[Preface] We hope this book and the work of the Illinois Quilt Research Project will encourage them and many others --beginners, experienced collectors, and advanced professionals, whether a museum curator or an academic historian--to place quilts within a context and to study them as historical documents.

[Introduction] We sincerely hope this guidebook to their work will lea you to a better understanding of your own heritage.

We hope it has led you into previously unexplored areas and increased your awareness of an unique heritage that surrounds you every day. May you always cherish it.