Regional Center For The Quilt at Michigan State University

The Regional Center For The Quilt at Michigan State University is a partnership of The Alliance for American Quilts and The Great Lakes Quilt Center (GLQC) at the Michigan State University Museum (MSUM). GLQC is dedicated to the documentation, preservation, and presentation of quilting history, with a particular focus on Michigan and the Great Lakes. It is affiliated with the Center for Great Lakes Culture, a regional humanities center for which the Michigan State University Museum is one of the founding and cornerstone units.

The Michigan Regional Center For The Quilt is the national coordinator for two Alliance projects: The Quilt Index and Quilt Treasures.

• The Quilt Index - The Index is a comprehensive on-line research tool providing wide public access to information about quilts, both publicly and privately held, including documentation and images of quilts and quiltmakers from state and regional quilt projects and public collections, as well as bibliographies of secondary materials and finding aids. GLQC/MSUM works closely with MATRIX: The Center for Humane Arts and Letters Online, based at Michigan State University, to provide national coordination for Index development and expansion, including the development of on-line exhibitions and educational materials.

• Quilt Treasures - Working with The Alliance, MATRIX, and the Library of Congress's American Folklife Center, GLQC/MSUM develops questions, interview formats, and selection process for this oral history project; helps conduct interviews; prepares transcripts; houses original tapes; and develops online presentations of the resulting oral history material.

Other Michigan Regional Center Projects

The Center also works to implement other Alliance projects within the Great Lakes region (including Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, northern Illinois, northern Indiana, Ohio, western New York, and Ontario). These projects include:

• Regional coordination for implementation of Quilters' SOS-Save Our Stories in the Great Lakes Region
• Regional repository for Boxes under the Bed™ collections and a center for regional Boxes under the Bed™ training, providing necessary support and materials to conduct a search throughout the region for quilt documentation in need of preservation.

The Great Lakes Quilt Center currently engages in a number of other related activities, including:

• On-site and traveling study collections of quilt documentation
• On-site and traveling exhibitions around quilts, quilt making, and the meaning of quilts in people's lives
• Forums and seminars for scholars and researchers
• Public education programs, including those at the Great Lakes Folk Festival
• Regional archival repository for quilt documentation

As a Regional Center For The Quilt, the Great Lakes Quilt Center will also work with The Alliance and its partners to develop and implement new initiatives.

If you are interested in supporting The Regional Center For The Quilt at Michigan State University projects, please click here.

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