Adopt-a-Quilt
The Quilt Collection is composed of more than 330 quilts and quilt-related textiles, with examples from the late 18th to early 21st century. The collection is among the most exhibited, researched, and utilized at the Museum, and is the spotlight of the much-anticipated exhibition, Stitches in Time.
Quilts pose challenges in care and conservation. Their size and composition require the use of acid-free boxes and tissue to store them, ensuring they remain in the best possible condition.
Will you help us preserve this nationally significant collection?
The Adopt-a-Quilt program allows you to symbolically adopt a quilt by making a gift in one of three tiers:
- Gold Hoop quilts are $500.
- Silver Hoop quilts are $300.
- Bronze Hoop quilts are $150.
To see a list of quilts available in each tier, click here.
Gifts may be made as lump-sum or installment. You are also welcome to co-adopt by making a smaller gift (less than $150), which will be combined with other smaller gifts into a co-adoption of one quilt.
Your gift directly benefits the collection. In recognition, you will see your name on the quilt's online and in-exhibit labels, and get an adoption certificate. Best of all, you get the warm fuzzy feeling of helping preserve these quilts and their stories for future generations.
To make a gift, click the red button below.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
If you have a specific quilt you would like, you can note the Catalog Number in in the "Additional Information" section of the giving form.
We will do our best to honor your request. However, quilts are assigned on a first-come, first-serve basis due to the number of quilts in our collection and adoption processing time.
To view the quilts in each tier, click here to open our Google document which has the quilts sorted by Hoop tier (Gold, Silver, then Bronze). The columns feature an image of the quilt, basic information (including the Catalog Number), and a place for the adoptee's name. If there is a name in the far right column, the quilt has already been adopted.
You are welcome to co-adopt by making a smaller gift from $1 to $149, which will be combined with other smaller gifts into a co-adoption of one quilt. Co-adoptions are a wonderful way for a group of people to make an impact!
Your gifts will help us secure boxes, tissue, and labels for our Quilt Rehousing project, which is underway during 2023 and 2024. Partially funded by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), this project is ensuring that our entire Historic Quilts collection is rehoused in a new storage space that is secured yet highly accessible to Museum staff, WKU faculty and students, and independent researchers.
Any remaining funds are deposited to our Collections Endowment, which is utilized solely for the long-term care and conservation of our collections, including the quilts. These funds help hire professional conservators to assess, clean, and repair objects - such as the quilts seen in Stitches in Time; are used to match federal grants for major conservation or rehousing projects; and are used to purchase new boxes, tissues, and other supplies that keep our collections protected and preserved when not on view.
Price points are based on purchasing one 60-inch-long conservation-quality textile box with tissue from our primary collections supplier, plus the cost of conservation, averaged across the three Hoop tiers.
Popular pieced patterns such as Crossed T, Diamond Field, Double Wedding Ring, Sugar Loaf, Irish Chain, LeMoyne Star, Lone Star, Mariner's Compass, Mosaic, and Tumbling Blocks are represented in it as well as traditional applique patterns ranging from Rose of Sharon and Whig Rose to Princess Feather. Variations of the Log Cabin block include Sunshine and Shadow, Barn Raising and Pineapple.
Notable quilts include the Chester Dare, Margaret Younglove Calvert Tumbling Blocks, Godey, Henry Clay Presentation and George W. Yarrall Spectrum quilts.
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Museum Mondays: Quiltin' It Up
Our quilt collection is more than one for research or display. WKU students also use the quilts in connection with other historic and artistic collections to create interpretive media, as showcased in this Museum Mondays video. Researched and created by WKU graduate student Chloe Paddack (Class of 2023), the video relates quilts to a work by folk artist Joan Dance, all from our collections, that together tell the stories of African American women in Kentucky.
Prefer to give via check?
Make your check payable to "Kentucky Museum", with a note for ‘Adopt-an-Artifact’ and the object number, then drop it off at the museum or mail to:
Kentucky Museum
Attn: Tiffany Isselhardt
1906 College Heights Blvd #11092
Bowling Green, KY 42101
Updated on September 25, 2023
Some of the links on this page may require additional software to view.