In 1997, after years of deliberation and negotiation, Robert and Ardis James donated their comprehensive 1000-piece quilt collection to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). The Jameses had acquired the quilts over the previous two decades in a careful effort to represent as fully as possible an art form—“women’s art” and “people’s art,” as they called it—they had come to greatly admire. The couple had visited antique shops and fairs, worked with dealers and artists, cataloged each piece as it came in, and eventually, hired a curator to help document and care for the collection. But now they were ready for someone else to do that work. The Jameses chose UNL in part because they knew that an academic institution would conduct research on their collection. This is precisely what happened once the International Quilt Museum was officially formed. Their donation also triggered a series of other transitions, from major new collections joining the James quilts to dozens of new countries coming to be represented. The legacy of Ardis and Robert James and their unparalleled collection is one of a constant striving to more thoroughly, deeply, and accurately represent the world of quilts in all of its cultural, historical, and artistic importance.