Artifact: The Rolodex

[Kali]

https://borderlore.org/artifact-the-rolodex

Remembering a mentor and his rotating cards of access and connection

by Maribel Alvarez

When Dr. James “Big Jim” Griffith, a folklorist, a friend and mentor to me, and the beloved founder of the annual Tucson Meet Yourself Folklife Festival, passed away in December of 2021, his wife Loma invited friends and colleagues to pick small keepsakes from his home office as remembrances. I selected an out-of-print pamphlet on the Yaqui Easter ceremonies, a bumper sticker from Cananea, Sonora taped to one of his cabinets, and Jim’s personal Rolodex.

more at link
https://borderlore.org/artifact-the-rolodex/

[erronis]

1. A good read. Thank you.

I believe objects carry the energy of their caretakers far longer than the time they were used and well past the life of their users. I keep Jim's Rolodex on a shelf in my office at the University of Arizona. Every so often I pull it down and look through the entries. Seeing my dear mentor's handwriting, studying his annotations, and tracking changes in addresses or area codes deeply moves me. A lifetime of transactions and transformations is encoded in this wheel of cards.

[PJMcK]

2. I had two Rolodexes

One for my office and a clone for my studio. I had the first one since 1980. Last year, I finally consolidated them electronically and tossed the old work-horses.

Ah, the memories those cards contained!