While I read the article, I have mixed viewpoints on the whole quilt dilemma. Quilts have traditionally fallen into the "folk art" category - practical everyday items that have been decordated in some fashion. There are plenty of folk art museums and even quilt museums out there that do a great job of interpreting the artistic and practical nature of these objects. As someone mentioned, quilts have a historical value often times telling a family history or giving directions to people on the underground railroad. Sharyn McCrumb did quilt research for her book "The Rosewood Casket" in which a quilt plays a central part in the story. She said that some traditional quilt patterns can be traced all the way back to pre-Celtic rock art and symbols. Looking at quilts in a historical context, they are perfectly appropriate for museums of history and culture. And there is a growing population of fiber artists that work with quilts. These quilts aren't meant to keep you warm at night but to be framed and hung on display. Here folk art makes the transition from the practical to art for the sake of art. I think these quilts are extirely appropriate for art museums that do not have folk art collections. But at the risk of starting another flame war, I do not like that traditional folk art quilts belong in traditional art museums so the Wall Street journal writer is correct in some sense (even though she did sound really snippy and contrite). These museums would not consider an exhibit of early American butter presses or carved rocking chairs any more than a folk art museum would consider hosting an exhibit on Pollock. So unless an art museum is willing to expand the scope of its collections or exhibits to include folk art and not just the occasional quilt show, then I have to agree that traditional folk art quilts do not belong in such museums any more than modern art belongs in a folk art museum. As an example, several years ago, the National Air and Space Museum hosted the Star Wars exhibit. It was clearly a pop-culture, science-fiction exhibit that had nothing to do with real science. While it was a cool exhibit, I thought that it was entirely inappropriate for NASM because it was out of the scope of the museum. On the other hand, it would have fit in great at the National Museum of American History as they do have a pop-culture collection. (Not trying to start another flame war here. :) Deb __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes http://finance.yahoo.com ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).