GEE’S BEND QUILT HISTORY TO BE FEATURED
AT JACKSON PURCHASE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
OCTOBER MEETING IN PADUCAH
The Jackson Purchase Historical Society (JPHS) will meet on at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 18, 2025, at the National Quilt Museum (NQM) located at 215 Jefferson Street in Paducah, Kentucky. NQM curator Rachael Baar will speak on Gee’s Bend Quilts: Past, Present, and Future, based on the current museum exhibition, Whiles I Yet Live: Matriarchy and Generational Exchange in Gee’s Bend.
All JPHS meetings are free and open to the public. For this meeting, NQM is offering a $10 discounted group rate for admission to the museum exhibits, including the Gee’s Bend show, following the meeting.
Since the 19th century, quiltmakers from the rural African American hamlet of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, have created unique quilts out of necessity to keep their families warm. Today, the quilts of Gee's Bend are recognized as significant works of American art and are celebrated for their artistic merit, bold designs, and powerful symbolism. The future of Gee's Bend quilts appears promising. Efforts are underway to preserve and document the quilting tradition, ensuring its continuity and recognizing the quilters' contributions to American art and history.
“We are delighted to focus on the history and preservation of the Gee’s Bend quilts and have an opportunity to view the extraordinary exhibits at the National Quilt Museum at our October meeting. We’re fortunate to have the Gee’s Bend collection on exhibit in the Jackson Purchase,” said Bill Mulligan, JPHS President.
In 1958, a group of historians met in Murray, Kentucky led by faculty from Murray State University and University of Tennessee-Martin and formed the Jackson Purchase Historical Society to promote interest, study, and preservation of the regional history of the territory encompassed in the Treaty of Tuscaloosa, known as the Jackson Purchase. The society holds a number of meetings each year with a speaker on Jackson Purchase history and publishes an award-winning journal on local history. Members include a wide range of people who simply share a love of history and a love of the Jackson Purchase area.
The society recently refurbished its website and offers an array of information about the society and Jackson Purchase history. The website is at jacksonpurchasehistoricalsociety.org. Free electronic access to back issues of the JPHS Journal through 2023 is available through the Murray State University Libraries at
https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/jphs/.
Articles are welcome for future issues of the JPHS Journal and can be sent to the editor, Bill Mulligan at
YmlsbG11bGxpZ2FuIHwgbXVycmF5LWt5ICEgbmV0. JPSH also welcomes inquiries about topics, books for review, or offers to review a book. Copies of the Journal are available from the Jackson Purchase Historical Society, PO Box 531, Murray, KY 42071. The cost is $15.90 including postage and sales tax.
Anyone interested in Jackson Purchase history is welcome to join the JPHS.
Also check out other Meetups in Paducah, Arts events in Paducah, Exhibitions in Paducah.
