When the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History opened in 1968, it began assembling what is now the region’s largest public collection of handwoven coverlets and bedcoverings. Martha L. Benson and Laura Lyon Redford began researching the museum’s holdings of over forty-three items in 2012 after attending a workshop at the museum that was sponsored by the Northwest Arkansas Handweavers Guild. During a break, they toured the museum and inquired about the potential for documenting the museum objects. The initial result was their creation of the Ozark Coverlet Project in which they have documented the fabrics by drawing from resources in the museum’s files and outside sources. The project’s first major publication is Ozark Coverlets, a vivid and colorful volume that presents information on coverlets from northwestern Arkansas. Benson and Redford promise more contributions to the history of weaving and textile artistry from the Ozarks in planned subsequent publications. This first book is an excellent example of ways that research derived mainly from a museum collection can contribute to studies of folklife, folk art, and social history.
The authors are skilled weavers, resourceful researchers, and articulate writers. They focus primarily on overshot weaving and show the links between the museum’s collection and the broader history of weaving within the region. They note that the oldest overshot coverlet in a U.S. museum collection dates to 1771 and that the techniques for this type of weaving were developed during the eighteenth century. Despite the eighteenth-century origins, the majority of the bed coverings in the Springdale, Arkansas, museum were created in the nineteenth century, although weavers continued their art into the twentieth century. Currently, most contemporary weavers who use the overshot technique learned to weave through various craft revivals, and there is a strong interest in this artistic heritage within northern Arkansas, where the art flourished before it was eclipsed by manufactured textiles during the last century. Benson and Redford became active weavers through the craft revival, and they display their thorough knowledge of this history throughout this publication. Although written as an elegant catalog of the museum collection, the book also serves as an engaging introduction to overshot weaving.
After perusing the introductory materials, those with an advanced knowledge of weaving may be tempted to leaf ahead and look at the example of a documentation form as well as the compilation of weaving drafts at the end of the book. These resources are especially useful for understanding both the research methodology and the overall nature and scope of the artifacts in the museum. For readers with a limited understanding of the arcane vocabulary of weaving, Benson and Redford have provided lucid explanations of major terms connected to the art, and they also give clear descriptions for reading weavers’ drafts, the printed diagrams that weavers use when dressing a loom and completing the process of weaving. These sections of the book are the most technical, and their written descriptions, illustrations, and photographs are useful for understanding various weaving techniques. Nevertheless, those new to overshot weaving will likely wish to explore weaving videos on the internet to clarify the actual processes that the authors discuss, and they also may wish to view a detailed diagram that explains a loom’s design and mechanisms.
Even readers without a background in overshot weaving will appreciate the overall presentation offered by Benson and Redford. Following a chapter that highlights the social history of overshot weaving and its place in Ozark history, the authors then provide detailed descriptions of the coverlets, counterpanes, quilts, and blankets in the museum’s collection. They sketch out biographical overviews of those who either made or owned the textiles, and they often include historical photographs and other graphics to illustrate their presentation. Because the publication is primarily a museum catalog, the writers are limited by spatial and formatting constraints that curtail the amount of information about the weavers and the history of the arts. Nevertheless, they include an impressive depth and breadth of their research findings to give their readers a rich understanding of the significance of the textile arts in the Ozarks. As the museum’s director Carolyn Reno explains in her foreword, their research presents a portrait of significant aspects of the everyday lives of people in the region. Throughout the book, Benson and Redford show elements of this social history by contextualizing the textile arts within wider subjects, including settlement in the region, the division or labor, gender roles, and various relationships between local economies and the wider social history of northern Arkansas and southern Missouri. Within this history, it’s striking how various narratives connected to the Civil War are so prevalent in the memories associated with the coverlets. Along with reminiscences about Confederate loyalties, the authors also include accounts of split loyalties and the various political divisions that are reflected in stories about the textiles. This type of commemoration may reflect larger assumptions about historiography—as held both within the museum institution and by the researchers. Perhaps the presence of themes connected to the Civil War also speaks to ways that the usable past is associated with the value of family heirlooms that individuals have donated to the museum.
Ozark Coverlets is an important contribution to the history of overshot weaving in northeastern Arkansas. It is an invaluable resource for the staff of the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History, and it is an excellent resource for museum professionals in other institutions. Readers with limited knowledge of weaving will appreciate the vibrant presentations of these colorful textiles, and they will gain an in-depth understanding of the patterns and techniques used by weavers within the region. Artisans who can read the weavers’ drafts may wish to replicate the patterns of the museum’s major holdings, although the authors emphasize that they did not intend their publication to be a how-to book. In making their research available to such a wide range of interests, Benson and Redford have crafted a fine introduction to the social history of coverlets that is relevant not solely to the Ozarks but also to other regions throughout the United States.
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[Review length: 1006 words • Review posted on January 18, 2017]