Written and Submitted by Alice Walsh
In July, 2022, my husband David and I took a road trip in our small motorhome to Lincoln, Nebraska, to deliver my handmade quilt, Sampler of Library Catalog Cards 1851-2006, to the International Quilt Museum, where it was added to the museum’s permanent collection. I had submitted the quilt as a potential donation through the museum’s website and I was thrilled when the museum responded that they wanted to accept it. David and I decided to personally deliver it to Nebraska because it is very large, and cannot be folded. In the end, we were very glad we did, because we then had the opportunity to tour the museum and meet some of the wonderful people who work there.
Below are some of the questions I’ve received about the quilt.
What are library catalog cards?
Library catalog cards were a filing system of 3×5 inch cards that allowed patrons to search for books by title, by author, or by subject matter. The catalog cards were found in large wooden cabinets, usually in the front or main room of a library. In the early-to-mid 2000s, they were replaced with computerized catalogs of library holdings.
Why did you decide to make a quilt using vintage library catalog cards?
I think they’re beautiful and interesting and sometimes surprising. I’ve used vintage library catalog cards in other artwork such as collage and origami. Making a large quilt allowed me to use many different catalog cards in a single work of art.
How did you choose which cards to include in your quilt?
I wanted to use a wide range of topics. The cards that appear on the quilt span 155 years, and each diagonal row on the quilt comprises catalog cards within a certain category, such as World War II, cooking, visual art, science fiction, biography, music, religion, civil rights, gardening, 19th century publications of various topics, computers, and dogs.
It was an interesting exercise to choose a variety of cards within each topic. In the music row, for example, a card for a book about Puccini operas resides next to a card for a book about the secret history of yodeling. By sewing these cards individually onto a quilted work, I felt that I was giving each card an amount of time and attention similar to what it may have received when it was first produced, regardless of the perceived importance or seriousness of the book’s topic. The egalitarian treatment of these cards on the quilt is symbolic of the egalitarian treatment public libraries provide for their patrons. All are welcome and all inquiries are treated equally for those who are curious to learn.
If your quilt can’t be folded, washed, or used, then how is it a quilt?
It’s a quilt because it has a sandwich of three layers, a top layer of fabric, a middle layer of batting (soft layer of fibers), and a back layer of fabric. The catalog cards were sewn onto the top layer of fabric and then all three layers were sewn together. Many quilters use both a sewing machine and/or hand-sewing. Either or both types of sewing are fine. I don’t have a sewing machine so I sew by hand. And while most quilts are practical quilts, meaning they can be used as blankets to provide warmth and also be displayed, there are also many art quilts, meaning quilts that are made only to be displayed and not used as blankets.
