♦ Celebrating 250 Years of American Quilts ♦
Quilt History
Explore our Quilting Heritage
Every quilt tells a piece of history. This site is your resource for antique and vintage quilt research, dating, appraisal, conservation and the stories stitched into our textile heritage.
How can we help? Start here.
FEATURED READING
Quilt Care: Practical tips for the use and enjoyment of your antique quilt.
Display Avoid displaying your quilt in a room with poor ventilation, high humidity or other temperature extremes. Choose a method…
Arch Quilts: What they are and how to spot them
If you spent time in country-style homes during the late 1980s and early 1990s, chances are you saw an Arch…
A Civil War Quilt Finds its Home
Published in The Virtual Quilt #26, August 1998 “For several weeks I had seen an old crazy quilt hanging in…
Browse by era
Explore quilting history by period
Pre-1850
Early American Quilts
Whole-cloth, broderie perse, and the first pieced traditions
1861–1865
Civil War Era
Mourning quilts, fundraising quilts, and Turkey red fabrics
1870–1900
Victorian Era
Crazy quilts, silk velvets, and elaborate embroidery
1930s
Depression era
Feedsacks, pastel prints, and the great quilt revival
1940s–50s
Postwar revival
Kit quilts, novelty prints, and bold graphic patterns
1970s+
Today’s Quilts
The quilt revival, art quilts, and a new generation of makers
Resources