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University of Central Florida ZORA! Academic Conference records, 1988-2004

 

Summary

Creator:
University of Central Florida. College of Arts and Humanities
Abstract:
The University of Central Florida ZORA! Academic Conference records, 1988-2004, pertain to the planning of the Academic Conference of the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts, sponsored by the University of Central Florida's College of Arts and Humanities. The collection documents UCF's collaboration with the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community (PEC) in planning humanities programming for the Zora Neale Hurston Festival. It chiefly consists of reports, proposals, notes, newspaper clippings, brochures, memos, letters, emails, meeting agendas, programs, calls for papers, and abstracts. This collection provides insight into the various themes of the Zora Festival from 1991 to 2004 and the academics who presented and participated in these festivals. It also highlights the accomplishments of PEC in preserving the history of Eatonville and Zora Neale Hurston through the festival. The Zora Neale Hurston Festival, also known as the Zora Neal Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities or the ZORA! Festival, is an annual multi-day event that takes place in Eatonville, Florida, and throughout Orange County in late January. Raised in Eatonville, Zora Neale Hurston contributed to the Harlem Renaissance as a writer, storyteller, anthropologist, and ethnographer. She wrote four novels and over fifty short stories, plays, and essays, including her most popular novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. Since 1990, the festival has celebrated and honored the legacy of Hurston and other people of African ancestry who have made significant cultural contributions to the world through public talks, museum exhibitions, theatrical productions, arts education programming, and an outdoor festival. The festival is themed into five-year cycles with each year contributing towards the overarching theme. The Zora Neale Hurston Festival is organized by the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community (PEC), a historic preservation and arts organization led by N.Y. Nathiri. Since 1990, the University of Central Florida (UCF) has frequently collaborated with PEC to plan and host the Academic Conference of the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts. Kristin Congdon, a UCF professor, was heavily involved in planning for the festival and the festival's academic conference. As of 2023, the festival continues to operate and maintains its partnership with UCF.
Extent:
2.1 Linear Feet (1 box, 1 flat file)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], University of Central Florida ZORA! Academic Conference records, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida.

Background

Scope and content:

The University of Central Florida ZORA! Academic Conference records, 1988-2004, pertain to the planning of the Academic Conference of the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts, sponsored by the University of Central Florida's College of Arts and Humanities. The collection documents UCF's collaboration with the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community (PEC) in planning humanities programming for the Zora Neale Hurston Festival. It chiefly consists of reports, proposals, notes, newspaper clippings, brochures, memos, letters, emails, meeting agendas, programs, calls for papers, and abstracts. This collection provides insight into the various themes of the Zora Festival from 1991 to 2004 and the academics who presented and participated in these festivals. It also highlights the accomplishments of PEC in preserving the history of Eatonville and Zora Neale Hurston through the festival.

Series I: Planning, 1988-2004, contains documents relating to the planning of the Zora Neale Hurston Festival and UCF professor Kristin Congdon's role as a member of the festival's planning committee and festival collaborator on behalf of UCF. Documents include reports, proposals, notes, memos, letters, emails, meeting agendas, programs, calls for papers, and abstracts. Much of the correspondence was written by Kristin Congdon to other members of the planning committee such as N.Y. Nathiri, the Executive Director of PEC. The series also contains newspaper clippings and brochures from PEC featuring the history of Eatonville and its connection to Zora Neale Hurston.

Biographical / historical:

The Zora Neale Hurston Festival, also known as the Zora Neal Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities or the ZORA! Festival, is an annual multi-day event that takes place in Eatonville, Florida, and throughout Orange County in late January. Raised in Eatonville, Zora Neale Hurston contributed to the Harlem Renaissance as a writer, storyteller, anthropologist, and ethnographer. She wrote four novels and over fifty short stories, plays, and essays, including her most popular novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. Since 1990, the festival has celebrated and honored the legacy of Hurston and other people of African ancestry who have made significant cultural contributions to the world through public talks, museum exhibitions, theatrical productions, arts education programming, and an outdoor festival. The festival is themed into five-year cycles with each year contributing towards the overarching theme.

The Zora Neale Hurston Festival is organized by the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community (PEC), a historic preservation and arts organization led by N.Y. Nathiri. Since 1990, the University of Central Florida (UCF) has frequently collaborated with PEC to plan and host the Academic Conference of the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts. Kristin Congdon, a UCF professor, was heavily involved in planning for the festival and the festival's academic conference. As of 2023, the festival continues to operate and maintains its partnership with UCF.

Acquisition information:
Transferred by Kristin Congdon (Accession No. CFU2006_47).
Processing information:

Processed by Mary Rubin in 2019. Finding aid prepared by Asmara Cortes-Caba in 2024.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into one series, Planning, 1988-2004.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The entire collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], University of Central Florida ZORA! Academic Conference records, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida.

Location of this collection:
John C. Hitt Library
12701 Pegasus Drive, Building 2
Orlando
FL
32816-8030
USA