How did Amish quilts evolve from practical bed linens into contemporary art? Hagley Museum and Library will host Janneken Smucker's illustrated program, “The Amish Quilt Craze: Art, Business, and Authenticity,” on Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. Admission is free.

Smucker, a fifth-generation quiltmaker and professor of history, will draw on her recent book, “Amish Quilts: Crafting an American Icon” (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013). She will examine the viewpoints of Amish families, antiques dealers, art collectors, corporations, fashion designers, tourists to Amish country, and Hmong needle workers. Smucker will draw on her own observations as well as oral histories, newspaper accounts, ephemera, and other archival sources as she explores the intersections of art, craft, fashion, globalization, religion, ethnicity, and consumer culture.

Reservations are requested. Call 302-658-2400, ext. 243, or e-mail [email protected]. The lecture will be held in the Soda House auditorium. Use Hagley’s Buck Road East entrance off Route 100 in Wilmington, Del.

Smucker is an assistant professor of history at West Chester University, where she specializes in digital history, public history, and American material culture. She has published widely on the subject of Amish quilts and serves as a board member for the national non-profit Quilt Alliance.

For more information, visit www.hagley.org.