Board of Directors

Our Board of Directors consists of museum professionals, coverlet enthusiasts, and architectural experts. They are experienced, “can-do” people with a commonsense, practical attitude, who recognize, respect and credit the work of others and who know that big things can be accomplished without spending huge dollars. They share the vision, agree on how best to achieve it, and are working cohesively to accomplish the goal.

Eva Burnham (Montreal, Canada) – Costume and textile conservator/restorer. Ms. Burnham has 35 years of experience with textiles of all types and origins. She trained at the renowned Abegg Foundation in Riggisberg, Switzerland (near Bern), a world center for textile conservation, and was responsible for the creation of the textile conservation laboratory at the Canadian Conservation Institute in Ottawa. Her associations have included Toronto ’s Royal Ontario Museum and Montreal’s McCord Museum of Canadian History. If the Burnham name sounds familiar, it is because the love of textiles runs in her family. She is the daughter-in-law of textile historian (the late) Dorothy Burnham, author of KEEP ME WARM ONE NIGHT: Early Handweaving in Eastern Canada, the groundbreaking Canadian work that recognized coverlets as far more than domestic craft.

Jes Horwath (Illinois) – Board member of the Colonial Coverlet Guild of America. Mr. Horwath is a retired media specialist and instructor of modern German at Purdue University (Indiana). He is an active volunteer with a 10-year interest in coverlets. His degree in Library Science and his experience in archival recordkeeping will be invaluable in establishing the Museum research library. Mr. Horwath has pledged his coverlets to the Museum.

Christine Jeryan (Michigan) - A 30-year interest in textiles has led Mrs. Jeryan to the study of tartan weaving, fabric finishing, collapse weaves, historic American textiles, 19th-century rugs, and more. She has spent her career in Museum Services, scientific research, writing and editing, and a myriad of special projects. She has been an independent contractor associated with the Plymouth Center for Human Development, the Cranbrook Institute of Science, the Gale Group, and the Henry Ford Museum, all in Michigan. Her activities have included publishing the local Sherlock Homes Society newsletter, volunteering at the Heritage Spinning and Weaving (Lake Orion, MI), and memberships in the Michigan Weavers Guild and the Handweavers Guild of America. She is co-owner with her husband Richard of Fell’s Edge LLC, selling fiber and fine handwoven goods. She currently volunteers at Greenfield Village (the Henry Ford Museum), where she performs a wide range of textile-related research work and is responsible for training presenters, dressing the looms for weaving, and demonstrating weaving to the public.

Richard Jeryan (Michigan) – Retired technical leader in vehicle design research and advanced engineering at Ford Motor Company. Mr. Jeryan’s extensive and varied work as a registered professional engineer included the development of fiber reinforced polymer and other lightweight materials in vehicle body and chassis structures, with particular emphasis on crashworthiness. Since his retirement, his longtime commitment to textiles has led to his work at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan, where he studies, teaches and practices the weaving craft. There, he designs the fabrics and oversees the weaving in the Village Weaving Shop. At The Loom Room in Staffordshire, UK, he studied the design of Jacquard fabrics and the preparation of punched cards; and he restored the Jacquard loom at Greenfield Village. Mr. Jeryan weaves at home and at a local Detroit art center. He is co-owner of Fell’s Edge LLC, selling fiber and fine woven goods. He is particularly interested in the important role textiles played in the development of the social and technological fabric of America.

Edward Maeder (Massachusetts) – Director of Exhibitions and Curator of Textiles for Historic Deerfield . Mr. Maeder has organized over 50 exhibitions and written for numerous publications. He has held curatorial positions at the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and he was Founding Director of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada . Mr. Maeder has served as consultant to many renowned institutions in the U.S. and abroad; and he has taught at the University of Minnesota, the University of Southern California , Abegg Stiftung (Bern, Switzerland), and the Costume College in Van Nuys, California . He has lectured on costumes, textiles, conservation and collections in 26 states and 18 foreign countries. Mr. Maeder is an expert in the complete timeline of textile history, and how coverlets fit into the picture.

