ASC Nielsen Library accepts Colorado Council on the Arts folklorist collection (09-29-08)
The Adams State College Nielsen Library is pleased to receive the Southern Colorado folklorist collection of Dr. Kathleen Figgen. The Colorado Council on the Arts (CCA), the library and Figgen entered an agreement in the creation of the archival Southern Colorado Council on the Arts Folklorist Collection. The collection will be housed in the Colorado Room and Nielsen Library archives. Both spaces are protected, with supervised access, and are suitable for preservation purposes.
"This donation of resources will further enhance the invaluable collection of the San Luis Valley cultural heritage currently housed at the Nielsen Library," said Dianne Machado, director of Nielsen Library. "It is with great pleasure and appreciation that we accept this donation and thank Dr. Figgen for thinking of the Nielsen Library."
According to Figgen, who served over 15 years as the southern region folklorist for the CCA, the collection includes documentation on regional events including parades, festivals, cultural performances, and musical events; records of educational activities, special conferences, exhibits, and aesthetic education summer institutes; and documentation of the traditional folk arts and crafts of the area, including santos carvers, saddle makers, weavers, colcha stitchers, and quilters.
The cultural heritage of southern and southeastern Colorado was recorded using slides, taped interviews, and paper-based materials. The collection also includes the work of folklorist Dana Everts-Boehm, who produced a public radio series and monograph in the mid-1980s titled "Tradiciones del Valle."
"I believe there is material in the collection that many in the community will be interested in," Figgen said. She is particularly pleased that the materials will be housed at ASC, where the position of southern Colorado state folklorist was originally established in 1992.
Public access to the collection will be supervised, per the policies of the Colorado Room and Nielsen Library Archives.
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By Linda Relyea
