Here is your chance to see antique and contempory quilts and their history with this Household Membership to the New England Quilt Museum, located in Lowell.

Lowell is uniquely suited for the Quilt Museum as the historic center of the nation's textile industry as well as the site of the first urban National Park celebrating that history. Since the New England Quilt Museum opened its doors in 1987, it has worked to present the finest examples of traditional and contemporary quilts.

The museum collection today includes over 225 antique and contemporary quilts and tops, plus numerous related textile and sewing items, representing the history of American quiltmaking. The museum's first acquisition, commissioned by the New England Quilters Guild for New England Images I, was "Archipelago", a contemporary work made in 1983 by Nancy Halpern. In 1986, a second contemporary piece was commissioned by the Guild; "Bloodroot", made by Ruth McDowell, a two-sided, three-dimensional quilt that was ground breaking in both concept and execution.  The museum also collected quilt-related items: patterns, quilt tops and squares, sewing machines, and educational materials.

In 1991  the museum received a gift of 33 quilts from the collection of Gail Binney and her father, the late Edwin Binney III which nearly doubled the museum's collection. The quilts were all antiques and the gift included many exceptional and unique pieces: mid-nineteenth century indigo and other blue quilts, bold Amish geometrics, and traditional patchwork and appliqué quilts. These fine quilts provided both breadth and depth to the museum's collection. Each year Gail designates another quilt from her collection to be donated to the museum.

The museum actively collects and preserves antique and contemporary quilts and quilt related items. The permanent collection ranges from whole cloth quilts made in the late 18th century to contemporary quilts made by highly regarded art quilters. A selection of quilts from the permanent collection is always on display in a gallery designated for the collection, in study storage, and in period rooms.