Sumpter Priddy III (Virginia) – Historian, author, and expert in the research of material culture. Mr. Priddy is specifically interested in the relationship between architecture, history and the decorative arts. He is actively engaged in researching America ’s early artisans and has assembled one of the most extensive photographic libraries of regional decorative arts in private hands. His prior associations include Historic Deerfield as tutor in the Summer Fellowship Program, and The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation as Teaching Curator. His numerous publications include his latest book, American Fancy, which was accompanied by a major traveling exhibit, receiving rave reviews. The book has just received the Historic New England 2004 Book Prize for its “significant contribution to the study of American and New England Culture.” The inspiration for this landmark 15-year project, was a coverlet inscribed “.... FANCY WEAVER.”

C. Douglas Schmidt (Maryland) – President, Cumberland Cultural Foundation, overseeing the C. William Gilchrist Gallery in Cumberland , Maryland (site of the Zongors’ coverlet exhibition in June, 2005). Mr. Schmidt is a past Board member of the Hanover Area Historical Society in York County, Pennsylvania, where he managed its annual antique show, the Society’s primary fundraiser. He served as a Cumberland representative on the Board of Directors of the Bedford Springs [PA] Festival of Arts. He has had a 50-year interest in architecture, historic preservation, and the American decorative arts, having championed the preservation of architecturally significant historic buildings, and is a self-described 40-year-or-more “auction hound.” He is the former owner of the John Abbot house (John Abbot was founder of Abbottstown, PA), a restored residence now functioning as an antique shop.

Charlotte Thompson (Pennsylvania) – Retired after over 30 years of employment by the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole and the PA Department of Labor and Industry. Mrs. Thompson has been a serious quilter for over 30 years. She has attended many classes in piecing, appliqué, the study of antique quilts, preservation and all phases of quilting. She operated her own business, sold her own quilt designs, and was a juried member and past president of the Blair County Guild of Craftsmen. For the last 10 years, Mrs. Thompson has been a sales associate with the Longaberger Company, a direct sales company. Her knowledge and understanding of quilting and textiles in general, as well as merchandising, are invaluable in her volunteer work as Shop Manager at the Coverlet Museum.

Jude Fera (Connecticut) - Ex-officio (non voting) member of the Museum Board. Ms. Fera will lead the Collectors’ Council, an adjunct group of coverlet collectors who will organize their own special events and programs as well as fundraising efforts, to supplement Museum activities. The Collectors’ Council activities will be open to all Museum members who have at least one coverlet. Ms. Fera has been interested in coverlets for 25 years. Her still-growing collection numbers over 200 and includes examples of all weave structures. Ms. Fera has pledged her collection to the Museum.

Honorary Board Member Martha Jack.

Martha Jack (NY State) is a true pioneer in coverlet stewardship. The National Museum of the American Coverlet honors her many years of devoted service to the “cause” of coverlets.

Museum Director/Curator

Melinda Zongor. Ms. Zongor has a 35-year interest in antiques, including 20 years in the antiques trade, specializing in coverlets. She has been a weaver, both independently and for a custom, high-end weaving house. In 1988 she curated and wrote the catalog for the Hirschl & Adler Folk (NYC, New York) exhibit “Warm and Wonderful: The Jacquard Coverlet.” She is author of the books Coverlets and the Spirit of America: The Shein Collection and Coverlets at the Gilchrist: American Coverlets 1771-1889. Her contributions to the newsletter for the Colonial Coverlet Guild of America, include her article entitled “A National Coverlet Museum: We Need One,” written in October of 2003. On the Board of Directors of the Antiques Council, she served as Director of Education, in charge of their annual publication of educational articles written by Council members.

Her previous experience includes audience development for the then-fledgling Hartman Regional Theatre Company in Stamford, Connecticut. Other associations include NBC (National Broadcasting Company) and the Theatre in America department of WNET (the public television station), both located in Manhattan .

The Zongors have presented coverlet exhibits, lectures, technical consults and general advice for collectors, the antiques trade, the feature film industry, print media, and a variety of groups, large and small. They have helped build several major coverlet collections and have dedicated their lives together to educating about, and raising awareness and appreciation of, coverlets.

Melinda and Laszlo Zongor are members of the Colonial Coverlet Guild of America, and former members of the Antiques Council, the New Hampshire Antiques Dealers Association (NHADA), and the Antiques Dealers Association (ADA).

They have made a fulltime commitment to the Museum.

Conservator/Registrar

A full-time Conservator/Registrar will be added as soon as possible.