Documents related to the Hudson River Quilt (1991.3.1)

The idea for the Hudson River Quilt was conceived in 1969 by Irene Preston Miller, a resident of Croton-on-Hudson, New York. At the time, New Yorkers living along the Hudson River were concerned that Con Edison, an energy company, was planning to build a power plant along the river, further exacerbating the pollution in the waterway. Miller, who was deeply involved in local environmental conservation groups, hoped that a quilt depicting places along the Hudson would help to raise funds to clean and protect the river. She selected 30 women to be Hudson River Quilters. “I invited people I knew who cared about the river; needlework or quilting ability was not the consideration,” Miller said. Each collaborator was tasked with quilting one, 14-inch square depicting a significant landmark or natural feature found along the Hudson. The squares were subsequently arranged geographically to follow the Hudson River’s course, with the top left square representing Lake Tear of the Clouds (the river’s source) and the bottom right square representing New York Harbor (the river’s end). The Hudson River Quilt was completed in 1972 and exhibited by the American Folk Art Museum (then named the Museum of American Folk Art) in an exhibition entitled The Fabric of the State (May 23-July 10, 1972). It would next travel across the United States and internationally to England and the Netherlands.

On January 27, 1990, the Hudson River Quilt was sold at auction by Sotheby’s for $20,000 to the J.M. Kaplan Fund. As originally intended by Miller, the proceeds from the sale were dedicated to cleaning up the river, and split equally between three environmental organizations: The Hudson River Valley Greenway Council, Scenic Hudson, and the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater.

The quilt was gifted to the American Folk Art Museum in 1991 by the J.M. Kaplan Fund.

Sources consulted for this note can be found in this collection:
“Hudson River Quilt Shown,” The Sunday News, July 2 1972.
Quote from Irene Miller found in unpublished quilt history and list of contributors, undated, Box 1, Folder 7.
Roberta Hershenson, “Hudson River Quilt Going Under the Gavel,” New York Times, January 14, 1990.
Juliann Sveda, “Auction: A Cloth Ballad,” Hudson Valley, April 1990.