This past week I've uploaded a new edition of www.ugrrquilt.hartcottagequilts.com, which is dedicated to examining the Underground Railroad "Quilt Code" story.

2007 will mark my fifth year researching this subject. With the help of diligent Codespotters across the nation, during 2006 I was able to add new images and plenty of new information - some of it as recently as a few days ago. I've also repaired broken links and fixed a typo here and there. (Please tell me if you find any I've missed!)

Dialup users and those wanting a "portable" version of the site may be happy to know it's now available in a dowloadable, printable PDF file (140 pages, about 4MB). It's easy to keyword search, and you're welcome to print out all or part of it to read and share. This project remains a non-profit, educational venture for which I do not accept funding.

Highlights of the latest additions:

A look at the "Quilt Code" family's new website and their latest claims about:

- well-known fugitive slaves http://ugrrquilt.hartcottagequilts.com/rr2.htm#grasp
- African dialects http://ugrrquilt.hartcottagequilts.com/rr2.htm#complicate
- European Jews and Nazis http://ugrrquilt.hartcottagequilts.com/index.html#Jewish

New "Code" sightings, including:

- at a new monument to Frederick Douglass http://www.ugrrquilt.hartcottagequilts.com/index.html#Douglass

- a massive "Code" mural commissioned by an Ohio school board http://www.ugrrquilt.hartcottagequilts.com/index.html#Trotwood

The unusual master's thesis that followed an October 2005 request for "Code" sources posted to H-Slavery (an email list for scholars researching slavery-related issues)
http://ugrrquilt.hartcottagequilts.com/rr6a.htm#ransaw

(H-Slavery followup discussion can be found at http://tinyurl.com/ynaoj7 )

A preview of discographer Joel Bresler's superb research into the origins of the song "Follow the Drinking Gourd" http://ugrrquilt.hartcottagequilts.com/rr9.htm#Follow
(Joel's website, www.followthedrinkinggourd.org,is scheduled to debut later this year)

The backstory on Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt http://ugrrquilt.hartcottagequilts.com/rr6a.htm

An investigation of "Code" claims surrounding the Coates abolitionist quilt. What secret did the quilt really hold? http://ugrrquilt.hartcottagequilts.com/rr6a.htm#rewriting

A look at assertions that Georgia quilter Harriet Powers was probably a member of the Eastern Star (Masonic) organization or other "secret society" http://ugrrquilt.hartcottagequilts.com/rr5.htm#Prince

More on the "Seat of Great Authority" (a ladderback chair claimed to be a ritual Akan seat embroidered with secret messages), with additional photos, a summary of the owner's research, and the results of the chair's auction http://ugrrquilt.hartcottagequilts.com/rr9.htm#Epilogue

Since new information comes to me pretty regularly, please let me know if you'd like to be notified when I update the site again.