Thanks to the ISHA Special Projects Grant, the ProRodeo Hall of Fame’s project to rehouse the Hafley Shelton Collection has been successfully completed.
The Hall removed and discarded old boxes and created archival housing for over 600 items. The new housings provide extended room for items, foam or cotton supports, and light and dust protection. During the creation of the housings, detailed condition reports and new photographs were taken of each item. The reports were then scanned and attached to the database files. A total of 2,073 photographs were added to the online database for these items. This collection is now the spotlighted feature on the Hall’s online database.
The project took three months longer to complete than expected. The largest contributor to the delay was a six-week shut-down of the Hall of Fame due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The cost for the project came in at $1,727.99. This was under the proposed amount in the original budget by $44.30. The pictures attached show one of the costume jackets worn by Mrs. Hafley during her high-school horse performances.
Before the jacket was tightly packed into a box that was too small. This created stress on the silk from folding. The cream jacket was shipped across the country in the box that it was found stored in. Now it and a red jacket have their own boxes where they can lay flat and are not crowded or folded. This has reduced stress on the fabric and will help preserve these jackets for the future.