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Continuing a tradition of recognizing and rewarding those who are committed the study of quilts and quilting history, Marcia Kaylakie of Austin, Texas has been named the Bybee Scholar for 2017. The award is presented on behalf of the Faith P. and Charles L. Bybee Foundation and the Texas Quilt Museum.

Marcia Kaylakie is a quilt collector, teacher, judge, and appraiser. She is also an author (Texas Quilts and Quilters, Texas Tech University Press), researcher, lecturer, and exhibit curator.

​Texas Quilt Museum co-founder Nancy O'Bryant Puentes presents
Marcia Kaylakie with the 2017 Bybee Scholar Award during a
ceremony at the Texas Quilt Museum.

Her memberships in quilt-related organizations and associations include the American Quilter’s Society, the Professional Association of Appraisers, the International Quilt Association, and the American Quilt Study Group.

Kaylakie is currently working on a book about the Home Demonstration Agents from their inception to World War II. Under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, agents traveled and taught homemaking skills to rural women
in their homes.

“They were a unique and mighty force in the lives of rural American women and children. The early ones are all gone now and their story is being lost,” she says. “I feel passionately about bringing them to everyone in the United States.”

Her other ongoing research is on rattlesnake quilts, which seem to date back to the Civil War and feature a pattern traceable to the migration of people from the southeast to Texas.

Marcia's lectures and workshops on American quilting and history often feature antique and vintage quilts from her own collection. She demonstrate the ways in which American quilts reflect the social, political, and economic times in American history. She also teaches classes on quilt care, conservation, storage, and documentation.

But she has a particular interest in quilts of the Lone Star State. “Stylistically, I find that Texas quilts fall into the same area as a lot of southern quilts but that there are more quilts made with individual Texas history themes,” she adds. “Texas quilters have always been very individualistic in their interpretations of quilt patterns, such as a Lone Star with 11 points—not the usual eight!”

Faith P. and Charles L. Bybee were well-known Houston philanthropists and noted collectors of American decorative arts. They established the Texas Pioneer Arts Foundation to preserve the architectural and decorative arts legacy of German-American immigrants in Central Texas. Previous Bybee Scholars include Teresa Duryea Wong, Kate Adams, and Kathy Moore