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Audio Recording "You've got to have 'em right."

"You’ve got to have ‘em right."

About this Item

Title

  • "You've got to have 'em right."

Names

  • Johnson, Geraldine Niva, 1940- (Interviewer)
  • Todd, Zenna, 1916-2012 (Interviewee)
  • Todd, Zenna, 1916-2012 (Creator)

Created / Published

  • Ennice, North Carolina

Headings

  • -  Quilt patterns
  • -  aesthetics
  • -  income
  • -  lone star quilts
  • -  star quilts
  • -  Ethnography
  • -  Interviews
  • -  United States -- North Carolina -- Ennice

Genre

  • Ethnography
  • Interviews

Notes

  • -  Mrs. Todd started making quilts for her family to use when she was 25. She teaches quiltmaking and makes quilts to sell through a local shop to supplement her income. Geraldine Johnson described her as "a bubbly, enthusiastic person who would be a natural à interpreter of Blue Ridge quilts." This interview includes good information on the economics and practice of making quilts to sell, criteria for selection of materials to use in quilts, and how quiltmaking has changed over time.
  • -  Transcription: GJ: What are other differences that you do with, if you're doing a quilt for yourself or if you're doing one that'll be fancy? / ZT: Well, uh, you will just, if, if you're making a quilt just for your own use, that you're going to use everyday, and, uh, say, in your home, that you don't care about it a-being nice, you, you won't, you won't do a lot of these things with it. But if you're going to, now, a lot of times, where you put 'em in these shops, if they're not nice, they won't have 'em. You know. They've got to be right. You've got to have 'em right. And I have been going to make one, and I've not got into it, but I got to do it one of these days. I got to get in on it. I want to make one and use it for a bedspread. Just use it, you know. And I want to do it, and do it real good and quilt it real close and fix it so it can, I want to pick out my colors and get it to where that it will go with anything that I want to use in the room, or the walls, or any, whatever. I find that golds and, a certain shade of blues, or olive green, or something like that, really goes better to sell than just to pick up pinks or something like that that. Very seldom that you have anybody that wants a lavender, or something filled in with lavender, or pinks or anything like that. / Now I have made, I made a Lone Star quilt, you know, one big star right in the middle of the bed, great big one. And I filled it in with red, and I, after I got it done, I thought, gosh, that's too bright. That's just too bright. And I didn't think it would sell. But it did. I reckon the other colors I used in the middle for the star helped it. You'd be surprised how that sometimes, that certain colors can bring out all the rest.
  • -  For rights information please contact the Folklife Reading Room at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/folklife.contact

Medium

  • Sound tape reel : 7 in.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • AFC 1982/009: BR8-GJ-R102

Source Collection

  • Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project Collection (AFC 1982/009)

Repository

  • American Folklife Center

Online Format

  • audio

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that some of the materials in this collection are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions, and are therefore free to use and reuse. For example, the fieldwork in this collection is in the public domain in the United States.

However, the Library has obtained permission for the use of other materials, and presents additional materials for educational and research purposes in accordance with fair use under United States copyright law. For example, some of the recordings contain copyrighted music, and not all of the performers and other individuals who were recorded signed releases for public use of their work.

In addition, the American Folklife Center and the professional fieldworkers who carry out these projects feel a strong ethical responsibility to the people they have visited and who have consented to have their lives documented for the historical record. The Center asks that researchers approach the materials in this collection with respect for the culture and sensibilities of the people whose lives, ideas, and creativity are documented here. Researchers are also reminded that privacy and publicity rights may pertain to certain uses of this material.

Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these collection materials should contact the Folklife Reading Room for assistance. Rights assessment is your responsibility. The written permission of the copyright owners in materials not in the public domain is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemptions. Permissions may additionally be required from holders of other rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights). Whenever possible, we provide information that we have about copyright owners and related matters in the catalog records, finding aids and other texts that accompany collections. 

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Credit line: Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project collection (AFC 1982/009), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Johnson, Geraldine Niva, Zenna Todd, and Zenna Todd. "You've got to have 'em right.". Ennice, North Carolina, 1978. Audio. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/qlt000148/.

APA citation style:

Johnson, G. N., Todd, Z. & Todd, Z. (1978) "You've got to have 'em right.". Ennice, North Carolina. [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/qlt000148/.

MLA citation style:

Johnson, Geraldine Niva, Zenna Todd, and Zenna Todd. "You've got to have 'em right.". Ennice, North Carolina, 1978. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/qlt000148/>.