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Abstract
This thesis research analyzes how crafting groups, like quilting guilds, contribute to women’s intangible cultural heritage in the United States. Sewing and textile crafts have long been a gendered practice since the country’s colonization. As a result, the knowledge of crafting has traditionally been passed down through the maternal line in American society. Women have historically gathered together in the form of sewing circles, bees, and guilds to work on their crafts, exchange knowledge, and create a community. Members from two quilting guilds sat for interviews to answer questions about their quilting and sewing background, experience in the guilds, and the guilds’ histories. Their answers provided the basis for determining that guilds allow women to transmit their crafting knowledge, further their education, form a community, and keep the practice alive. Therefore, crafting groups are a vital part of American women’s intangible cultural heritage.