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Jim Costa, 67 (as of 2016), is a native of Summers County, and an accomplished traditional musician and storyteller. He is also an avid collector and expert of 18th and 19th century farm tools and objects of rural life, including Hammons family fiddles, spinning wheels, cast iron cookware, and blacksmith tools. Costa has been building this collection throughout his life, and he restores many of the old tools and instruments himself. In addition to his public presentations on music and material culture, Costa appeared in the 1987 John Sayles film Matewan.In the summer of 2016, University of North Carolina folklore graduate student Zoe van Buren spent two months with Costa, conducting oral histories and documenting his extensive collection. Read more about van Burens work here: https://wvfolklife.org/2016/09/06/thats-a-grand-story-to-tell-documenting-jim-costas-collection/Zoe van Buren's website:https://zoevanburen.wordpress.com/

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Corpse cooling board with coffin stands in Jim Costa's collection, 1890s

Identifier:
4224.CostaJim.Photo.097.6.6.16
Title:
Corpse cooling board with coffin stands in Jim Costa's collection, 1890s
Date:
2016-06-06
Creator:
van Buren, Zoe
Contributor:
Costa, Jim (Banjoist)
Description:
Jim Costa, 67 (as of 2016), is a native of Summers County, and an accomplished traditional musician and storyteller. He is also an avid collector and expert of 18th and 19th century farm tools and objects of rural life, including Hammons family fiddles, spinning wheels, cast iron cookware, and blacksmith tools. Costa has been building this collection throughout his life, and he restores many of the old tools and instruments himself. In addition to his public presentations on music and material culture, Costa appeared in the 1987 John Sayles film Matewan.In the summer of 2016, University of North Carolina folklore graduate student Zoe van Buren spent two months with Costa, conducting oral histories and documenting his extensive collection. Read more about van Burens work here: https://wvfolklife.org/2016/09/06/thats-a-grand-story-to-tell-documenting-jim-costas-collection/Zoe van Buren's website:https://zoevanburen.wordpress.com/
Subject:
Antique collecting for men, Collectors and collecting
Rights:
In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
Location:
Summers County (W. Va.)
Format:
image/tiff
Source:
A&M 4224, West Virginia Folklife Program Collection