When I started quilting in 1973, there were few books out there, mostly published in the 1930s and 40s. My inspiration was a scene remembered from my childhood of my mother chain piecing on her old machine and my brother clipping them apart. I was jealous but he got to do it.
Anyway, Eleanor and I developed together over the years. When I discovered the rotary cutter and her book on Quilt in a Day, my production really took off.
As for her take on history, well I'm a history buff based in real stories and experience and have the college credits too. So on my list of quilt heros are the people who kept this craft alive and the 1974 exhibit that raised everyone's awareness of quilts as folk art. So I could cite a long list of people responsible for the quilt revival and their contributions but Burns would be way down there.