees from the annual Celebration seminar. In addition, more dollars have
been garnered from quilters around the world. The FQHF has also been awarded donations from
national quilt-related organizations, as well as the Build Indiana Fund, the Indiana Department of
Commerce, and Grant County businesses and community groups. But it’s the countless volunteer
hours of core Marion people like Phoebe Smith, Debi and Scott Shepler, Madonna and Richard Fowler,
Jean and Rex Chambers, Joyce and Wilbur Hostetler, Sue and Bill Munn, Sharon Felty, Cindy Beck,
Mary and Norman Cheek, Julie Spangler, Elinor Briggs, Marguerite Cox, Jean Strawser, Carolyn Goebel,
Wanda Pratt, Ruth Pearson, and Ann Calland, to name but a few, that is the real success story.
Fulfilling such dreams can often be an uphill battle, but they kept their shoulders to the wheel and didn’
t give up. This is grassroots American at its best.
In July 2004 the restored Marie Webster House officially celebrated its Grand Opening as a museum.
Having seen the organization reach its goal of establishing it headquarters in the restored Marie
Webster House, its founder then stepped down and passed the baton of leadership on. The fulfillment
of each step of this vision is reminiscent of the teamwork exhibited by Hazel Carter and her family
when they made their bicentennial quilt those many years ago. Following generations of tradition,
these modern-day quilters and their friends came together to plan and organize, piece their path, and
add their stitches to help create a glorious finished product: The Quilters Hall of Fame Museum. The
story of The Quilters Hall of Fame will never actually have an ending. Instead, it will continue to be
added to as new events unfold and new chapters get written as new generations of quilters step
forward and leave their mark.
Orlofsky, Patsy and Myron. Quilters in America. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974.
Other Sources: Archives of the Continental Quilting Congress and phone interviews with Hazel Carter
and Rosalind Webster Perry in February 2003.
All rights to the text and information in this article are reserved by Karen B. Alexander. Readers may
print the file and save it digitally. Readers may not forward the file or post the information on any
websites or bulletin boards without written permission. You may quote up to four sentences without
permission and refer to information if proper attribution is given. Please use the reference: Karen B.
Alexander, The Founding of The Quilters Hall of Fame, from The Quilters Hall of Fame website http:
//www.quiltershalloffame.net.
Contact Karen B. Alexander: karenquilt@gmail.com write to P.O. Box 681, Marion, Indiana 46952. A
version of this story first appeared in "Once Upon A Quilt" an anthology of quilt stories edited by
Margaret Aldrich and published by Voyageur Press, October 2003. Karen was elected president in
November 2004 and took office in July 2005.
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