Frequently Asked Questions

1. I would like to use an image or other content from the Quilt Index. Do I need to have permission to do so?

Yes. Contributors to the Quilt Index retain copyright to their contributions of data (both text and images), and agree to permanently license these contributions to the Quilt Index to display on the website for educational purposes. If you wish to obtain permission to use any Quilt Index content in any other way, please contact the contributing institution or the Quilt Index. The Quilt Index copyright statement can be found on our About page.

2. How can our quilt documentation project or quilt collection become a part of the Quilt Index?

In order to start the process of joining the Quilt Index, each potential contributor must:

1. Submit an application form and supporting materials about the collection they are proposing to be included in the Index. Since every collection is different, this set of materials provides the Quilt Index staff with the base information needed to help contributors create a unique work plan and budge for each distinct collection.
2. Pay an application fee of $150 payable to Michigan State University. The application fee covers the administrative costs of setting up the applicant file and the Quilt Index staff time to work with contributors to develop and individualized work plan, budget, and, if necessary, the fundraising strategy to fulfill the budgeted costs for adding the collection to the Index.

Application materials for new contributors can be found on our Contributor's page.

If you have questions, please contact the Quilt Index.

Yes, we have created a documentation form based on the Quilt Index Comprehensive fields . The comprehensive fields are a list of descriptive terms used in documenting quilts and quiltmakers. The QI Comprehensive Fields were developed based on forms used by state documentation projects, information maintained by quilt-related museums, and active contributions from contributors collaborating during the first phases of the Quilt Index. We have used these terms to define the data entry fields in the Quilt Index.

4. My quilt documentation project already has a form but we have not yet computerized our data. What can we do to make sure that it is compatible with the Quilt Index?

The easiest, fastest, and cheapest way to add your data to the Quilt Index is to enter it directly into the Quilt Index. Upon becoming a Quilt Index contributor, you will enter your data directly into the Quilt Index using a computer that is connected to the Internet and a password protected online entry form.

Application materials for new contributors can be found on our Contributor's page.

If you are photographing quilts, obtain the best quality photographs possible. Be sure to make one image of the full quilt, and then take close-up images to show special details of the quilt. The Quilt Index can feature multiple images of the same quilt. Four basic benchmarks for image quality for quilts are: sufficient and even lighting (i.e. no hot spots), color faithfulness, quilt pattern detail, fabric pattern detail, and quilt stitching detail.

If you are digitizing existing slides or photographs that are part of a collection of documentation, you must have access to a scanner with adequate resolution and color consistency.

The Quilt Index Image Digitization Specifications provides information for preparing your slides or photographs to be uploaded to the Quilt Index.

Contributors submit images to the Quilt Index using password-protected online entry forms. Workflow varies depending on the contributor’s needs.

Sometimes existing archival images may have inconsistencies or lower photographic quality. We know that in many cases documentation is conducted by dedicated volunteers who are not photography professionals. The Quilt Index is committed to preserving and presenting quilts. If there is no way to re-photograph the quilts, then the existing images are the documentation of those quilts and they are OK to submit to the Quilt Index. Contributors can explain their photography standards or discrepancies on their contributor pages.

Eventually, as many as possible. In October 2003, there were over 1000 quilts available from the four pilot contributors (Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, and Illinois). As of February of 2008, the Quilt Index data increased to over 13,000 quilts from six additional contributors (The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, University of Texas/Winedale Center for American History, Tennessee State Library and Archives, Daughters of the American Revolution Museum, Museum of American Quilters’ Society, and the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum). By fall of 2008, data on over 33,000 additional quilts from twelve new contributors will be added (West Virginia Department of Archives and History, North Carolina Museum Of History, Connecticut Quilt Documentation Project, Hawaiian Quilt Research Project, Louisiana Regional Folklife Program, Minnesota Quilters Inc., New England Quilt Museum/MassQuilts, Rutgers Special Collections and University Archives, Historical Society of Iowa, University of Rhode Island, Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Center, and the Wyoming Quilt Project). Read more about Quilt Index contributors.

The Quilt Index was designed to facilitate inclusion of formal quilt documentation projects and quilt collections. Project leaders are planning for the next phases of expansion. Funding provided by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities supported the research and development of the Index and data entry for all or part of the records from the four pilot contributors. Funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and from the National Endowment for the Humanities will add the records of nineteen contributors.

Coordinators of other quilt collections and documentation groups are encouraged to contact us for more information about participation and plans for making their quilt documentation records accessible online through the Index. Contact the Quilt Index for more information

No, but we would urge states to consider working with the Quilt Index. The power of the Quilt Index is in providing access both to quilt documentation project and to groups of documentation together so that they can be linked and searched and cross-referenced with documentation from other places. Thus, the QI will be most useful to everyone if it can provide a searchable source to as many documentation records as possible. Moreover, building and testing a useable site is complicated and costly; we would hope that research and development costs of The Quilt Index won't need to be replicated. Finally, the Quilt Index is built upon a repository and is housed at a major research university with high-level, redundant data back-up and preservation measures and an experienced, professional staff. Thus the Quilt Index can serve to preserve and protect the hard-earned quilt documentation information for years to come.

If your collection or state documentation project is interested in joining the Quilt Index, please contact the Quilt Index for more information.

Not at this point. The Quilt Index team is, however, hoping to create a mechanism in the future for individuals to be able to do just that.

The Quilt Index is a virtual repository, not a collections holding entity. The quilts found in the Quilt Index remain in the hands of museums, individuals, and private collections. You will need to contact the contributing institution that submitted the quilt data for information about visiting their collection or locating particular quilts.