Arrangement
This collection is arranged in the following series: Series I. Administrative files for 1992, 1994, and 1996 (Boxes 1 to 6); Series II. Contest entries, for 1992 (Boxes 7 to 55), 1994 (Boxes 56 to 108), and 1996 (Boxes 109 to 147) and an oversized box (Box 148); and Series III Contest winners 1992, 1994, 1996 (Boxes 149 to 154). Posters featuring the 1996 winners are housed in the map cabinet drawer.
Within each of the three years of the contest, the entries are organized alphabetically by states. Within each state, entries are organized alphabetically by last names of the contestants. Washington, D.C. appears as "District of Columbia." Each folder may contain both manuscript and visual materials. Thus a typical folder of entry consists of the original envelope submitted by the contestant; the contest entry forms; essays and newspaper articles (if submitted), photographs and/or slides and negatives, and in some cases, samples of fabrics used in the quilts.
Winning entries were not processed as part of the original collection because they were separated out for digital conversion (See Boxes 149-154) in 1999. As a result, they were processed in August 2002 by Rosemary Graham and Valda Morris-Slack and form Series III.