Kentucky Crafts Encyclopedia - History of the KCE

History of the Kentucky Crafts Encyclopedia

BACK: H

This Kentucky Crafts Encyclopedia was first imagined in rough form in 2015 by the Board of Directors of KCHEA—the Kentucky Craft History and Education Association. Their concept for the "Kentucky Craft Encyclopedia," was to offer to a very wide audience:

- - a resource for schools; an information destination for makers and appreciators of crafts
  - a link to organizations and institutions concerned with crafts
  - a starting place for further scholarship documenting Kentucky’s crafts

Since KCHEA abandoned their own plans for this project, this Kentucky Crafts Encyclopedia as developed by folklorist Thomas A. Adler strives to be similarly inclusive, embracing:

- - different types of crafts and cultural processes of learning:
    - - folk/traditional
      - popular/mass-media
      - elite/classical/academic
  - all types of materials and media
  - craft makers and supporters; schools for craft education
  - organizations that exhibit, market, or provide services to crafts
  - historical periods; geographic areas of Kentucky
  - tools used in craft production

Because of the broad scope of this project, it will proceed in phases and—it is hoped—will involve additional resources, writers, and advisers from all parts of Kentucky. This work will be based on current and past scholarship and writings about Kentucky crafts, and will also encourage investigation into areas where research has been scarce.