The Quilt Index is a growing research and reference tool designed to provide unprecedented access to information and images about quilts held in private and public hands.

Faculty and staff of the MSU Museum's Great Lakes Quilt Center have provided a lead partnership role in developing, piloting, and evaluating the Index. The pilot phase included quilt documentation projects from four sites: Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan and Illinois. The current phase is expanding the number of documentation projects and collections in the Index and increasing tools for Index users.

The Quilt Index was conceived and developed by The Alliance for American Quilts in partnership with Michigan State University's MATRIX: The Center for Humane Arts and Letters Online and the Michigan State University Museum. The Index was supported in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.