Lowell is uniquely suited for the New England Quilt Museum. It is 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 museum first opened its doors in 1987, it has worked to present the finest examples of traditional and contemporary quilts. 

The permanent collection today includes some 400 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 the IMAGES I quilt show, was Archipelago, a contemporary work made in 1983 by Nancy Halpern. In 1986, a second contemporary piece was commissioned by the Guild. Bloodroot by Ruth McDowell is a two-sided, three-dimensional quilt that was groundbreaking in both concept and execution. During the first four years of the museum's operations, the number of acquisitions ranged from eight to twenty antique quilts per year. The museum also began to collect quilt-related items: patterns, quilt tops and squares, sewing machines and educational materials. 

The year 1991 was a memorable one for the New England Quilt Museum. Early that year, the museum received a gift of thirty-three quilts from the collection of Gail Binney and her father, the late Edwin Binney III. This bequest nearly doubled the size of the permanent 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 added both breadth and depth to the museum's collection. Even in the early days of their collecting, Gail and her father believed that their quilts should be donated to an institution that would be able to share them with an appreciative public. The Binney family's commitment continues to this day, as each year Gail designates another quilt from her collection to be donated to the museum. In total, the family has donated over 60 quilts since ithe museum's founding, demonstrating significant and lasting support for the institution and to making quilt history accessible to a wide audience.

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 by highly regarded art quilters. A selection of quilts from the permanent collection is always on display in the Donahue Permanent Collection Gallery, study storage displays and period rooms.

The Museum continues to be the recipient of donated quilts from generous individuals and families seeking to preserve their textile histories. The
collection has also grown from the generosity of New England quilt guilds that give traditional quilts for the permanent collection and quilts to be used as fundraisers to support care for our antique quilts. The majority of the items in the museum's permanent collection were acquired  through the generosity of donors. 

For information about donating quilts, quilt tops, and related textile and sewing items, click here.
To see a slideshow of some of the wonderful quilts in the permanent collection, click here.