Quilts

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is home to the International Quilt Museum, the world's largest publicly held quilt collection, with items dating from the early 1700s to the present, representing more than 60 countries. Its mission is to build a global collection and audience to celebrate the cultural and artistic significance of quilts. The museum was established in 1997 when native Nebraskans Ardis and Robert James donated nearly 1,000 quilts to the university. A 37,000-square-foot building with three exhibition galleries and state-of-the-arts textiles storage was opened in 2008 and expanded with additional gallery and storage space in 2015. The museum was designed by  Robert A.M. Stern Architects of New York and Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture of Omaha. (updated November 2024.)

Curator
International Quilt Museum
Curator of collections, International Quilt Study Center and Museum
International Quilt Museum
id-card-3(users)

N Card

qr-code-scan(mobile-phones)

OR code

print-text(content-edition)

Print

Bio

Carolyn Ducey is curator of collections at the International Quilt Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She oversees new acquisitions and ongoing care of the museum’s collection. She has curated a number of exhibitions, including “Chintz Appliqué: From Imitation to Icon” and “The Collector’s Eye: Amish Quilts from the International Quilt Museum Collections,” and co-curated “Quilts in Common,” the inaugural exhibition of Center’s new museum. She is also author of the monograph “Chintz Appliqué: from Imitation to Icon” (2008), co-author of “What’s in a Name: Inscribed Quilts” (2012), and a contributing author of “Wild by Design: Two Hundred Years of Innovation and Artistry in American Quilts” (2003). She co-edited “American Quilts in the Industrial Age: 1760-1870”, released by University of Nebraska Press in 2018. (Updated October 2024)