The Iowa Quilt Museum, here in Quiltropolis (Winterset, Iowa 50273), shorthands its name to IQM in its messaging, a common practice.
The museum occupies an historic building on the south side of the town square—a storefront that was the J.C. Penney store for almost 70 years. An advertisement in the Winterset Madisonian in the 1950s bragged, “At Penney’s we offer no expensive frills such as charge accounts, delivery service, or fancy wrapping.”
I have personal fond memories of purchasing my kids’ snowsuits, bathing suits, and other clothing items (plus Pixie Prints) in the children’s department on the mezzanine in the 1980s.
Not many of the storefronts on Winterset’s town square remained the same business for as long as J.C. Penney did. The only two I can remember staying put since the 1970s, when I returned to Iowa in my early twenties, are the Iowa Theater on the east side and Montross Pharmacy on the west. After Penney’s closed, a TV repair shop (remember those?) moved in. Later on, a gift shop. Later still, a photographer. Plaques fixed to most exteriors by a local club in 2010 offer each storefront’s history up to that date.
The folks who joined forces to launch the Iowa Quilt Museum purchased 68 E. Court Avenue in 2015, opening its doors as a 501c3 nonprofit the following year.
Some of the great people I met during my years in the quilting industry were great sources for advice during the buildout of what is essentially an art gallery on a Midwestern town square. The then-curator of the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY, for example, connected us with Walker Display, a company in Duluth, MN, that manufactures art hanging systems. The equipment we use makes exhibit installation (and take-down) a breeze.
Friends at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, advised us in several ways, lighting in particular. Curator Carolyn Ducey, even drove over to give us in-person, on-site input, bringing with her the special filters we have used ever since to diffuse light.
Our building is blessed with a very high ceiling. Each time we hang a new show, we rent the tallest ladder available from Breeding Hardware (even taller than the ladder in the photo) and adjust the many LED lights that run on two north-south tracks attached to the pressed-tin surface. (Breedings delivers the ladder on installation day and takes it away the following day.) Because the ceiling is so high, our lights never cast a shadow on a quilt.
The museum in Lincoln changed its name from International Quilt Study Center & Museum (IQSCM) to International Quilt Museum (IQM) in 2019, making its acronym the same ours, but we didn’t make a fuss about it.
IQM (Lincoln) opened its 37,000 square-foot building, designed by award-winning New York architects A.M. Stern, in 2008 and expanded in 2015 with an additional 13,000 square-foot gallery. IQM (Lincoln) is home to the largest publicly held quilt collection in the world, with more than 9,000 quilts under its roof. IQM (Winterset) is a display-only, non-collecting facility. We borrow quilts from individuals and other museums (including IQM Lincoln), display them for around three months, then return them.
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Oh my goodness, this museum is absolutely beautiful, as of course are the quilts adorning the walls. Oh, the red and white collection, simply gorgeous. I would love to visit this some time. My mother was from Nebraska, and it's been many years since I visited the state.