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With the click of a finger on a mouse, quilt lovers have another resource for researching, viewing, or drawing inspiration from more than 1,200 antique and contemporary quilts online, with the promise of more to come.
The Alliance For American Quilts and Michigan State University have announced that their collaborative efforts have resulted in the successful launch of The Quilt Index at www.quiltindex.org. It is a searchable database with access to information and images of quilts and quilt ephemera from four separate archives. This first phase includes quilts from the collections of the Illinois State Museum, the Michigan State University Museum, the Tennessee State Library and Archives, and University of Louisville Archives and Records Center.
MATRIX: The Center for Humane Arts and Letters Online at MSU was responsible for the complex architecture and website interface design necessary for merging information from so many sources. "Access to the varied cultural material across institutions can help illuminate trends in the growth and transformation of quilting, " says Justine Richardson, Quilt Index project manager at MATRIX and Alliance board member. "One especially interesting part of the Index is the Exhibit Hall section where guests can put together quilts and quilt information that may not have been compared before to create virtual exhibits using the quilts in the Index. "
Others who have been involved with quiltmaking for years have praised the efforts of The Alliance, including Bonnie Leman, founder of Quilter's Newsletter Magazine. "The potential of this Index to positively affect the ongoing health and growth of the art and craft of quiltmaking is huge, " she says. "Those who have made it happen have given the quilt world a tremendous gift. This is an exciting development in the history of the quilt. "
For more information about the groups responsible for the Index, see the websites of The Alliance For American Quilts at www.centerforthequilt.org, Michigan State University Museum at www.museum.msu.edu, and MATRIX at www.matrix.msu.edu.
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