The International Quilt Study Center & Museum developed World Quilts to share its premiere collection and hallmark scholarly perspective on the significance of quilts and quiltmaking with the world. It also moves existing quilt studies scholarship beyond disciplinary boundaries to integrate quilts within a broader art and humanities context. The American Story synthesizes existing scholarship on the historic and contemporary roles of quilts and quiltmaking within the United States.

The American Story is the first component of World Quilts, with future modules slated to cover other geographic areas. With more than 4,000 quilts—too many to show in any physical gallery—the IQSCM values sharing its quilts and their historical and cultural context virtually.

The IQSCM is the the world’s largest publicly held quilt collection. Established in 1997, the center opened a new museum at Quilt House in Lincoln, Neb., in 2008. The museum’s mission aims to inspire an understanding of the cultural and artistic significance of quilts by collecting, preserving, studying, exhibiting and promoting discovery of quilts and quiltmaking traditions from many cultures, countries and times. The center is an academic program of the Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design in the College of Education and Human Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.