Groundbreaking ceremony for quilt center is May 12 Construction of the International Quilt Study Center will begin with a groundbreaking ceremony 3 p.m. May 12. The 37,000-square-foot building will be built at 33rd and Holdrege streets. Scheduled to open in 2008, the quilt center will house three exhibition galleries, state-of-the-art textiles storage and will be an international focal point for the study, conservation and exhibition of quilts. The center, part of the Department of Textiles, Clothing and Design at the College of Education and Human Sciences, is the only program dedicated to an international level of scholarly research, education, perseveration and exhibition of quilts. It holds the largest publicly owned collection and is the most diverse collection in existence with representative quilts from 14 countries. The International Quilt Study Center was founded in 1997 when Nebraska natives Ardis and Robert James of New York donated their collection of nearly 950 quilts. Private funding for the building is being raised by the University of Nebraska Foundation.
