Jonathan Holstein, Quilt Papers

Restrictions: Selected information in the records for the Kentucky Quilt Project and the Central New York Survey.

Copyright: To inquire about usage, please contact Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries. For more information see the Use Guidelines

Preferred Citation: Jonathan Holstein, Quilt Papers, (MS 305). Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries.

Jonathan Holstein and his partner Gail van der Hoof began collecting quilts in the 1960s. In 1971 they mounted an exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York entitled "Abstract Design in American Quilts." This exhibition is generally acknowledged as the first time quilts were displayed as art objects to the public. The Whitney exhibition helped to fuel the quilt revival of the 20th and 21st centuries. Holstein donated his quilt collection and archival materials to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2003. The quilts are part of the collection of the International Quilt Study Center.

Scope and Content: 

The collection consists of materials related to Jonathan Holstein's work as a collector and scholar in the field of quilt studies. The materials cover a time span of over thirty years, from Holstein's entrance into the quilt field in the late 1960s up until the late 1990s. Included in the collection are extensive correspondence files, quilt archives kept by Holstein, files related to exhibitions where Holstein's quilts were featured, and slides of the quilts. Additionally, the collection contains files related to The Kentucky Quilt Project, the Central New York Quilt Survey, and The Quilt Journal.

Subjects: 

Quilting -- Exhibitions

Quilting -- United States

Quilts -- Collectors and collecting -- United States

Quilts -- Design

Quilts -- History

Quilts -- United States -- Exhibitions

Quilts -- United States -- History -- 20th century