Chippewa Valley Museum Folk Art Collections

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In 1991, community members gathered at the Chippewa Valley Museum (CVM) to share their quilts and stories about the quilt makers as part of a national effort to document quilting and its historical importance in understanding women's lives. A few years later, Folklorists Janet Gilmore and Jim Leary collected material on Hmong religious, healing, and music practices and traditions in an effort to help CVM document the experiences of the Eau Claire Hmong community.

For nearly twenty years, Chippewa Valley Museum staff, volunteers, and consultants have researched regional folkways as one way of understanding the distinctive character of the Chippewa Valley. Consultants have interviewed and photographed folk artists working their crafts. We have recorded and photographed local musicians from different ethnic backgrounds to help preserve local music traditions. We have collected historic and contemporary pieces of folk art and when possible, collected the artist's stories as well. Some of the results of this work are presented here.

Click on the yellow links or the images at left to navigate these three CVM folk arts collections.

Use the black search button below to search the collections.

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For assistance, contact:  history@cvmuseum.com
Last modified on: July 29, 2009