The Smithsonian National Museum of American History has a small selection of their quilts available for view online at the following location:

http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/quilts/

Their selections include:  18th Century, Pictorial, Crib, Silk, Amish and Special-Occassion Quilts among their ten categories.

Some of my favorites:

Notable Quilts:  Mary Pickering's applique quilt from the mid-19th century.  It's beautiful.




Special Occassion Quilts:  Mary Jane Moran's 1845 Silk Bride Quilt.  Wow.



Silk Quilts:  Laura Clark's pieced table cover from 1860 (first, below) and Martha Lord's pieced slumber throw right beneath it.  These two must be absolutely stunning in person.

    

But each of the groups have a bundle of interesting quilts.  I kept jumping between the different sections.  You can click on the thumbnail pictures at the Smithsonian's site for a larger picture of each of their quilts.

At the bottom of the page is their Virtual Exhibition link that'll bring you to so much other online information.  It is the Smithsonian - there's so much available online!

I hope you like these quilts and visit their site.  I wish they showed more of their quilts.  Imagine what great quilts they must have in their vaults!

Best,

Fiona