Through private funds from the University of Nebraska Foundation and a lead gift from the James family, the center opened in its new location on 33rd Street in 2008.

The glass and brick "green" building, designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, houses the quilts, a state-of-the-art research and storage space, educational displays, and custom-crafted galleries where selections from the collections and special exhibitions are shown to the public on a rotating basis.

In 2015, the museum opened a privately funded expansion that doubled its collections storage and gallery space.

[4] The University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design in the College of Education and Human Sciences offers a master's and doctorate degree in material culture and textiles studies and a graduate certificate in quilt studies.

[6] Faculty and curatorial staff, visiting scholars and graduate student researchers pursue the study of the world's quilt heritage at the center, and an ongoing acquisitions program seeks to document the full scope of global quilting traditions.