Quilting Community AQS News
Quilt Museum Unveils National Designation
Executive director praises senators, representative for getting moniker
by Sylvia Thomas & Adam Schull
Portions reprinted by permission of Adam Shull and The Paducah Sun, Vo1. 112 No. 140
On Saturday, May 17, 2008, the Museum of the American Quilter’s Society was officially designated The National Quilt Museum. The congressional designation was announced by U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield at the museum alongside Bill and Meredith Schroeder to a small gathering of museum supporters. “The national museum, can you imagine?” Meredith Schroeder said.
“Though it does not mean we [the museum] will receive national funding, it does recognize that we are a quilt museum with national significance,” said May Louise Zumwalt, executive director.
After the reading of the congressional act by Whitfield, the group moved outside to unveil the new sign bearing the name The National Quilt Museum. “Who could’ve known it would get this big,” said Bill Schroeder after the unveiling.
Since its inception in 1983 by Bill and Meredith Schroeder, the museum has grown into the largest quilt exhibit space in the world with 13,400 square feet. It averages 40,000 visitors per year from across the U.S. and from 25 foreign countries.
Zumwalt praised the work of Whitfield and U.S. Senators Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning for taking the lead in a one-and-a-half year process to pass the designation. “We hope it will draw more local visitors who can now take advantage of a national museum right in their backyards,” Zumwalt said.
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