Administrative History
The Quilt Alliance (formerly The Alliance for American Quilts) was formed in 1993 Shelly Zegart and Eunice Ray of the Kentucky Quilt Project, and Karey Bresenhan and Nancy O'Bryant, corporate officers of Quilts, Inc. and founders of the non-profit Texas Quilt Search, who saw the need to centralize information about quilts and quiltmaking.
In the fall of 1999, the Quilters’ S.O.S. -- Save Our Stories (QSOS) project was introduced by the Quilt Alliance and the International Quilt Festival (IQF). The initial training and interviews took place at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas, in October of 1999. Former Quilt Alliance board members, Bernard Herman, Marcie Cohen Ferris, Patricia Keller and Patricia Crews developed the QSOS project. Karen Musgrave joined the group at the initial training and served for many years as a dedicated volunteer and QSOS taskforce chair.
The initial project was such a tremendous success that it was continued, with many additional volunteers spearheading regional QSOS projects, conducting interviews at quilt shows, guild meetings, and private homes across the country and around the world. Of note, one of these organizations is the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), a non-profit, non-political volunteer women’s organization founded in 1890 in Washington, D.C. In 2004 the DAR created a special position on their American Heritage Committee for QSOS, and has official representation on the Task Force of the Quilt Alliance.