The Michigan Traditional Arts Program's collection consists of a 64-page report, “First Phase Final Report,” authored by Marsha MacDowell and Yvonne Lockwood, regarding the “Michigan/Wisconsin Borders Project.” Dated February 8, 1996, the report consists of a 3-page introduction that explains the project; 3 pages of references and bibliography; and a 42-page “Listing of Cultural Resources” that includes contact information for over 50 artists, over 130 traditional artists, around two dozen businesses and organizations associated with local traditions, and over 20 museums and galleries in the four western Upper Peninsula border counties of Gogebic, Iron, Dickinson, and Menominee. The final 15 pages present maps of the Upper Peninsula that locate selected traditional artists documented through the 1990, 1992-1994 Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, the 1985, 1988, 1993-94 Michigan Heritage Awards, 1985 and 1986 Michigan Quilt Project Quilt Discovery Days, the 1992 Michigan Traditional Arts Technical Services Program, and the 1989-1993 programs of the Festival of Michigan Folklife.
The Wisconsin Arts Board collection's folders primarily contain artist contact lists, fieldworker reports, and photo, slide, and sound recording logs. Permission forms are kept in a separate binder with other WAB-Folk Arts projects. One binder contains photographs and slides, arranged by fieldworker. Some slides, and the few sound recordings of interviews with traditional artists, are missing from the collection.
