USU Folklorists Share Experience with Dude Ranching

Utah State University folklorists will share their experiences from Triangle X, a dude ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with the public Saturday, Nov. 18, at 3 p.m., in the Teton County Library, in Jackson Wyoming. The event is free and open to all.

USU will present, along with the Library of Congress, the University of Wyoming and the Field School for Cultural Documentation.

In summer 2017, eight Utah State University and three University of Wyoming students learned the art of cultural documentation while documenting the historic Triangle X Dude Ranch inside the Grand Teton National Park. The oldest operating dude ranch in the GTNP, the Turner Family has welcomed guests at the Triangle X for more than ninety years. This summer, the Turners’ welcomed the USU/UW students as they participated in a Library of Congress Field School for Cultural Documentation. The 2017 Field School is a collaboration between Utah State University, the University of Wyoming, and the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

The field school was an intensive, multi-week, residential workshop designed to provide students with basic ethnographic fieldwork skills, including participant observation, interviewing, field notes, ethics and archiving best practices.

Students worked collaboratively in teams of two or three to document the traditions of the Turner family, guests and workers.

“The Folklore Field School was an illuminating experience that allowed me to develop skills key to the collection process,” Michelle Jones, a USU graduate student noted. “I had a great time participating in the interviewing process, and I’m so excited to see what we collected go live.”

Contact: Randy Williams, 435-797-3493, randy.williams@usu.edu