Skip to Content

Worrall, Mary

Assistant Curator and Education Specialist

Research Interests/Experience

Mary Worrall's principal research focus is on quilts and quiltmakers. Worrall's other research interests include American Art, women's studies, and material culture. Worrall is the project manager for the Quilt Index, a digital library of quilts and quilt-related resources and is co-curator and project manager for Quilt Treasures, a documentation project of prominent figures in twentieth-century quilt history.

 
Worrall has also served as project coordinator for Great Lakes Quilters' Stories oral history project and as project manager for a survey of folk art in the museum's collection. Her other activities at the museum include the Great Lakes Folk Festival, the Michigan Quilt Project, exhibitions, public programming, and assisting with collections management. Worrall is currently a board member of the Alliance for American Quilts and the American Quilt Study Group.
 

Selected Publications

  • ”Quilted Together: How a Digital Repository of Thematic Collections is Enhancing Material Culture Pedagogy” (with M. MacDowell, J. Richardson, A. Sikarskie, and S. Cohen), Winterthur Portfolio, 2010.
  • “The Quilt Index Goes 2.0: A Fiberspace Case Study” (with M. MacDowell, J. Richardson, D. Rehberger, and A. Sikarskie) In Museums and the Web 2009, 2009.
  • “The Quilt Index: Communicating Stories in the Stitches.” (with M. MacDowell and J. Richardson), Proceedings of the Textile Society of America Biennial Symposium, 2008.
  • "Mary Schafer: A Legacy of Quilt History." Australian Patchwork and Quilting 15, no. 4 (2007): 106-109.
  • "The K.K.K. Fundraising Quilt of Chicora, Michigan" (with Marsha MacDowell and Charlotte Quinney). Uncoverings 27 (2006): 91-122.
  • "Catalogue" (with Marsha MacDowell, and Beth Donaldson), pp. 25-117. In American Quilts from Michigan State University Museum, ed. Marsha MacDowell. Tokyo, Japan: Kokusai Art, 2003.
  • "Family Quilt Collections" (with Lynne Swanson), pp. 21-26, "Collections By Collectors" (with Lynne Swanson), pp. 27-38, and "Projects" (with Beth Donaldson), pp. 39-90. In Great Lakes, Great Quilts, ed. Marsha MacDowell. Lafayette, California: C&T Publishing, 2001.

Selected Exhibitions

  • ”Unpacking Collections: The Legacy of Cuesta Benberry An African American Quilt Scholar” (2009, co-curator with M.MacDowell)
  • ”Threads of Change: The Transformation of West African Textiles” (2009, co-project manager with L.Swanson)
  • "Redwork: A Textile Tradition in America," curator, 2007
  • “Quilts and Human Rights” (2008, with co-curator with M.MacDowell and L.Swanson)
  • "Quilts Old and New: Reproductions from the Great Lakes Quilt Center," curator, 2003
  • "Mary Schafer: A Legacy of Quilt History," curator, 2001

Degrees

M.A., Art History, specializing in American Art prior to 1940
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
 
B.A. Public History, Western Michigan University


Theme by Dr. Radut.