Brackman, Barbara

Barbara Brackman, (born July 6, 1945, New York, New York, U.S.), American quilt historian noted for her extensive compilations of American quilt patterns.

Brackman moved to Leawood, Kansas, as a teenager; she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in art education in 1967 and a master’s degree in special education in 1974 from the University of Kansas. She taught special education for nearly two decades at the Universities of Kansas and Illinois.

At 24, she began drafting and collecting quilt patterns on index cards; her hobby grew into the Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns (1979) and Encyclopedia of Applique (1993), twin compendiums of pieced (4,216) and appliquéd (1,795) quilt patterns, based on quilt collections and published sources from roughly 1800 to 1970. Brackman’s pattern compilations were also released in software format under the title BlockBase (1995, DOS; 2000, Windows). Her Clues in the Calico (1989) was one of the first studies to use a historical approach for dating quilts and other vintage textiles based on their colour and design.

Brackman’s books on quilt history include Patchwork Souvenirs of the 1933 World’s Fair (1993; with Merikay Waldvogel), Quilts from the Civil War (1997; with designs and patterns by Terry Clothier Thompson), Patterns of Progress: Quilts in the Machine Age (1997), and Civil War Women (2000), and her writings as a contributing editor for Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine include articles on quilt patterns from 48 of the 50 U.S. states. She has designed reproduction fabrics (with Terry Clothier Thompson) for Moda and quilt patterns (with Karla Menaugh) for Sunflower Pattern Co-operative.

In 2001 Brackman was inducted into the Quilters Hall of Fame.