The museum was founded by collector George Hewitt Myers in 1925 and was originally housed in two historic buildings in D.C.'s Kalorama neighborhood: the Myers family home, designed by John Russell Pope, and an adjacent building designed by Waddy Wood.

The museum's mission is to expand public knowledge and appreciation – locally, nationally and internationally – of the artistic merits and cultural importance of the world's textiles.

The first objects that Myers purchased were late-nineteenth century Turkish and Caucasian village rugs, vibrant pieces with geometric designs and strong colors.

[1] Designed by John Russell Pope in 1913, the Myers home was a classical Georgian structure set in the Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

The museum's galleries were housed in an adjacent building, designed by Washington architect Waddy Wood and purchased by Myers in 1915 for this purpose.

In 1930, Myers traveled with his wife, Louise Stoddard Chase, to Egypt to acquire items for the collection, and the following year lent objects for the first time, for a London exhibition.

By the time of Myers' death in 1957, the museum staff included eleven individuals who worked with a collection of 3,500 textiles and 480 carpets from Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

[6] The intrinsic beauty of Oriental carpets had a profound influence on George Hewitt Myers' early collecting.

As a result, the museum has one of the most important research collections of Oriental carpets, distinguished by both its range and depth.

[8] In 2011, The Textile Museum collaborated with The Pink Line Project to create PM at the TM in June to ring in the summer exhibition, Green: The Color and The Cause.

[9] Additionally, The Textile Museum and The Pink Line Project worked together to throw the second iteration of Cuisine Contra.