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Grouse Creek (Utah) cultural survey collection, 1973-2004

Overview of the Collection

Creator
American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress; Folk Arts Program at the Utah Arts Council; National Park Service; the Utah State Historic Preservation Office; Utah State University; and the Western Folklife Center
Title
Grouse Creek (Utah) cultural survey collection
Dates
1973-2004 (inclusive)
Quantity
9.5 linear feet, (24 boxes)
Collection Number
UUS_FOLK COLL 21
Summary
The Grouse Creek Cultural Survey was a field survey of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. It is the only survey housed off site from the LOC with a partner organization. The project was a joint effort of the American Folklife Center, the Folk Arts Program of the Utah Arts Council, National Park Service, the Utah State Historic Preservation Office, Utah State University, and the Western Folklife Center. The survey was conducted in the Grouse Creek region of Utah primarily in July 1985. The collection includes: fieldnotes, audiotapes, photographs, logs for photographic materials and sound recordings, architectural site reports, transcriptions of interviews (photocopies), and maps/drawings from the Grouse Creek Cultural survey. Materials cover a wide range of topics with special attention to architecture, foodways, community activities, and local history.
Repository
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives Division
Special Collections & Archives
Merrill-Cazier Library
Utah State University
Logan, UT
84322-3000
Telephone: 4357978248
Fax: 4357972880
scweb@usu.edu
Access Restrictions

Open to public research. No restrictions on access, except: not available through interlibrary loan.

Languages
Collection materials are in English.
Sponsor
Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant, 2007-2008
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Historical Note

The Grouse Creek Cultural Survey is a joint project of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, the Folk Arts Program of the Utah Arts Council, National Park Service, the Utah State Historic Preservation Office, Utah State University, and the Western Folklife Center. The survey was conducted in the Grouse Creek region of Utah primarily in July 1985. The project was a pioneering attempt at interdisciplinary research by historic preservationists and preservation-minded folklorists for the joint purpose of cultural preservation and was intended to be a prototype for other cultural surveys. As Grouse Creek fieldworker Carol Edison states: The Grouse Creek Cultural Survey was an attempt to field-test a methodology dubbed the "Integrated Cultural Survey" aimed at identifying, evaluating and eventually protecting both tangible and intangible cultural resources. . . . [T]he Grouse Creek project provided a concrete experience with the sometimes nebulous concept of 'cultural conservation.'"

Tom Carter, a folklorist working for the Utah State Historical Society Preservation Office, spearheaded the project, and together with Carl Fleischhauer, from the American Folklife Center, co-authored The Grouse Creek Cultural Survey: Integrating Folklife and Historic Preservation Field Work, which was the final product of the Grouse Creek Cultural Survey project. Working along with Carter and Fleischhauer were other professionals representing other organizations and fields of interest: Carol Edison, Director of the Folk Arts Program of the Utah Arts Council, and Hal Cannon, Director of the Western Folklife Center, conducted taped interviews and shot photographic images. Debbie Randall and Roger Roper, employed by the Utah State Historical Society Preservation Office, contributed additional photographic images. This six-person team was responsible for the fieldwork. It should be noted that a decade earlier, Verna Richardson, a resident of Grouse Creek, had conducted a number of taped oral interviews that were housed at the Utah State Historical Society Library. These interviews in part gave impetus to the idea of choosing Grouse Creek for a cultural survey. The original interviews are still housed at the State Historical Society, but copies of the interview transcripts are included with the original fieldwork materials gathered during the Grouse Creek Cultural Survey.

Most of the fieldwork was conducted from 2 July to early August 1985. The fieldworkers set up households in two locations and stayed in Grouse Creek at various times during that period. Thomas Carter, the project coordinator, acted as a full time fieldworker and was present for three weeks; Hal Cannon was present for three weeks; Carol Edison was present the first and third weeks; Carl Fleischhauer was present the first week; Debbie Randall was present for three weeks; and Roger Roper was present the second and third weeks. During October 8-10, 1988, Tom Carter and Carl Fleischhauer again visited the area and presented the published results of the survey to the people of Grouse Creek.

