The Quilt Index

Contributors

The New England Quilt Museum
www.nequiltmuseum.org | View Quilts

Our Mission:

• Exhibiting and interpreting the art of quiltmaking, contemporary and historic, in all its forms;
• Building and caring for a permanent collection of quilts and quilt artifacts for exhibition and study as well as preserving and documenting the achievement of American quilters of the past and present;
• Providing education about quiltmaking and the nation's quilt heritage through exhibitions, education programs, and outreach activities designed to explore the full scope of quiltmaking's aesthetic, cultural and historic significance;
• Sharing collection resources through loans to other qualified exhibitors and through programs and networks linking museum databases and library resources

Our History:

The New England Quilt Museum (NEQM), located in the heart of the historic district of Lowell, Massachusetts, was founded in 1987 by the New England Quilters Guild to preserve and interpret the quilts that are part of America's textile history. Archipelago, by Nancy Halpern, was commissioned as the first contemporary art quilt for the future collection in 1983. In 1991, a gift of thirty-three antique quilts from Gail Binney Stern and her father, Edwin Binney III provided the core for the permanent collection, which now includes over 250 quilts. Gifts of quilts from generous donors continue to augment and enhance the collection.

Since the opening in 1987, the museum has presented over one hundred exhibitions of historic and contemporary quilts by regional, national and international quilters. Each year five exhibits are presented, during which at least twelve quilts from the Permanent Collection are on display. Over 450,000 people have viewed these exhibits at the museum or at other venues across the country.

Forced by flood, NEQM left its first home in the Market Mills and in 1993 the Board purchased the former Lowell Institution for Savings Bank. This 1845 building is located in the historic district of Lowell, Massachusetts, a center for textile history. A successful Buy A Brick campaign, from 1995-1998, enabled the museum to pay off the mortgage on the Shattuck Street building.

New England Quilt Museum Quilts, written by Jennifer Gilbert and published in 1999 by C&T Publishing, features many quilts from our permanent collection as well as a history of the "mill girls" who worked in Lowell producing cloth used in 19th and early 20th century quilts. RJR Fashion Fabrics produced two lines of reproduction fabrics based on quilts from the museum's collection, producing visibility for the museum as well as royalties. In 2005, In the Beginning Fabrics produced its line of reproduction fabrics based on the Museum's "Boston Pavement" quilt from circa 1890, and additional fabrics in early 2006 based on a circa 1820 quilt from the collection. In late 2006, Marcus Brothers Textiles produced the "Regency Collection," taken from fabrics in a circa 1820 nine-piece set of bed hangings paper-pieced in the Thousands of Triangles pattern.

In 1999, the New England Quilter's Guild, having fulfilled its mission to establish the museum, evolved into an Auxiliary (NEQMA) to raise funds for the museum. Their primary fundraising event is the annual citywide Lowell Quilt Festival held each August.