Quilt Stories

Quilt Stories: The Ella King Torrey Collection of African American Quilts and other Recent Quilt Acquisitions includes thirteen examples by leading Southern quiltmakers. The collection was formed between 1980 and 1983 while Ms. Torrey was conducting fieldwork on African American quiltmaking with Maude Southwell Wahlman. Among its highlights are an appliquéd "word quilt" by the Mississippi artist Sarah Mary Taylor (born 1916) and one of her "hand" quilts, a version commissioned for the film The Color Purple. Two quilts in the collection are by Taylor's mother, Pearlie Posey (1894–1984), who in 1980 followed her daughter's lead and began creating rainbow-hued figurative appliqué quilts.