Filson Historical Society

Filson Quilt Documentation Project 

Quilts are more than fabric and stitches—they’re stories you can touch. Each quilt carries the voices of families, communities, and cultures across generations. At the Filson Historical Society, we’re working to preserve and share these stories by photographing and documenting our collection of over 80 historic quilts, dating from 1810 to the 2000s.

With your support, these textiles will live beyond our shelves. They will become part of two powerful online resources—the Kentucky Quilt Registry and the Quilt Index—where anyone, anywhere in the world, can discover Kentucky’s quilting legacy. From Civil War fundraising quilts to African American traditions in western Kentucky, from Appalachian patterns to early 19th-century whitework, these quilts connect us all to a rich heritage. 

By contributing today, you’re helping break down barriers to access—so students, researchers, artists, and quilt-lovers everywhere can be inspired by Kentucky’s vibrant textile traditions.

This project is part of the America250 initiative, honoring 250 years of handwork through exhibits, storytelling, and digital access. And the Filson Historical Society is proud to partner with the Kentucky Heritage Quilt Society to amplify this work statewide. These quilts are "the embodied creativity of those for whom the written word was denied or not preserved," said Filson President & CEO Patrick Lewis.

✨ Today, your gift stitches the past to the future. Help us preserve Kentucky’s quilt heritage and share it with the world!

We are grateful for any gift, but here are a few of the ways your gift will be used: 

• $10 sponsors the submission fees for one quilt in the Quilt Index and long-term digital storage
• $50 sponsors staff time to collect data, photograph, and process a quilt
• $100 supports engagement events around the project 
• $165 sponsors the daily rental of an extra camera 
• $500 supports the construction of stands to display the quilts for photographing and future exhibition 

Scholars from the American Quilt Study Group study and photograph quilts from the Filson’s collection during a quilt turning held for attendees of the national conference held in Louisville in 2023.  

Sharon Cook Cummings pictured with the Whig Rose quilt, ca. 1850, made by her ancestor Jane Boone Wilcox Beckly (1813-1892) in Shelby or Jefferson County, Kentucky, and donated earlier this year. Gifted by the Cook-Cummings family, 2025.16.1. 

Curator of Museum Collections, Maureen Lane, measuring a quilt made circa 1935, by Ella  Beatrice Merril, 1883-1978, Bullitt County, Kentucky. Gift of Gwen Tilton, 2019.31.1.