Liberian Collections Project:
Preserving the Past
for Building the Future
An exhibit exploring the collection and preservation of artifacts and
archives from Liberia is the focus of Liberian Collections Project:
Preserving the Past for Building the Future, on exhibit at the
Mathers Museum of World Cultures. The exhibit provides an
overview of the Liberian Collections Project, including its history,
associated scholars, collections, and archives.
In the early 1990s Professor Ruth Stone, then director of the Archives of
Traditional Music of Indiana University, began gathering a collection of
documents and other related materials on Liberia from fellow scholars in
the field. Early donations of materials came from William Siegmann, Jane
Martin, Jeanette Carter, and John and Judy Gay. In August 1997, Professor
Svend E. Holsoe donated his impressive collection, which marked an
important moment for the project. Later that year, another major
collection was donated by Professor Warren d'Azevedo, and the core of
Liberian Collections Project was formed. The project's mission is to
collect, preserve, and make available a comprehensive range of materials
and information about Liberia for researchers, students, and teachers,
with special emphasis on reaching Liberians in Liberia and in the
diaspora.
Project coordinator and archivist Verlon Stone curated the exhibit, which
draws from the collection's holdings of historical and ethnographic
documents, field notes, newspapers, government publications, books,
journals, dissertations, maps, slides, negatives, photographs, microfilms,
audio and video tapes, artifacts, and memorabilia.
Highlights of the exhibit include a discussion of the six-stage recovery,
conservation and microfilming of the papers of William V. S. Tubman,
Liberia's longest serving president. The exhibit also presents selections
from the Svend E. Holsoe Collection, one of the largest and most
comprehensive holdings of resources on the West African nation. Due to
the looting and destruction of Liberia's National Archives during its
recent civil war, the Holsoe collection contains the only extant copies of
many of the nation's important historical and cultural documents.
Additional highlighted items in the exhibit include materials from the
Warren d'Azevedo Collection, including d'Azevedo's documentation of the
life history Vane Hime, a virtuoso woodcarver with an ability to "work
from dream."
Liberian Collections Project: Preserving the Past for Building the
Future will be on display at the Mathers Museum through December
21,
2007.
The Mathers Museum of World Cultures is located at 416 North Indiana
Avenue, Bloomington. Its exhibit hall and Museum Store are open Tuesdays
through Fridays, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays, from
1 to 4:30 p.m. Admission to the Museum is free.
Metered and IU Permit parking is available at the McCalla School
parking lot on the corner of Ninth Street and Indiana Avenue. Parking is available
on surrounding streets during the weekend.
An access ramp is located at the corner of Ninth Street and Fess Avenue,
at the entrance to the Glenn Black Laboratory of Archaeology adjoining the
Mathers Museum. Reserved parking spaces are available on Ninth Street,
between Fess Avenue and Indiana Avenue. If you have a disability and need
assistance, special arrangements can be made to accommodate most needs.
For more information, or to schedule a guided group tour, please call
812-855-6873 or e-mail mathers@indiana.edu.
