Through the display of objects from a wide geographic area encompassing Africa, West Asia and Central Asia, Timbuktu to Tibet explored the central role that textiles have played in many disparate cultures across several continents. The exhibition told the sotry of the people who made the textiles, the ways they lived and worked, and the functions of their weavings. It also chronicled how the Western understanding and appreciation of non-Western textiles has changed over the 20th century, through the history of the 75-year-old Hajji Baba Club, the nation's oldest society of rug and textile collectors.

Over the years, the Hajji Baba Club has greatly impacted how we view, appreciate, study and promote textiles and rugs as works of art. George Hewitt Myers, founder of The Textile Museum, was an involved member of the Club, and it continues to boast an active membership today. The Club's history, coupled with exhibition's thematic focus on the cultural context and functionality of the objects, provided a delightful journey for those unfamiliar with textiles as well as specialists in the field.

Noted scholar Jon Thompson authored the accompanying catalogue, Timbuktu to Tibet: Exotic Rugs and Textiles from New York Collectors, and served as guest curator of the exhibition's initial showing at the New York Historical Society. The Textile Museum's showing was organized by Sumru Belger Krody, associate curator, Eastern Hemisphere Collections, and accompanied by a wide range of public programs.

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