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Show 62 The Grouse Creek Cultural Survey Gate to David and Betty Kimber's mobile home, site OGC 5. (Carol Edison; GCCS CEB-25569/1) since the field investigation was completed. Person-to-person contact contributes to the process of discovery, informing the researcher, for example, of the community's own evaluation of buildings and other phenomena. The personal relationship can also extend to the sponsoring agency and strengthen its ties with local citizens. The benefits of the Grouse Creek project extended to all the participating agencies. The state historic preservation office gained a better understanding of the study area's buildings and a keener awareness of the significant themes in the community's history. The crucial fact of the influence of the Great Basin buckaroo on local culture would probably have eluded the team's architectural historians without the folklife investigations. Carol Edison, folk arts coordinator at the Utah Arts Council and a team member, has reported that the project sharpened her sense of community cultural" identity. Noting the team's consideration of the opening of interior space in the course of postwar house remodeling, she wrote, "In a typical folk arts survey, this display of local values would more easily have been missed" (Edison 1986). She also noted that her investigation of foodways, handled in a more systematic way than usual, led her to the unexpected discovery of chili sauce as an emblematic dish. The survey's findings, its identification of the Mormon cowboy theme, and the development of the extensive project archive will encourage future exhibits or publications. At the state arts council, for example, Edison will prepare a slide show on the relationship between expressive culture and everyday life. All parties hope that the present publication will be widely read and will be followed by more extensive studies of Grouse Creek. |