STARTING YOUR OWN QUILTERS' S.O.S - SAVE OUR STORIES

Do you know of a quilter whose experience and life would ...? Would you want to participate in helping to add this quiltmaker's voice to our oral history?

Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories (Q.S.O.S), a project of The Alliance for American Quilts, was designed to be simple, inexpensive and inclusive. The project's format is intended to be easily adopted by other organizations (such as regional or local quilt guilds) eager to document the personal stories of quiltmakers in their communities. We encourage you to participate in this exciting opportunity to add to the rich history of American quilting.

We recommend that you first browse through our collections of QSOS interviews to get a feel of the process. Then, read (or download and read at a later time) our Q.S.O.S. Manual to guide you from the beginning to the end stages of the interview and documentation process. If you have questions, please feel free to contact qsos@centerforthequilt.org. The Quilters’ S.O.S. – Save Our Stories project and the Quilters’ S.O.S. – Save Our Stories Manual are sole properties of The Alliance for American Quilts. Copyright 2000-2002. Any group desiring to use the copyrighted name of “Quilters’ S.O.S. – Save Our Stories” and/or “The Alliance for American Quilts” in conjunction with a proposed oral history project must adhere to the policies and procedures set forth in the Manual.

WHAT IS ORAL HISTORY?

Oral history records the living memories and feelings of people and creates a more vivid picture of our past. It is exciting because it is interactive. It is history shared and a rare chance for us to actually "talk to history face to face."

Q.S.O.S. is attempting to build on the techniques of oral histories to pursue conversations about present day quilting.

THREE WORKING CONCEPTS TO REMEMBER WHEN CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS

1. Focus Interviews

Each interview is intended to run approximately forty-five minutes and to stand as a recorded conversation about observations and questions springing from a quilt or related object. Focus interviews are not intended to record comprehensive biographies of working quiltmakers but to get at questions about quilt design, techniques, sources, and standards among others issues.

 

2. Touchstone Object

Each quiltmaker interviewed is asked to bring one object that she/he considers significant in her/his own quilting practice, preferably a quilt of her/his own making. The touchstone object serves as both a point of departure and reference for the interview. The idea of a touchstone object serves two key purposes:

1) it frames the conversation with an object chosen by the person being interviewed;

2. it provides a consistent point of reference throughout the interview.

 

3. Accessibility

Interview equipment and techniques are designed to be easily acquired and used by individuals with a minimum training. One of the primary goals of Q.S.O.S. is to initiate a project that can be pursued readily throughout the larger quilting community.

 

The working concepts of focus interviews, touchstone objects, and accessibility are designed to be flexible and manageable. A quilter, for example, may be interviewed more than once. Interviews can take place in different venues, for instance an exhibition, guild meeting or home. The key points are to keep the process simple, manageable and focused.

Remember, Q.S.O.S. has as its basic goal: "to create a broadly accessible body of information" - our choice of format is based on equipment and methods that are easily mastered and readily shared.

HELPFUL TRICKS OF THE TRADE AND OBSERVATONS WHEN CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS

• Learning to listen
• Asking open-ended questionS
• Using silence
• Verbalizing visual information
• Seeking clarification
• Etiquette
• Sharing