Saturday, July 26, at 2 p.m.
Join the Samek Art Museum for an inspiring afternoon as we welcome Janneken Smucker, a distinguished professor of history at West Chester University and the acclaimed author of A New Deal for Quilts.
Janneken will discuss the history of quilting and how the U.S. government utilized quilts and quilt-making to encourage Americans to create quilts individually and collectively in response to unemployment, displacement, and recovery efforts. A reception will follow at the Samek Downtown.
More Information About Janneken Smucker
Janneken Smucker is a professor of history at West Chester University and author of Amish Quilts: Crafting and American Icon (Johns Hopkins, 2013) and A New Deal for Quilts (International Quilt Museum, 2023). She hosts Running Stitch: A QSOS Podcast, a project of the Quilt Alliance, drawing on oral histories with quilters. She wrote the 2024 exhibition catalog for Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women, at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. A 5th generation quiltmaker, Janneken lives in Philadelphia with her 14-year-old daughter, and is an avid cyclist, yogi, and participant in civic life.