Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures

432 East Campus Mall, Room 332
Madison, Wisconsin 53706
608-262-8180
Web site: http://csumc.wisc.edu

State Archives of Iowa (Map)

These records represent the productive and varied work that has characterized the state folk arts program at the Iowa Arts Council for more than two decades. Collections include administrative files and ethnographic documentation for numerous projects, programs, and productions, including folk arts apprenticeships, folk arts in education outreach, folklife programming technical assistance, exhibits, folklife festivals, and folk arts tours. Ethnographic materials and productions represent the work of more than 60 folklorists and community scholars, and hundreds of folk artists of diverse indigenous, old and new immigrant ethnic backgrounds that range from North and South America, to Africa, southeast Asia, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and Europe. Practices documented include varied musical, dance, needlework, metalworking, and woodworking traditions, beadwork and fingerweaving, foodways and egg decorating, and occupational traditions like fishing and net making, farming and animal husbandry, fire fighting, trucking, auctioneering and insurance sales, and more. Spiritual sites, ethnic markets, restaurants, and community organizations have also received attention. Key productions include seminal folk arts exhibits and exhibit catalogs, national, multi-state, and state folklife festivals, multi-state folk arts tours, a variety of ethnic tours in the state, an Iowa Folklife Directory and database, and an education guide, Iowa Folklife: Our People, Communities, and Traditions.