One of the collections the Indiana State Museum is best known for is its quilts, particularly the Amish quilts. The quilt collection, which includes 
more than 900 quilts and quilt accessories, represents an often unseen portion of Indiana’s history.
“Quilts are some of the few artistic things that the average 19th century woman commonly did,” said Mary Jane Teeters-Eichacker, Curator of Social History, who currently oversees the quilt collection. “In many cases quilts were the only things these women made that survived – sewing can survive time, cooking cannot.”
“In quilts, one can also see the political persuasions of the women,” said Kathleen McLary, Executive Vice President for the State Historic Sites, who was largely responsible for assembling the quilt collection. “While not encouraged to attend political meetings, the quilt allowed the woman to support her attitudes. For instance, I find it hard to believe that a quilt maker would spend the hundreds of hours it would take to stitch a Whig Rose quilt if she did not believe in the principles that the Whig Party stood for.”
The museum’s quilt collection is built primarily through donations. When choosing a quilt, Teeters-Eichacker said she looks for those that have been passed down intact and have an Indiana history. Some of the quilts the museum has collected include one made from fabric left over from sewing a little girl’s dresses, crazy quilts incorporating political ribbons, a reversible quilt with a different pattern on each side, a quilt which was “in the frame” being quilted during Morgan’s Raid on southern Indiana during the Civil War and an appliqué quilt copied from children’s book illustrations by Indiana artist Fern Bissel Peat.
“Quilting has been called the first truly female art form,” Teeters-Eichacker said. “But that’s not entirely true. Wounded Civil War soldiers quilted to stay busy while they were healing and some of the best modern quilters are men. Still, it is a craft – or art – that is more popular among women.”
The popularity of quilting waned after mass-produced blankets and bedspreads became more fashionable in the early 20th century, but was resurrected during the Depression era. Quilts once again became more utilitarian and the artistic level varied. As the country healed its economy, quilting again lessened in popularity only to rise again during the bicentennial celebration of 1976.
“There were some who decided that a bicentennial quilt was just what they needed, but when they went to make it, they had no idea how to start,” Teeters-Eichacker said. “So they asked grandparents and great grandparents who passed down the art. At that time though, these new quilters began to use fabrics and techniques from other countries that were outside of what was traditional, which brought a whole new element to the craft.”
The influence of the quilting industry on Indiana – and the entire country – is apparent in industries from fabric design to dye creation and from embellishment to sewing supplies and books. The museum regularly rotates the quilts that are exhibited in the Indiana Stories Galleries and in the Indiana's Treasures Cases to show the variety of cultural contributions quilting has made in Indiana.
Teeters-Eichacker's goal now is to expand the collection to include more 20th century art quilts as well as whole cloth quilts, those made from large, whole pieces of cloth that are quilted with intricate patterns. However, she still wants to collect quilts that have a history and a good story behind them.
“I think of it as an art form,” she said. “Right now we our collection focuses more on the utilitarian. I’d like to represent a broader spectrum of Hoosier quilters."