Quilting's local legacy.

Port Gibson's rich quilt heritage goes back at least 200 years and remains vibrant through the efforts of artisans working to pass their needles to the next generation.

One of the most extraordinary stories uncovered by the Mississippi Quilt Association's Heritage Quilt Search Project was that of members of the Shaifer family of Port Gibson, who, since the early 19th century, have produced a collection of quilts that has for the most part survived the fates of time.

Libby Shaifer Hollingsworth, caretaker of the family collection, says she had "no idea" what she had in her stockpile of quilts, which fills three closets and many rooms, until the quilt search. Through the research team's examination of each quilt's materials, designs, and stitches, she was able to date and identify her family's four-generation collection of 51 quilts.

"Before this, there was no way for me to tell who made what," Hollingsworth says. "I only knew the ones of my mother, 'Dear Laura' (an aunt), and my grandmother."

The story of this collection has been recounted in the new book Threading the Generations: A Mississippi Family's Quilt Legacy, written by longtime quilt authorities and historians Carol Vickers and Mary Elizabeth Johnson and recently released by University Press of Mississippi.

Knowing the history of her quilts gave Hollingsworth a fresh perspective on what had seemed to be ordinary group of bed linens that her aunt Laura Percy Shaifer had begun giving her 50 years ago. "It has made me see each of the women in our family as such strong people," she says. "They all became their own person, with their own traits, which were so different. They all had lives filled with tragedy, yet a strong sense of love and family that surmounted that tragedy."

Likewise, Hollingsworth says, each quilt has a different story, "and you can't separate the quilts from their stories. To me, the whole worth of these quilts is sentimental."

Port Gibson boasts another important link in the state's quilting story, serving as home to the Crossroads Quilters for nearly two decades. The group is part of Mississippi Cultural Crossroads, long dedicated to exploring and preserving the cultural history of Claiborne County.

Through numerous state and national recognitions, Master Quilter Geraldine Nash at Crossroads has been among the dozens of African-American women who have helped bring the contributions of African-influenced styles to the forefront of the state's quilt story. This style is typified by the asymmetry, brash colors, and relaxed pattern styles that are often in direct contrast to Euro-American quilting traditions of meticulous piecework, tight stitching, and symmetrical design.

Nash is known for her skill in creating string or "strip" quilts and complex geometric patterns but insists she has no real preference in designs. "1 enjoy all different patterns and colors and how they can be put together," she says. Quilting is so relaxing for me--I can just get at my sewing machine or sit down at a quilt and all my troubles melt away."

Nash's contemporaries at Crossroads include nationally recognized quilting legends Hystercine Rankin and Gustina Atlas, among others, all of whom have worked to cultivate an appreciation among the area's youth for quilting and folk arts.

Crossroads' 19th annual quilt contest and exhibition, "Pieces and Strings," is set for March 24-26 at its headquarters at 507 Market Street in Port Gibson. The quilts will remain on display throughout April.