DECATUR – Carol Vickers will present “The Culture of a Community as Reflected in its Quilts” on March 18 at East Central Community College.

       The program begins at 1 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center Auditorium. It is sponsored in part by the Mississippi Humanities Council and is the next installment in the college’s Cultural Arts Series.

       The public is invited and there is no charge to attend.

       Vickers has been a quilter throughout her adult life and has always had an interest in the history of quilts and quilters, having spoken numerous times on this topic. In recent years, she has expanded her interest to include vintage linens.

       In 1984, Vickers and her mother were invited by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History to represent the Mississippi quilters in the Mississippi Pavilion at the New Orleans World’s Fair where they quilted and discussed quilting with Fair visitors.

       In 1994, she was appointed Chairman of the Mississippi Heritage Quilt Project, which resulted in the documentation of more than 1,600 quilts made prior to 1945. The project resulted in the publication of three books: “Mississippi Quilts,” “Threading the Generations,” and “Martha Skelton Master Quilter.” She co-authored “Threading the Generations” and wrote the introduction to “Mississippi Quilts.” She is also the author of “The Llama’s Pajamas,” a book about quilts for children.

       Vickers is a graduate of East Central Community College and holds a master’s degree from the University of Southern Mississippi. She taught 32 years in the public schools of Newton County and East Central Community College.

       She and her husband, Ovid, are the parents of three and reside in Decatur, where she continues to quilt and research the history of quilts and quilting.

       The Cultural Arts series began as a way to bring performing artists and visual artists to the campus throughout the year for both EC students and the community, according to Vicki Blaylock, ECCC Fine Arts Department Chair.

       For more information, contact Blaylock at (601) 635-6225 or e-mail vblaylock@eccc.edu