| Abstrakt: |
Ouilts and their construction have often been used as metaphors for the "daily-ness" of women's lives. They serve as a kind of fabric "diary" into which a woman stitched a memory of each day, a fragment of each important event of her life. This essay concerns itself with quilts and diaries as these two creative forms played their parts in the lives" of Midwestern and Western women of the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The study defines" seven ways women used the production of quilts or diaries in order to cope with and mediate threats to their sense of personal well-being. These two creative forms are treated as important personal resources for women as they sought to fulfill basic human desires for an active inner life of memory and creativity, a secure sense of identity and role confidence, stable mental health, and a positive self image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
