Washington, DC, USA, now through January 21, 2008 - The Smithsonian American Art Museum is exhibiting a collection of quilts entitled Going West! Quilts and Community which reveals the essential role that quilts and the making of quilts played in the lives of women on the frontier. The Great Platte River Road was the principal route for America's westward expansion as early as the 1830's. Pioneers headed for a new life in te Nebraska Territory packed their wagons with necessities that almost always included quilts. Quilts served an important purpose along the difficult journey, whether used as sturdy domestic bedding along the trail or packed tenderly in the trunk as a tie to all that had been left behind. Independent curator Sandi Fox is the guest curator for the exhibition, which will feature more than 50 quilts.