Rachael Kinnison loves anything that’s truly old. She grew up around antiques and spent as much time as she could with her great-grandmother, always begging her to tell stories of her childhood and parents in the late 1800s. She stitched her first quilt when she was 15 years old from a late-1800s appliqué pattern she found in her grandma’s hall closet. She grew up admiring and appreciating fine craftsmanship and handwork in all things.
Kinnison has been painting and making dolls, bears, and miniatures since her early teens, drawing inspiration from her antiques. She specializes in 18th-Century Queen Anne and early-19th-Century dolls, hand sculpting them in papier-mâché, adding antique glass eyes, and dressing them in period-correct clothing. All are stitched by hand, one at a time, with antique and vintage materials.
Kinnison has dedicated her life to the study, collection, and preservation of early clothing. She sees them as not only historical artifacts or works of art but as priceless, irreplaceable windows into our ancestors’ lives and personalities. She uses the sales of her artwork, hand-hooked rugs, doll clothes, and dolls to help maintain her privately owned Lady’s Repository Museum of American clothing and textiles from the early 1700s to the 1870s.
A proud U. S. Navy veteran, Kinnison lives on the family farm in southern Colorado with her husband of 16 years and four children.
Artisans wishing to participate in the 2021 Directory of Traditional American Crafts™ may download applications by clicking here. Because of the uncertainty of mail delivery caused by the Pandemic, we have extended the deadline for entries. We will accept entries postmarked by February 15, 2021. Those selected will be notified after judging in April, 2021. The 2021 Directory of Traditional American Crafts™ will appear in the August 2021 issue of Early American Life.
1,991 days until America's Sestercentennial
Coming Up This Weekend
Many events listed on our calendar have been postponed or cancelled as a precaution to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, now a pandemic. If you must (or choose) to attend an event, we suggest you call and verify that it will be taking place as planned.
Subscribers' Notes
Our December 2020 edition has been printed on schedule and is on its way to all of our subscribers. Because of the Covid-19 situation, postal delivery sometimes is taking longer than usual, so please be patient. Subscribers should get their magazines before Decembesr begins. Email us at subscribe@firelandsmedia.com if you suspect you have had a delivery problem—because our offices remained closed for the protection of our staff, we cannot answer telephone queries at this time.
All new web subscriptions will start with the February 2021 issue. Please email us at subscribe@firelandsmedia.com if you have other subscription requirements.