Inventory of the Jill Hemming Collection, 1994-1995
Collection Number 20371
Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Contact Information:
- Manuscripts Department
- CB#3926, Wilson Library
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890
- Phone: 919/962-1345
- Fax: 919/962-3594
- Email: mss@email.unc.edu
- URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/
- Processed by
- Elizabeth Matson
- Date Processed
- March 2003
- Encoded by
- Elizabeth Matson
- Date Encoded
- March 2003
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Descriptive Summary
- Repository
- Southern Folklife Collection
- Creator
- Hemming, Jill.
- Title
- Jill Hemming Collection, 1994-1995
- Call Number
- 20371
- Extent
-
- 497 items (0.5 linear feet)
- Abstract
- While working on her M.A. in Folklore from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Jill Hemming received a Documentation Project Grant from the Folklife Section of the North Carolina Arts Council to document and photograph quilts crafted by women of the Waccamaw Siouan Tribe of North Carolina. Hemming conducted the survey of Waccamaw Siouan quilts in Columbus and Bladen counties, N.C., 1994-1995. Each quilt is documented on a form with corresponding visual representation on color slides. As far as possible, each quilt is identified by quilt owner; the quilt maker; the quilt maker's spouse, children, and parents; the quilter (if different than the quilt maker); and the materials, dimensions, and pattern of the quilt. The quilts of Elizabeth Graham Jacobs (Lee) are particularly well represented. The oldest quilt documented was made circa 1919. The rest range from the 1940s to the 1990s.
Administrative Information
- Preferred Citation
- [Identification of item], in the Jill Hemming Collection #20371, Southern Folklife Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
- Copyright Notice
- Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Online Catalog Headings
These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.
- Bladen County (N.C.)--History.
- Columbus County (N.C.)--History.
- Folk artists--North Carolina.
- Handicrafts--North Carolina.
- Hemming, Jill.
- Indian quilts--North Carolina.
- Quilting--North Carolina.
- Quilts--North Carolina.
- Waccamaw Indians--North Carolina.
- Waccamaw Indians--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
Biographical Note
Jill Hemming received her M.A. in Folklore from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During her studies, she received a Documentation Project Grant from the Folklife Section of the North Carolina Arts Council to document and photograph quilts crafted by women of the Waccamaw Siouan Tribe of North Carolina in Columbus and Bladen counties, N.C., in part to remedy the oversight of the North Carolina Quilt Project Documentation, 1986-1988, which included few Native American quilt makers. She used this documentation in her M.A. thesis, "The Craft of Identity: Quilting Traditions in the Waccamaw-Siouan Tribe"; a booklet produced with and for the community, Waccamaw Siouan Quilters: Piecing the Past and Future; the successful nomination of quilt maker Elizabeth "Lee" Jacobs for a 1996 North Carolina Folk Heritage Award; and Traditional Threads, an annual American Indian Quilt Show initially organized by Brenda Moore, one of the quilt makers Hemming documented, and sponsored by the United Tribes of North Carolina.
Since receiving her M.A., Hemming has continued to work as a public folklorist. She has researched Mormon genealogy quilts; documented North Carolina fishermen; conducted oral histories about the impact of Latino migration into historically African-American neighborhoods in northeast central Durham, N.C., and the experiences of Lumbee breast cancer survivors; and worked as a consultant with Student Action with Farmworkers to train summer interns in fieldwork projects.
Back to TopCollection Overview
Materials document the Waccamaw Siouan Tribe of North Carolina, which has a long tradition of women creating quilts for household and community use. With a Documentation Project Grant from the Folklife Section of the North Carolina Arts Council, Jill Hemming conducted a quilt survey of Waccamaw Siouan quilts in the Columbus County, N.C., and Bladen County, N.C., communities of Bolton, N.C.; Lake Waccamaw, N.C.; Columbus, N.C.; Buckhead, N.C.; Riegelwood, N.C.; and Clinton, N.C., 1994-1995. Each quilt is documented on a form adapted from the North Carolina Quilt Project Documentation with corresponding visual representation in color slides. As far as possible, each quilt is identified by quilt owner; the quilt maker; the quilt maker's spouse, children, and parents; the quilter (if different than the quilt maker); and the materials, dimensions, and pattern of the quilt. The quilts of Elizabeth Graham Jacobs (Lee) are particularly well represented. Other quilt makers include: Rhoda M. Young, Mary Eliza Moore Patrick, Carrie Lee Spaulding Young, Shirley Jacobs Freeman, Maggie Graham Wells, Florence Jacobs, Marie Brewington Jacobs, Sue Jacobs, Brenda Jacobs Moore, Zadie Young Jacobs, Sudie Jane Stricklen Brewington, Juanita Freeman Jacobs, Donna Freeman, Margaret Patrick Gasman, Lela Mae Jacobs Brewington, Kaye Moore Jacobs, Rhoda Marcelle Young, Margie Faye Brewington Jacobs, Bessie Epps Brewington, and Marthy Jacobs. The oldest quilt documented was made around 1919. The rest range from the 1940s to the 1990s. The collection also includes some slides of the quilters and the general Buckhead community.
Back to TopOrganization of Collection
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1. Quilt Documentation Forms
2. Slides of Quilts
2.1. Photo Logsheets
2.2. Slides
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Detailed Description of the Collection
1. Quilt Documentation Forms, 1994-1995 and undated.
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2. Slides of Quilts, 1994-1995.
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Related Materials
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Waccamaw Siouan Quilters: Piecing the Past and Future in the Southern Folklife Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Hemming, Jill, "The Craft of Identity: Quilting Traditions in the Waccamaw-Siouan Tribe" [Master's Thesis] in the North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill