Document Type
Finding Aid
Publication Date
2016
Abstract
The William Kalsbeek Tulip Festival Collection documents the planning, research, and resources used by Kalsbeek in the writing of his Celebrating our Dutch Heritage: The Story of the Orange City Tulip Festival. [Orange City, IA:] Friends of the Festival Foundation, 2015. The material consists in hardcopy and digital forms. Hardcopy items include an unabridged typescript copy of “Celebrating our Dutch Heritage”; a largely complete collection of Orange City Tulip Festival (OCTF) brochures, mid-1950s-2015; and various notes and documents used in writing Celebrating our Dutch Heritage. Digital items include a digital version of the unabridged book; texts of 3 articles written for the Sioux County Capital-Democrat; an Excel spreadsheet (Events by Year Array) that lists what events happened during the OCTF in what year; over 7,000 digital photos and scans; 21 audio files of interviews of individuals and focus groups; and notes on the interviews. Collectively, this material provides evidence for the origins and development of the Orange City Tulip Festival from the mid-twentieth century into the early-twenty-first century. Indirectly, the collection shows a major way in which a Midwestern town adapted its ethnic origins for ongoing uses for local identity, community, and economic vitality.