UNL Quilt Show

Blogger's Note: This semester students taking Care and Conservation of Textiles—a course offered through the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Department of Textiles, Merchandising & Fashion Design—will share some of their experiences working with the International Quilt Study Center & Museum collection.


By Christi Coufal-Tuya

Last week was perhaps my favorite Care and Conservation class thus far. All of the quilts for the UNL employee quilt guild show had arrived and were ready to be installed in the Beavers Terrace Gallery and the third floor conference room and hallway.  While I have helped to install shows in the Robert Hillestad Textiles Gallery in the Home Economics building, this was my first experience installing an exhibition at the IQSCM. It was an enlightening experience, to say the least.

This show is particularly difficult from a logistics standpoint. A traditional exhibition a requires many months, sometimes more than a year, of planning.  Curators spend months prepping for exhibitions- determining a theme, selecting objects, designing the exhibition, planning the layout, and much, much more. A major part of exhibition planning includes examining objects for size, shape, and condition to identify the best way to hang the object for display. The quilts for the UNL Employee show arrived sporadically over the days before the install, some coming in as late as Monday morning, which left little time to prep them, check that each had a proper hanging sleeve, and confirm measurements to insure that each quilt would fit on the wall in its intended space.

Another thing that made for a challenging installation were the close quarters hat the quilts were to be displayed in. The main galleries have beautiful high ceilings and wide open spaces but issues still arise when hanging shows in those spaces. The third floor hallway and conference room do not have those luxuries, and hanging a show in those spaces requires problem solving and careful maneuvering.

When we arrived for class on Monday, Assistant Curator of Exhibitions Jonathan Gregory had already been hard at work preparing the exhibition spaces and setting the layout so we could all get right to work. He created a layout plan using the ground plan of each space and images of the quilts. Below is the layout of the hallway. On the walls there were images of each quilt in their approximate location with their hanging cords in place.

The class split into two teams each under the tutelage of a curator- Jamie and I worked with Jonathan on the third floor while Sarah, Kami, and Danielle worked with Curator of Collections (and class professor) Carolyn Ducey. Unfortunately, I don’t have many pictures because the whole process was all hands on deck! We used long, clean, tables to layout the quilts and slide in the slats to prepare them for hanging. You’ll notice that in the pictures we aren’t wearing any gloves- this is usually taboo at the museum, but there are some exceptions. It is too hard to sew accurately with thick cotton museum gloves on, so gloves are removed when sewing labels on to the back of objects. The hanging hardware used by the IQSCM is made of metal and tighten with small thumb screws; it would be far too slippery to hang the quilts safely with gloves on. Instead we all wash our hands every 15-30 minutes and be careful not to touch our face or hair, any food, or anything that could transfer to or harm the quilts.

We utilized three different methods of hanging quilts for this show. The majority of the quilts were hung from slats and suspended from two cords and secured with clips. Jamie can be seen tightening a clip after checking that the Seward City Mills quilt was level.


The International Quilt Study Center & Museum makes its academic home in the Department of Textiles, Merchandising & Fashion Design in the College of Education and Human Sciences.

Egyptian Tent Panel & New England Coverlet

Blogger's Note: This semester students taking Care and Conservation of Textiles—a course offered through the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Department of Textiles, Merchandising & Fashion Design—will share some of their experiences working with the International Quilt Study Center & Museum collection.

By Jamie Swartz

One of the many perks of taking Textile Care & Conservation at IQSCM is the hands-on experience of working with, and helping care for the museum’s collection. Being up close and personal with objects from the collection—while maintaining a safe distance and always wearing gloves while handling any object—is an experience afforded to very few people. While museum guests have the option to schedule a Behind-the-Scenes tour, which grants visitors a view into the inner workings of Collections storage and a look at objects from the IQSCM collection not on display, being a part of the Care & Conservation course is a wholly unique experience. As detailed in previous posts by my fellow classmates, each class period has been marked with a new learning experience in the particulars of museum care, specifically regarding quilts.

Did you know that IQSCM’s collection contains textiles and objects that aren’t necessarily quilts?  Last week our class interacted with two examples: a hand-appliqued Egyptian tent panel and stenciled coverlet from New England.

The tent panel is one of two similar recent acquisitions that exemplify the “International” in IQSCM. My classmates had the pleasure of carefully examining the appliqued panels and writing condition reports for both. I simply admired the hand-sewn appliqued designs and took photos for your viewing pleasure. It would be wise to keep abreast of future exhibitions at the museum, and you might have a chance to view the panels in person one day.

Our class was called into the photography studio where a stenciled coverlet from New England was being photographed for an upcoming IQSCM publication.

