The New England Quilt Museum, founded in 1987, is located in downtown

Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of ...

and is the only institute in the Northeast solely dedicated to the art and craft of quilting. It is the second-oldest quilt museum in the United States. It houses special and permanent exhibits, a library, a museum shop, and classrooms. Collections are strong in 19th century quilts, with a geographic focus on New England.

History

The museum opened in 1987, and was founded and staffed by quiltmakers. It has been since its start committed to both craft and fine arts quilts, with exhibits and classes incorporating contemporary as well as traditional fiber arts approaches. The museum moved into its current space in 1994, after a flood in its previous building. The new space, the historic Lowell Institute for Savings building, gave the museum more room for exhibits, collection storage and preparation, classrooms, a museum shop, and events. It is now part of the

Lowell National Historical Park Lowell National Historical Park is a National Historical Park of the United States located in Lowell, Massachusetts. Established in 1978 a few years after Lowell Heritage State Park, it is operated by the National Park Service and comprises a g ...

, which highlights Lowell's centrality to the 19th century textile trade and

Industrial Revolution in the United States The Industrial Revolution in the United States was an epoch during the first 100 years of United States history where the economy progressed from manual labor and farm labor to a greater degree of industrialization based on labor. There were ma ...

Activities

In 2000, the museum founded the Lowell Quilt Festival, which has expanded to involve multiple partners across the city and region. IMAGES, a top juried show that began in 1983, is also part of the festival; entries are from across the United States and Canada. The Lowell Quilt Festival was held for the last time in 2014. MassQuilts, a volunteer-led statewide project to document the history of quilts, holds sessions at the museum the second Thursday of every month. The organization was started in 1994, and has documented more than 7,000 quilts. MassQuilts has also developed traveling shows, exhibits for the museum, an
Massachusetts Quilts, Our Common Wealth
a university press book on the history of Massachusetts quilts and exhibits for the museum.

History

Activities

See also

References

Further reading