Along with the publication of The Grouse Creek Cultural Survey, other products resulted from this project. Debbie Randall produced a final report on architecture; fieldworkers Tom Carter, Hal Cannon, and Carol Edison delivered papers on their findings in Grouse Creek at the 1986 American Folklore Society meetings in Baltimore, Maryland.

Carl Fleischhauer helped with the introduction and initial description of the collection on its arrival at the Fife Folklore Archives in October 1988 during his one-and-a-half-day visit to the Archives. The inventory to the Paradise Valley, Nevada, Folklife Project Collection, written by Carol Stern, proved invaluable as an aid for creating this inventory [register].

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Content Description

The materials in this collection cover a wide-range of topics including special attention to architecture, foodways, community activities, religious activity and local history. Note: In fieldnotes and in the register LDS and Mormon refer to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For an overview of the project, researchers are directed to the publication The Grouse Creek Cultural Survey by Carter and Fleischhauer. All written and recorded materials are housed in acid-free archival boxes and folders in the Fife Folklore Archives, Special Collections and Archives, USU Libraries.

The collection was originally processed by Barbara [Walker] Lloyd. The collection register was revised and the collection was moved from a filing cabinet to archival boxes and archival folders and the collection register was encoded by Randy Williams in June 2004.

The bulk of the project includes approximately 232 pages of fieldnotes; 41 reel-to-reel tapes, one videocassette tape, and 30 cassette tapes of audio materials, plus accompanying log sheets; 73 rolls of black and white photographic images (including contact sheets and negatives) and 131 sheets of color slides plus accompanying log sheets; 95 architectural site reports; 824 pages of copies of the transcriptions of twenty-one interviews conducted prior to the cultural survey; four sets of maps/drawings; and some miscellaneous materials. The original materials are housed in the Fife Folklore Archives, Special Collections and Archives, USU Libraries and copies of the original holdings are housed in the American Folklife Center in the Library of Congress, and portions at the Utah Folk Arts Council and at the Utah State Historical Society.

A general description of the materials in the survey is provided in this inventory, but more in depth description of the materials will be found in the collection's 250-plus pages of logs. The media holdings of the Grouse Creek Cultural Survey were assigned project identification letters and numbers in the field. Letter codes were used to identify the type of media and the fieldworker responsible as follows:

Some materials contain a GCCS reference which stands for Grouse Creek Cultural Survey. Numbers generally represent a sequential ordering. Thus, a reference number such as FHC850702 stands for fieldnotes by Hal Cannon for 2 July 1985; CTC001.1 stands for a color photographic image, by Tom Carter, sheet number one, image one; the number RHC026 stands for reel-to-reel tape recording, by Hal Cannon, tape number 26; BCE25495.1 is a black & white photographic image, by Carol Edison, sheet number 25495, image one. NOTE: Black and white negatives and corresponding sheet numbers are identified by a five digit number. All references are in alphabetical and numerical order within each media category. Dates on documentation forms are written with the year first followed by the month and day; thus 850702 would translate as July 2, 1985.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.

Permission to publish material from the The Grouse Creek (Utah) Cultural Survey collection must be obtained from the Curator of the Fife Folklore Archives and/or the Special Collections Department Head.

Alternative Forms Available

Digitized images from this collection can be viewed at Grouse Creek Cultural Survey: Mormon Buckaroo Territory, 1985

Preferred Citation

The nature of the material requires careful citation whenever photographic images, recordings, manuscripts or transcriptions are reproduced. Any bibliographic entry, footnote, photo caption, or sound recording headnote should include the names of the informants, the names of the photographer or sound recordist and his or her organization ( e.g., Carol Edison, Folk Arts Program of the Utah Arts Council), the date and place of the documentation, the accession numbers, and the title of the project.

Initial Citation: Grouse Creek (Utah) cultural survey collection USU_Folk Coll 21. Special Collections and Archives. Utah State University Merrill-Cazier Library. Logan, Utah.