The stenciled coverlet from the Ardis and Robert James Collection has been professionally conserved in order to stabilize and preserve the overall integrity of the object. The conservation work can be seen in the photos.

The conservation work that was performed on this coverlet prevents the textile from being folded for storage. Our class had the pleasure of carefully rolling the coverlet onto a conservation-grade tube, which was no easy task. When a quilt or textile object is rolled for storage the object is sandwiched between two layers of acid-free tissue paper and rolled onto a tube that is wider than the object. Carefully attention is paid to make sure the quilt or textile does not pucker or crease while being rolled. All hands were occupied during the rolling of the coverlet, so no photos exist of the careful and methodical process.

The Egyptian tent panel and the New England coverlet offered unique a hands-on learning experience in our Care & Conservation coursework while granting an remarkable experience of interacting with the IQSCM’s collection.

The International Quilt Study Center & Museum makes its academic home in the Department of Textiles, Merchandising & Fashion Design in the College of Education and Human Sciences.

Working with Exhibits

Blogger's Note: This semester students taking Care and Conservation of Textiles—a course offered through the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Department of Textiles, Merchandising & Fashion Design—will share some of their experiences working with the International Quilt Study Center & Museum collection.

By Sarah Walcott

As part of our work in our Care and Conservation course, our class had the opportunity to work with Assistant Curator of Exhibitions Jonathan Gregory to de-install a remarkable piece from the Getting to Know You show. This quilt, a chintz applique from the Robert and Ardis James collection, required special exhibition accommodations due to its age, size, and condition.  

Chintz applique medallion quilt.
Ardis and Robert James Collection, IQSCM 1997.007.0688.

Jonathan devised a special slant board in order to display the quilt, which he explained as we helped to de-install the quilt. The combination of a hinged slant board and the standard hanging system, which uses slats and cords, allowed this 200 year old quilt to be safely exhibited without placing too much stress on the fragile fibers. The hinges were first detached from the wall, and then the entire board was moved to a table in order to remove the cords and slat, and finally the slant board itself, from the quilt. From there, the chintz quilt, along with the others from the Getting to Know You exhibition, would be moved to isolation for two weeks before being returned to collections storage.

Care and Conservation students prepare to de-install
a chintz quilt from Getting to Know You.

IQSCM Assistant Curator of Exhibitions Jonathan Gregory
explains the cord-and-slat hanging system used at the museum.

Special care which must be taken to properly store historic textiles, including temperature, humidity, and light controls, as well as integrated pest management. Many of these same concerns apply when exhibiting these textiles, as well as a host of others specific to exhibitions. Our hands-on experience in both collections and exhibitions affords us the opportunity to understand best practices as they actually function within the museum, in addition to the theoretical foundation we are gaining through course readings. The IQSCM works toward both cultural preservation and cultural education, and the care and conservation of the museum’s historic textile collection is integral to both those ends.


The International Quilt Study Center & Museum makes its academic home in the Department of Textiles, Merchandising & Fashion Design in the College of Education and Human Sciences.

Meeting the Quilts

Blogger's Note: This semester students taking Care and Conservation of Textiles—a course offered through the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Department of Textiles, Merchandising & Fashion Design—will share some of their experiences working with the International Quilt Study Center & Museum collection.

By Kami Ahrens

I have always taken quilts for granted. Until moving to Lincoln from St. Louis, I never realized the beauty, complexity, and importance quilts could have. Now as a graduate student in a course on the care and conservation of textiles, I am experiencing first-hand just how incredible quilts can be.

Thus far, our course has introduced us to the inner workings of the International Quilt Study Center & Museum and the theoretical basics of preserving a specialized textile collection. More recently, we began processing new acquisitions, or quilts newly accepted into the collection. Quilts accessioned by the museum are put through a process of isolation and sometimes treatment before they are brought into the workroom. These methods are employed in order to ensure no pests—such as carpet beetles, or active mold spores—can endanger the collection.

Once this preliminary process is complete, volunteers and students prepare textiles for permanent storage by vacuuming, surveying, condition reporting, and labeling the artifacts. Though tedious to some, these steps enable us to closely examine the objects and create a detailed record for identification and research purposes. This process exposes me to different methods of quilting and builds my understanding of quilting throughout time and space. Additionally, close examination provides a detailed look at the exquisite art that comprises quilting, such as cording and embroidery.

After studying the artifacts, each student in our class selected a quilt to research and create individual significance statements about. I find this to be one of the most vital steps of museum accessioning, as it connects material objects back to their original context and enriches our understanding of why each artifact should be preserved as a representative sample of the cultures that form the foundation of the world around us.

The International Quilt Study Center & Museum makes its academic home in the Department of Textiles, Merchandising & Fashion Design in the College of Education and Human Sciences.