LOCATION: Golden, Colorado, USA
PRIVATE/PUBLIC: Private
SIZE: 300 +
FOCUS: Human rights issues relating to the border wall the current administration wants to build.
CONTACT: Lea McComas, website
DESCRIPTION: Cultural, environmental, political and economic issues related to the US/Mexico border wall and US immigration policy are explored by creating fabric "bricks." Quilters and artists from around the world have participated, expressing a wide variety of opinions, thoughts, and ideas in an 8 x 16 inch format. The 'bricks' are connected, creating five panels, front and back. This collection travels, and is currently accepting textile 'bricks.' See the website for details.

Location: Brooklyn, NY and online here.
Focus: Personal stories related to human rights and GBV
Size: 40+ and growing
Private/Public: Private
Description: Collection of story cloths done within a trauma therapy context. Cloth artists have given permission for the public to view their stories, and they advocate for bringing issues such as the use of sexual violence in conflict, sex trafficking, other forms of violence against women and families, issues of displacement, and experiences of war into public knowledge in order to stop and prevent violence against women. Common Threads Project trains local mental health professionals in using story cloth making, along with psychoeducation, art therapy, and body/mind work to treat groups of survivors.
Contact: Dr. Rachel Cohen; info@commonthreadsproject.net or cohen@commonthreadsproject.net

Location: Northern Ireland and virtual http://cain.ulster.ac.uk/conflicttextiles/
Focus: Conflict, human rights abuses and making visible the struggle for the disappeared
Size: 168 events and 361 textiles, comprised of arpilleras, quilts and wall hangings, with arpilleras forming the majority of the collection. (These figures are valid as of January 16th 2019.  As this is a live, growing database, these figures are set to increase)
Private/Public: The material collection of textiles is private. The electronic database collection is public.
Description: Conflict Textiles is home to a large collection of international textiles, exhibitions and associated events, all of which focus on elements of conflict, human rights abuses and making visible the struggle for the disappeared.
    The collection is mainly comprised of arpilleras, quilts and wall hangings. Arpilleras (pronounced "ar-pee-air-ahs") are three-dimensional appliquéd tapestries of Latin America that originated in Chile. These became the medium for women, generally working collectively, to denounce the human rights abuses and repression of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile.
    The arpillera making process subsequently spread to other Latin American countries and beyond. Over the last 10 years, it has expanded to women‘s groups in Spain, the UK, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Germany, Zimbabwe, Canada, New Zealand and Japan.
   Since 2008, exhibitions have been hosted in museums, universities, art galleries, embassies and community spaces worldwide. A number of associated activities generally form part of the exhibition programme, such as film screenings, workshops, and roundtable discussions. These have proved highly successful in enabling people to have a more ‘hands-on’ experience and to move from the position of viewer and observer to actively engaging in the process.
   Conflict Textiles is an ‘Associated Site’ of and maintained by CAIN (Conflict Archive on the INternet) at Ulster University, Northern Ireland. It was first set up in 2008 and redeveloped as a more interactive website with more sophisticated searching facilities in 2015.
​Contact: http://cain.ulster.ac.uk/conflicttextiles/

Image: No al plebiscito, No podemos ni opinar / No to the plebiscite, we are not allowed our opinion
Chilean arpillera, anon., 1980, Conflict Textiles collection
Photo: Martin Melaugh © Conflict Textiles,
http://cain.ulster.ac.uk/conflicttextiles/search-quilts/fulltextiles/?id=102

Location: Virtual--WCQN and The Quilt Index 
Focus: Wide range of topics including healthcare, politics, racism, history
Size: 30 + (WCQN); 195 (QI)
Private/Public: Public
Description: Quilts from the WCQN, a non-profit organization founded by Carolyn L. Mazloomi to document and promote quilts by African American quilters. Collections of story quilts can be seen online as part of Michigan State University's Quilt Index, and on the WCQN's website. Exhibits of WCQN members' work travels nationally and internationally; catalogues of exhibitions have been published and are available through various book sellers. 
Contact: Carolyn L. Mazloomi, Director: clmazloomi@wcqn.org

Location: Online (virtual)
Focus: Human Rights
Size: 153 
Private/Public: Public
Description: Wide variety of styles and topics relating to human rights. Collection was initially gathered from the MSU Museum's collection, plus additional pieces, for a gallery exhibition. Pieces can be viewed online, and in Quilts and Human Rights, by Macdowell, Worrall, Swanson and Donaldson. 
Contact: The Quilt Index

