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PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
July 2, 2009
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Contact: Amy E. Milne, Executive Director
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Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories Celebrates 10 Years of
Interviewing Quiltmakers
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ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA -July 2, 2009 - How often do you see a quilt and wonder, "If only this quilt
could speak; if only the quiltmaker could tell us about this work?"
Unfortunately, quilts can't speak, and all too often the quilts we see have
been detached by time and circumstances from the hands and voices of their
makers. Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories, an oral history project of the Alliance for American
Quilts, celebrates the fundamental connection between objects and voices with
nearly 1,000 interviews and 10 years of service.
 In October 1999, recognizing the fragility of the bonds
between quiltmakers and their quilts, the Alliance
for American Quilts initiated Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories (Q.S.O.S.) in
partnership with the Center for Material Culture Studies at the University of Delaware. The purpose of Q.S.O.S. is to
record, preserve and share the stories of quiltmakers and their quilts on the Alliance's website (www.AllianceforAmericanQuilts.org).
In January 2007, the project's archive moved from the University
of Delaware to the American Folklife
Center at the Library of
Congress.
Nearly 1,000 full-text interviews with photographs are
available to date, with more being added all the time. The interviews include
quiltmakers who are professional to those who simply dabble. For the last three years, there has been a
focus on including interviews with Latina,
Native American, young, male, longarm and older quiltmakers. Pictured from top to bottom are: Q.S.O.S. interviewee Christine Carlos, "Waterfall," a quilt by interviewee Duncan Slade, and interviewee Kellie Wachter.
In addition, the online downloadable how-to manual, which
guides volunteers through the interviewing process, has been a key factor in
the growth of Q.S.O.S. interviews. More than 300 volunteers have conducted the
interviews and more and more quilt guilds and quilt organizations are beginning
to document their members. The DAR has been documenting their members and
members of their communities since 2004.
 "Quiltmaking has traditionally been a way for women to
express and share themselves. And while quilts can still be utilitarian, many
of today's contemporary quilts are an edgy and aware medium in which artists
react to and comment on their world," says Karen Musgrave, Q.S.O.S. Co-Chair.
"Few people truly understand the scope of today's quilt world and we are only
beginning to understand the value of this body of documentation. I am proud of
the contribution that Q.S.O.S. has made to not just the quilt world but the
world. I would love to be a fly on the wall 100 years from now when people read
these interviews and view the quilts."
The interviews are being used in ways that were not foreseen
in the beginning. The interviews are being used for masters and doctoral
theses, writers are using them for their books and articles, guilds are using
them to determine speakers and teachers, quilts are being purchased, and long
lost friends and family is being reunited.
Sue Reno said about her experience, "I felt very validated
by the finished transcript; it helped me self-identify as a serious artist."
 One of the newest features added to the website is an online
publication of the interviews of quiltmakers inspired by President Barrack
Obama (www.allianceforamericanquilts.org/qsos/Obama_qsos.php).
A goal of the project is to provide audio excerpts of interviews online and
other resources aimed at providing students, educators and quilt enthusiasts
everywhere with new ideas and tools for using this powerful collection of
interviews in the near future.
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