Series 31105
Department of Cultural and Community Engagement. Division of Arts and Museums. Folk Arts Program Humanities Tent Show records, 1981.
1.00 cubic foot
These records are housed in the Utah State Archives' permanent storage room.
Historical Note
See history of the records' creator.
Summary of Records
Scope and Content
In the summer of 1981, the Utah Endowment for the Humanities produced a free public program called "The Humanities Tent Show." The intent of the program was to travel to twelve rural Utah communities (Heber City, Vernal, Roosevelt, Huntington, Moab, Monticello, Price, Ephraim, Parowan, Beaver, Delta, and Tooele), providing humanities programming over a three-day period in each location. This programming included local history lectures; folklife programs and exhibits; programs on women's history; workshops on writing and preserving local, personal, and family histories; and discussions on various topics. The show would be held in a large, circus-style tent, which would be transported from destination to destination.
In preparation for the Tent Show, Dr. Polly Stewart conducted fieldwork in all of the twelve communities, collecting interviews with, and photographs of, the people who were going to be making up the Tent Show programming.
About two weeks before the Tent Show could get underway, the tent collapsed, malfunctioning to the degree that it was unfixable before the commencement of the project, so the Tent Show Committee was forced to hold each event in preexisting venues within the communities (libraries, community centers, schools, etc). The tentless Tent Shows were very poorly attended, and the project was considered a failure by members of the Committee.
This series contains records related to the Humanities Tent Show, including photo slides of the events and the people who participated in Dr. Stewart's fieldwork, field notes from the interviews, audio recordings of all of the Tent Show performances, and materials from the Tent Show Committee such as meeting agendas and press releases.
Materials in this series were assigned a project number by the Folk Arts Program, consisting of a three-letter code, creation year, a letter indicating format, and the numerical order of the materials.
Arrangement
Generally by format, thereunder usually by assigned project number.
Access Restrictions
This series is classified as Public.
Use Restrictions
These records are available for reproduction and use.
Preferred Citation
Cite the Utah State Archives and Records Service, the creating agency name, the series title, and the series number.
Custody History
This collection came into the custody of the Utah State Archives and Records Service in 2010 as part of a massive transfer of record from the Folk Arts Program. In 2023 staff from the Folk Arts Program collaborated with the State Archives to bring better intellectual and physical control over that unaccessioned collection. Individual record series have now been created that align with the original order that collections were maintained in when they were created by the creating office.
Acquisition Information
These records were acquired from the creating agency through established retention schedules.
Processing Information
Archival processing of this collection was done by Elizabeth Setterberg from the Utah Division of Arts and Museums and Carlton Jemmett of the Division of Archives and Records Service between June 2023 and July 2025.
Additional processing of this series was done by Katie McGirt between March and September of 2026.
Indexing Terms
Container List
| Box | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | Miscellaneous Tent show materials including 7 ampex reels, colored photo slides ranging from TEN-81-S-0001 to TEN-81-S-0007, Tent show field notes and logs, CD's and cassettes ranging from TEN-81-T-0089 to TEN-81-T-0138. |