The traditional practitioners surveyed continue to participate in traditional, diversified farming and rural support systems. They exemplify the mostly rural and small village character of the county, and residents' continuous connection with the outdoors and the adjacent Mississippi River. Included are members of three long-lived quilting groups, a family that still farms with workhorses, a rag rug weaver, trappers, and a local character, "river rat," waterfowler, and former railroad worker who carved duck and goose decoys.
The audiocassettes record interviews with nine of the people who contributed to the survey. The interview with Charles Allen covers trapping, knife-making, leather work, and foundry work. Ralph Brunner's interview deals with the skill of trapping. The interviews with Dorothy Droegmiller, Camilla Furlong, Dorothy Oldenburg, and Gladys Pooley, all members of church quilting groups, cover the tradition of quilting. Jacob "Jake" Gerlach, a former railroad worker, was interviewed about woodcarving duck/goose decoys. Dorothy Hess was interviewed about rag-rug weaving. Kenneth Koester was interviewed about horse handling and farming.
Corresponding logs can be found in the manuscript folders.
The American Folklife Center collection is unprocessed but a collection inventory exists. The materials at the Galena History Museum are arranged in folders alphabetically by subject in a filing cabinet in Director Daryl Watson's office. Gilmore's project materials remain in original folders, and the slides together in numerical order; additional separate files were created for traditional practitioners Dorothy Droegmiller and Dorothy Hess because of later contact including, for Hess, the "Work at Rest" exhibit at the Wisconsin Folk Museum.
