July 20, 2025 Pam Weeks Soft Protests–Lecture on the history of storytelling, raising social awareness and protest in textiles and quilts. Stories were quilted into bed coverings as early as 1400, and protest quilts go back to 1830!

Quilts have been the focus for more than half my life and I joyfully explore the many facets of this ancient and always exciting craft. I started making quilts as a result of the craft revival inspired by the Bicentennial in 1976. Like many of my era, I made traditional quilts with the limited calicos available.

By the mid-1980’s I was designing my own work, and considered myself an art quilter. I made quilts based in tradition with an emphasis on non-traditional color. A class with Nancy Crow sent me into the world of hand-dyed fabrics and improvisational quilts.

In 1991 I meandered down a different avenue when I took a class on reproducing the antique quilts I loved but couldn’t afford, and I was hooked on quilt history. Who knew that this would lead to research on “potholder” quilts, and even the Civil War? My first book was published in 2013 on Civil War quilts made for soldiers. My next book will be out soon.

As the Binney Family Curator of the New England Quilt Museum, I have the job of my dreams. I work with many different quilters, collectors, institutions, and co-conspirators to plan exhibits for the museum, and research the quilts in the museum’s collection. I’m having so much fun!