Location: Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Focus: Women
Size: 39 individual pieces, combined into one
Private/Public: Public
Description: Triangular "dinner table" set on white tiles with gold names of important women. Each side has 13 place settings with runners that relate to and illustrate specific women in history. The "placemats" are story cloths that narrate details about the life and times of the highlighted women.
​Contact: 718.638.5000; information@brooklynmuseum.org
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Location: Burlington, Iowa, USA
Focus: The story cloth collection is categorized into the following themes:
The Hmong People's Journey
Traditional Life in Laos
Hmong New Year
Neighboring Ethnic People
Size: 53 
Private/Public: Currently a private collection but would like to loan for museum and community exhibits supplemented by public speaking engagements. 
Description: Forty-four of these story cloths are displayed in "Hmong Story Cloths: Preserving Historical & Cultural Treasures" by Linda A. Gerdner (see Resources). Since this book was published, Linda has added two rare story cloths. This collection began in 2002 during a visit to Laos and Thailand that included visiting Hmong families in their village homes in rural Laos and also visiting the last remaining refugee settlement at Wat Thamkrabok in Thailand. The earliest piece in the collection dates back to 1977 and was made at Ban Vinai Refugee Camp in Thailand. The most recent story cloth came from an elder Hmong woman who arrived in the United States in 2005 with the last wave of refugees from Wat Thamkrabok. These textile arts were collected with a discerning eye for quality and diversity of content. Story cloths were collected 1) directly or indirectly from Hmong Refugees living in refugee camps in Thailand or 2) directly from Hmong refugees following their arrival in the United States.
Contact: Linda A. Gerdner at lgerdner@gmail.com or 319-572-4131
​Other info: Am very interesting in loaning my collection to interested museums or community organizations throughout the country. This could include supplemental presentations to the public. I am also available for slide presentations of this exquisite artwork. 

Location: Fishguard, Wales, UK
Focus: Sovereignty
Size: One thirty foot cloth
Private/Public: Public
Description: Contemporary community created embroidered story of fighting off a French invasion of Britain in 1797. Story is in vibrant images with an embroidered narrative in both English and Welsh.
Contact: Fishguard Library, First Floor, Town Hall, Market Square, Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, SA65 9HA Phone: 01437 776638

Location: Baltimore, MD, USA
Focus: Human Rights, Historial and Systemic Racism
Size: 7 +
Private/Public: Private
Description: These pieces examine "the origin myths, legends, and religious beliefs that shape conflicting conceptions of American History." (quote from brochure from exhibit at Baltimore Museum of Art)
Contact: art@stephentowns.com

Location: Museo Violeta Parra, Santiago, Chile
Focus: Anti-war
Size: 9 +
Private/Public: Public
Description: Though mostly known as a singer, Violeta Parra was also a painter and textile artist. Her arpillera tapestries are large and bold, and tell universal and personal stories. Her songs inspired a diverse group of women to create their own arpilleras as homage to Parra, and exhibited them in 2017 at the Archivo Nacional de Chile. See more about that exhibit here. 
Contact: Vicuña Mackenna 37, Santiago, Chile. Fono: (56 2) 2 355 46 00 

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Location: Traveling exhibit and online. See www.artandremembrance for current location of exhibit and online Gallery.
Focus: Holocaust, human rights, social justice, family
Size: 36
Private/Public: Public
Description: Later in her life, Holocaust survivor Esther Nisenthal Krinitz created a series of fabric collage and embroidered panels, each with stitched narrative captions, depicting her life in pre-war Poland, her survival as a teenager during the war, and her arrival in the U.S. after the war.
Contact: Bernice Steinhardt, Bernice@artandremembrance.org
​Other Info: To honor their mother’s legacy and to share it widely, Esther’s daughters, Bernice Steinhardt and Helene McQuade, created Art and Remembrance, a non-profit organization that has created a traveling exhibit, an award-winning film, Through the Eye of the Needle, and a book, Memories of Survival. (The film can be viewed on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCvlhYCKruQ.) A&R also uses Esther’s work to inspire immigrants, at-risk youth and other students to share their own stories in story cloths. 

Location: South Carolina, USA
Focus: Human rights, social justice, family
Size: 5 + and more in progress
Private/Public: Private
Description: This is a collection of Peggie Hartwell's story quilts. She is a visual storyteller, telling stories in cloth about social justice topics, important African American historical figures, family; she also creates memorial quilts. Her pieces vary in size, technique, and imagery. She facilitates story quilt workshops for children with special needs and immigrants, and exhibits widely; examples of her work have been published and are on her website. 
Contact: PHart888@aol.com

Do You Know Me? by Peggie Hartwell

Location: Takoma Park, MD, USA
Focus: Combination of self-made story cloths and vintage arpilleras relating to human rights 
Size: 24
Private/Public: Private
Description: Self-made storycloths relating specifically to immigration, environmental degradation, and oppression; vintage arpilleras focused on protest and political unrest, anonymous and undated.
Contact: Lisa Raye Garlock, lrayegarlock@gmail.com

Separation: How is this America? by Lisa Raye Garlock

Location: Phansi Museum, Glenwood, Durban, South Africa, and online
Focus: Women's issues and experiences 
Size: Almost 3,000 
Private/Public: Public
Description: Collection of story/memory cloths by women, inspired by the work done around Truth and Reconciliation after apartheid. This is the first Women's Museum--Living Archive in South Africa, Kwazulu Natal. 
Contact: Voices of Women--Amazwi Abesifazane

GW Art Therapy Story Cloth Course
Location: online here
Focus: Human rights
Size:
Private/Public: Public
Description: Story cloths made in elective course with focus on using narrative textiles in art therapy and community building
Contact: Lisa Raye Garlock; lgarlock@gwu.edu
Other information: