Goals

Methods

Results & Benefits

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To achieve our overall purpose of documenting the Mennonite Relief Sale Quilt we propose four main goals to be achieved through an investigation of the questions following each goal:

1)   to further the preservation of one aspect of North American quilt history by addressing the oversight in the academic literature regarding the history, development and role of the quilts auctioned at MCC relief sales:

a.      How and where did the idea to auction quilts originate?

b.      When and where was the first quilt auctioned?

c.      How did the auctioning of quilts at the relief sale become so critical to the success of the sales?  What has been the financial contribution these quilts have brought to the MCC relief sale?

d.      Who are the women and groups of women who have designed, pieced and sewn these quilts over the decades?  Have the demographics of these women and groups changed over the years?

e.      Who purchases relief sale quilts and for what purpose?  Has this changed over the years?

2)   to document the art of quilts and quiltmaking within this quilt genre;

a.      How have the design, motifs, techniques and fabrics of these quilts changed over the years?

b.      Are the artistic changes unique to relief sale quilts or are they reflected in Mennonite/Amish and American quilts in general?

c.  What are, if any, the distinctive quilting and quilt design traditions of the Mennonite Relief Sale Quilt?

3)   to prove our thesis that the Mennonite Relief Sale Quilt both reflects and contributes to the cultural understandings and values that inspire their production, design and function;
 

a.      How did/do the quilters themselves perceive their work in terms of purpose, significance, personal fulfillment and global peacemaking?

b.      How have MCC relief sales affected quilting within the community?

c.  How has the success of MCC quilt auctions affected the economic power they potentially afford women within the community?

d.  In the patriarchal community of the Mennonite/Amish church, did women, individually and in groups, use quilts as expressive outlets?  And if so, specifically, what did the quilts express?

4)   to develop a research paradigm, through the documentation and analysis of the three goals above, that can be utilized in further study concerning the relationship between culture and quilting.