The Texas Crochet Heritage traveling exhibit is about doily crocheters, doily culture, and doily history, with a little doily art and poetry, for good measure.
The exhibit consists of forty-five 16 x 20″ panels that feature photos, maker stories, history, and culture of doilies and similar items. The Texas Lakes Trail Region heritage and tourism office (affiliated with the Texas Historical Commission) published the exhibit in 2019. Since then, the Texas Crochet Heritage exhibit has traveled to Texas museums, cultural centers, and libraries.
Find out how to rent the Texas Crochet Heritage exhibit, and optional add-ons, at
texastimetravel.com/regions/lakes-trail/partners/traveling-exhibits-for-loan/ or email Jill Jordan at jill@texaslakestrail.net.
Examples from the Texas Crochet Heritage Exhibit
Thanks in part to a grant from the Summerlee Foundation, Suzann Thompson created the Texas Crochet Heritage exhibit based on interviews, fieldwork, and archival research. Following are three examples of stories she discovered, which are included in the Texas Crochet Heritage exhibit.
On her fieldtrip around the Texas Panhandle, Suzann individuals and people at small and large museums, to talk about doilies. Among the generous people Suzann talked to on the trip, were Jim and Beverly Baker, who told about Jim’s mother, Marie Colene Schwartz Baker.
Back at home, Suzann spent hours exploring newspaper articles about doilies in the wonderful, digital Portal to Texas History. She found ads selling doily patterns, articles about how to use doilies, reports of social occasions where doilies were included in table centerpieces, and the time-honored American tradition of crochet competitions in county fairs.
Poet and musician Sandi Horton was an early collaborator in Suzann’s doily research and art journey.
The rich history of doily-making unfolds every single day, because yes, people still crochet doilies. At the same time, the personal history of doily makers is erased from living memory every day. The future of crochet heritage research, by Suzann Thompson and others, will capture as many of those stories and histories as possible.