Museums But Not Many Quilts

                                                                                                                                      

I have been so excited to see the International Quilt Museum ever since I found out it was on the University of Nebraska campus. They advertise that they have over 2000 quilts from many different eras and countries. The museum is on east campus in a brand new building. We finally went to visit it on Saturday, but I was hugely disappointed. They have between 20 and 30 quilts on display and about 2000 in protective storage that cannot be viewed. So, for my purposes, they have between 20 and 30 quilts--not so impressive! It seems that up until six months ago, they had the quilts all on display in the building where they have been located for years. Then, they moved into a brand new building and hid most of the quilts. The old museum where visitors could see the quilts was free. The new museum costs $5 even though there is very little to see. It is a huge building, but only one room is open to the public. They have computers set up where visitors can view photos of all the quilts, but that doesn't appeal much to me. I was so disappointed that I wanted to cry! The top three pictures show the outside of the building.

We also went to the Historical Society museum, which is on the main campus. It is a lovely museum showing the history of Nebraska and the people who have lived there. They also happen to have a separate room with a quilt collection, but that wing was under construction, so we couldn't see those quilts, either. I was fairly upside-down regarding the quilt void. It wouldn't have mattered at all if I didn't know that I was going to see all these quilts, but I did know, so it was a real downer! The last two photos show me with a lovely doll house in the Historical Society museum and the sign noting that the quilt display is closed.