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.

Mrs. Grace Averett's Quilt: Unconventional and Unexpected

Editor's Note: "Getting to Know You" is on display at Quilt House through February 6. To celebrate this show's run, International Quilt Study Center & Museum team members are sharing their impressions on select pieces from the exhibition. 

By Marin Hanson
Curator of Exhibitions

What a winner in my book and clearly by the viewers who chose Mrs. Grace Averett’s “String Quilt” as their winner. I am indeed biased as I truly love these everyday quilts, and even better yet, this one is a comforter also called a tied quilt. Everyday quilts that were made to be used could have been made very simply, humbly, and straight-forward---no need for ornamentation or elaborate design.

Why did Mrs. Grace Averett make her comforter this way? Did she make others? Did they all look like this one or did she make a variety of patterns? We shall never know the answers and can only ponder the questions.

Movement is one of the first things that strike me. You can image the waves or ripples from a boat gliding across the water. Start in the bottom lower right corner and follow the fabrics as they snake up to the upper left corner.

Her construction is marvelous in the horizontal layering of printed cottons and feed sack “strings” that create her strips. My gaze had been held primarily by the horizontal lines and the titling movement to the left. Only recently did I realize there is a vertical seam (or line) going down the center of the comforter. I love one printed fabric next to another and another and so on with just the right amount of a solid fabric. What about the solid orange? That’s the “punch” or “pop” for me. What do you think, did Mrs. Averett place those with intention or are they happy accident? Another place she draws my eye is the green printed fabric with 2 red flowers at the center of the quilt: planned or chance? Her ample use of the red ties used to hold the three layers together are visually striking. Why so many and what happened to the blank areas in the center?

Dainty, Elegant and More

Editor's Note: "Getting to Know You" is on display at Quilt House through February 6. To celebrate this show's run, International Quilt Study Center & Museum team members are sharing their impressions on select pieces from the exhibition. 

Red and Green Medallion, maker unknown, probably made
in United States, circa 1850-1870. Byron and Sara
Rhodes Dillow Collection IQSCM 2008.040.0118.

By Joy Shalla Glenn
Membership and Public Programs Assistant

Now why would I pick this quilt to write about??? It certainly is not me! It is dainty, elegant, delicate, refined, and petite. And I unfortunately, possess none of those qualities.

I am usually drawn to stronger, bolder, more geometric quilts. However, there is something about the graceful design that is comforting to the eye. I want to see the applique work up close. Can you even imagine doing all those leaves? And what about those tiny circles?

This was before the day of heat and bond. Yes, I know needle turn looks better, but, honestly, life is too short. So, I also wonder about this quilter. What was her life like?  How did she accomplish that monumental amount of work? I definitely need to see this close up.

Color and Symmetry

Editor's Note: "Getting to Know You" is on display at Quilt House through February 6. To celebrate this show's run, International Quilt Study Center & Museum team members are sharing their impressions on select pieces from the exhibition. 

Patchwork kimono, maker unknown, Japan, circa 1910-1930.
IQSCM 1998.003.0002

By Leslie Levy
Executive Director of Quilt House

The first time I went to Japan, I was 18 years old. I remember the men's kimonos as minimalistic, usually solid grey or black, but at the same time powerful. The women's kimonos were beautiful and complex; elaborate and made of colorful fabric - unlike this piece.

The symmetry and straight lines, emphasized by the long, narrow color blocks, of this kimono appeal to me. It feels modest/unassuming, yet the simplicity, combined with the earthiness of the print and the softness of the fabric give this kimono a quiet, understated authority.

Me, performing a traditional tea ceremony.

Floral Design

Editor's Note: "Getting to Know You" is on display at Quilt House through February 6. To celebrate this show's run, International Quilt Study Center & Museum team members are sharing their impressions on select pieces from the exhibition. 

Witch Hazel: Jelena, made by Ruth B. McDowell in
Winchester, Massachusetts, dated 2005.
IQSCM 2006.011.0001.

By Dean Young
Operations Manager

My career choices have always centered on creativity – whether it involved culinary art or crafts in general. A true hobby of mine is floral design. This quilt is an awesome explosion of great color and style in the form of an unusual floral centerpiece focus, something I like doing anytime I get to play with fresh flowers in creating beautiful arrangements.

The quilter mastered it in fabric and thread!

Star

Editor's Note: "Getting to Know You" is on display at Quilt House through February 6. To celebrate this show's run, International Quilt Study Center & Museum team members are sharing their impressions on select pieces from the exhibition. 

Lone Star, Sioux maker, circa 1900-1925. IQSCM 2010.047.0001.

By Kim Taylor
Collections Manager

This star quilt isn’t actually a quilt and that is one of the most interesting things about it! It might appear as if it is an unfinished quilt top, but lo and behold – the edges are finished so that tells me that it was intended to be one layer of fabric with a giant appliqued patchwork star in the center.

I did research with the Sioux and Assiniboine star quilters in Montana during the 1990s and I never saw a quilt quite like this one. This quilt is one of the earliest surviving examples of a Native American star quilt. It was gifted to prominent photographer Frank Fiske sometime between 1900 and 1920 from someone on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota.

What makes this star quilt so interesting is that it was decorated like a buffalo robe with the beaded rosettes and the feathers. A similar star-like pattern of radiating diamonds was seen on painted buffalo robes on the Northern Plains known as the “Black War Bonnet” design which only warriors were allowed to use, like in this Bodmer painting.

The Fiske star quilt has blood smeared on the upper center part of the blanket and that really adds some intrigue. Maybe Frank Fiske received this star blanket as a warrior’s gift on his return from serving in WWI or maybe after some dangerous and daring feat. Mr. Fiske lived near or on the Standing Rock Reservation for most of his life and was married to a Sioux woman.