Piecing Together Organization Growth through Oral History

• In Event: More than the Story: Oral History as Leadership Development

Abstract

The Central Kentucky Homemakers Quilt Guild started in 1991 in Frankfort, KY and has been a successful organization based on our membership growth, leadership development and quilting education. The Central KY Homemakers Oral History Project, which began in 2004, because we realized the founders and members were aging and wanted to document their experiences for the benefit of future members and leaders. Not only did we gather stories from the quilters in partnership with a strong oral history archive, the project helped us strengthen and expand leadership in our guild, influencing expansion of other quilt organizations, and the broader Kentucky quilting community. We entered into this oral history project to document the over 15 year history of the organization, but as a result of managing this oral history project, we became a stronger organization. Younger members found leadership roles and we have had greater intergenerational dialogue and a renewed and expanded mission from within the organization as a whole.

Author

• Barbara Sonnen, Central Kentucky Homemakers Quilt Guild