Following Citations:USU_Folk Coll 21, USUSCA.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Organized in 9 series:

  • I. ADMINISTRATION: Items pertaining to the planning and administration of the Grouse Creek Cultural Survey.
  • II. PUBLICITY AND EPHEMERA:Publicity about the project and newspaper clippings about Grouse Creek.
  • III. FIELDNOTES: The fieldnotes record a fieldworker?s activities, observations, and impressions during the course of the fieldwork. These notes are arranged alphabetically by the fieldworker?s surname and date.
  • IV. SOUND RECORDINGS AND LOGS: Reel-to-reel, cassette, and digital recordings and accompanying logs created by fieldworkers. The reel-to-reel tapes are in two formats (A) 7 1/2 ips/half track stereo and (B) 7 1/2 ips/full track mono. The format for each tape is noted in the tape log section with either (A) or (B). As well, the cassette tapes are in two formats (C) 60 minute mono and (D) 90 minute mono. The format for each tape is noted in the tape log section with either (C) or (D).
  • V. PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES AND LOGS: Color images (including slides, color transparencies, and reference fiche) and reference logs and black and white images (including negatives and contact sheets) and logs. Color images are grouped first by photographer within the group for color (C), and then ordered sequentially with sheet numbers (beginning with one for each fieldworker), and individual slide number. Black and white images are group first by photographer with in the group for black and white (B), and then ordered with a sheet number created for this project, and individual negative numbers. Duplicate slides are noted in the log and housed at the end of the box housing the original image(s).
  • VI. ARCHITECTURAL SURVEY DATA: The architectural site reports contain the Architectural Field Survey forms, which include technical data and (for almost all sites) drawings. Also, for some sites photocopies of historical information regarding to the site or the homeowner (such as brief life histories and obituaries) is included and is noted in the register. Each site is numbered; Sites 1-63 are in Grouse Creek, OGC Sites 1-32 are outside Grouse Creek. Note: There is either no site 1 or information on site 1 is missing.
  • VII. UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY DOCUMENTS: This section contains 824 pages of transcription from the Grouse Creek Oral History Project conducted by the Utah State Historical Society from 1973 to 1978. Most of these twenty-one interviews were conducted by Verna Kimber Richardson, a native of Grouse Creek. The original transcriptions and fieldwork are housed at the Utah State Historical Society. The copies in this collection are arranged alphabetically by informants' surname. Also contained in this section are a few photocopies from the Utah State Historical Society regarding architectural structures in Grouse Creek.
  • VIII. MAPS AND DRAWINGS: There are four sets of maps/drawings included with the collection: Set 1-Grouse Creek Project Area Maps; Set 2-USGS Overview Map; Set 3-Utah State Historical Society Maps; and Set 4-Drawing of Grouse Creek Rodeo Grounds. Note: The only copies of the maps and drawings are with the Grouse Creek Collection housed at USU's Special Collections and Archives.
  • IX. FINAL PRODUCTS: Final products from the Grouse Creek Survey to date include The Grouse Creek Cultural Survey: Integrating Folklife and Historic Preservation Field Research by Thomas Carter and Carl Fleischhauer, published by the American Folklife Center, a final report on architecture, various papers which were delivered at the October 1986 meetings of the American Folklore Society.

Acquisition Information

The Grouse Creek Cultural Survey is the result of the combined efforts of a number of cooperating organizations, but the responsibility for archival governance of the collected fieldwork materials rests with the Fife Folklore Archives, Special Collections and Archives, Utah State University Libraries, Logan, Utah.

Processing Note

Originally processed (with register) by Barbara [Walker] Lloyd in 1989 and revised by Randy Williams. Finding aid created by Randy Williams, July 2004; updated by Randy Williams, March 2012.

Bibliography

Carter, Thomas and Carl Fleischhauer. The Grouse Creek cultural survey: integrating folklife and historic preservation field research. Washington, D.C. : Library of Congress, 1988.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Architecture--Utah--Grouse Creek Region.
  • Folklore--Utah--Grouse Creek Region.
  • Historic preservation--Utah--Grouse Creek Region.
  • Material culture--Utah--Grouse Creek Region.

Geographical Names

  • Grouse Creek Region (Utah)--History, Local.
  • Grouse Creek Region (Utah)--Social life and customs.

Other Creators

  • Personal Names

    • Carter, Thomas, 1949- (contributor)

    Corporate Names

    • American Folklife Center (contributor)
    • Folk Arts Program (Utah Arts Council) (contributor)
    • Utah State Historical Society (contributor)
    • Utah State University (contributor)
    • Western Folklife Center (contributor)

Finding aid created Randy Williams, July 2004
2008, 2025

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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