The period from the late 1800s to the early 1900s was a golden age of quilts. New technologies like chemical dyes and sewing machines made materials cheaper and production faster. An expanding awareness of global cultures added new imagery to quilt design vocabulary, as did nostalgia for America’s rapidly receding pioneer history. Women’s involvement in social movements such as Temperance gave quiltmakers topics of personal and national importance to address in their creations. American life was transforming quickly between 1870 and 1940, and quilts give rich insight into many of the technological, societal, cultural, and design changes that were taking place.

This exhibition is curated by University of Nebraska-Lincoln Anthropology students, who collaborated with interns from Japan’s Saitama University. Together, the students examined the many influences that affected the era’s quilts and identified parallels to Japanese cultural developments during the same time period. This cross-cultural curation experience is part of an ongoing partnership between the International Quilt Museum, UNL’s School of Global Integrative Studies, and Saitama University.

September 20, 2024 - March 22, 2025
Pumphrey Family Gallery