Quilt Inspector

As I researched my family history, I came across a lady in an 1880 census whose occupation was listed as “Inspector of Quilts.” She wasn’t a member of my family, just someone in a census list. However, this phrase caught my attention, and I wondered just what she did.

I’ve heard of pioneer quilters making various types of quilts, women attending quilting bees, and girls and ladies creating friendship quilts. However, I’d never come across the term, “Inspector of Quilts.”

This set me wondering. Where did she work? At home or in a shop or factory? Were the quilts she inspected made by other ladies and now ready for sale. If they passed her inspection!

If this was listed as her occupation, she must have been paid for inspecting quilts.

I’ll research this further and let you know what I find. I just took a cursory look through some of my quilt history books, but couldn’t find anything.

Have any of you heard of an “Inspector of Quilts”?

©2005 Mary Emma Allen