- Plantillustrations.org (http://plantillustrations.org) is a collection of historical botanical illustrations and occasional life pictures of plants accessible either by common or scientific names. It is accessible both by computer and by smaller devices such as smart phones.
- American Folk Art Museum Collection Browsing page (http://collection.folkartmuseum.org/collections) allows both simple and advanced searches.
- Biodiversity Heritage Library (www.biodiversitylibrary.org) is a collection of scanned books, magazines, nursery catalogs, and articles pertaining to a wide range of biological subjects including botany. It can be searched by title, author, or key word. Copyright information is provided. In most cases the entire book, etc. can be downloaded for free although some partner sites only allow page by page downloading. One hundred and forty-six issues of Curtis's Botanical Magazine and all five volumes of the Hortus Kewensis are available for download.
- Brooklyn Museum Collection page (https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/collections) allows searches of its extensive collections.
- Charleston Museum Collections no longer allows access to its collection of exquisite chintz applique quilts and blocks as well as other items via its Search Page. Images and information about some of their quilts can be found on the Lowcountry Digital Library site (http://lcdl.library.cofc.edu/) when you search for "Charleston Museum quilts".
- Colonial Williamsburg Collections page (emuseum.history.org) allows both a quick and an advanced search. The collection includes both chintz quilts and individual blocks as well as wearing apparel.
- Daughters of the American Revolution Museum has an extensive collection of 18th and 19th century quilts. Their Collections page (www.dar.org/museum/collections) has a link to the Quilt Index (www.quiltindex.org) where you can search their collections.
- Denver Art Museum Collections search page (denverartmuseum.org/collection?f%5B0%5D=field_co_department_term%3A1178) allows you to use a wildcard in your search. There is a small but select collection of quilts.
- International Quilt Museum Collections search (https://www.internationalquiltmuseum.org/collections/search) includes a variety of filters including Country of Origin. The collection focuses on quilts, with very few fabric samples (which are currently unsearchable). The collection is extensive.
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art's Collections search (collections.lacma.org) allows for a search with filtering capabilities including, for example, by creation date or for items with public domain images.
- Maryland Historical Society Collections search page (mdhs.org/digital-images) has a very limited number of quilt images.
- Metropolitan Museum of Art (https://www.metmuseum.org), through its Open Access initiative, has put more than 406,000 images of its objects, including quilts, in the Public Domain allowing free and unrestricted use of those images.
- North Carolina Museum of History's Museum Collections search (http://collections.ncdcr.gov/RediscoveryProficioPublicSearch/WordSearch.aspx?CR) can be queried for "quilt" returns hundreds of results including many gorgeous chintz applique examples.
- Philadelphia Museum of Art Collections search page (www.philamuseum.org/collections/search.html) has a variety of ways to search for objects including key words and several drop-down filters. A search for "chintz" revealed about 15 objects in their collection, including choice chintz applique quilts.
- Poos Collection is managed by Quilt and Textile Collections (www.quiltandtextilecollections.com). Per their website the Poos Collection is one of the largest privately held collections in the world. The website provides a gallery of some of the collection and offers a variety of products. The book Chintz Quilts from the Poos Collection pictures a number of spectacular quilts, several motifs from which are shown on the Floral Motifs on Early Chintz website.
- Quilt Index (www.quiltindex.org) is a compilation of over 90,000 quilt related records from a variety of museums, public and private collections, and State Documentation projects as well as a substantial body of additional quilt related information. It has a simple search and a sophisticated advanced search capability.
- Shelburne Museum Textiles Collections page (shelburnemuseum.org/collection/textiles) discusses their collections but does not allow for online searches.
- Smithsonian Institution's Search response for "quilts" (www.si.edu/sisearch?edan_q=quilts) lists over 5,700 results that can be filtered by a variety of topics such as those with images (over 800), and those on Smithsonian museums websites. The results are arrayed by pictures which encourages extensive browsing or substantial narrowing of search criteria.
- Victoria and Albert Museum, Search the Collection Page (collections.vam.ac.uk). The Victoria and Albert Museum has one of the largest collections of chintz fabrics, designs for printed cottons (i.e. chintz), and quilts.
- Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum's Collections Search page (museumcollection.winterthur.org) allows for both simple and advanced searches. Textile pieces predominate over the number of quilts in this extensive collection, but because of Mr. du Pont's collecting agenda, virtually all the chintz pieces are appropriate to the timeframe covered by the Floral Motifs on Early Chintz website.
- Wikimedia.org (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Images) provides an immense collection of images, including images of flowers, botanical illustrations, historic garden catalogs, and more available under a variety of licenses and some as Public Domain.
- Avas Flowers "Draw Flowers and Plants: Guide to Botanical Illustrations" page (https://www.avasflowers.net/-draw-flowers-and-plants-guide-to-botanical-illustrations) has a number of excellent links explaining what botanical illustrations are, how to make them, and the history of botanical illustration. Thanks Eliza of the STEM Club for Girls for suggesting this useful addition!
© Updated 6/16/2023 Author: Terry Terrell