Edward D. “Sandy” Ives, Collector

P246_Sandy-Ives-interviewing-John-Holland-at-1st-MFF-1958
P00246 Edward “Sandy” Ives interviewing John Holland at 1st Miramichi Folksong Festival, 1958.

Edward D. “Sandy” Ives (September 24, 1925–August 1, 2009) was the Founder and Former Director of the Maine Folklife Center. Sandy received his Ph.D. in Folklore from Indiana University in 1962. He taught at the University of Maine since 1955, first as Instructor in English and beginning in 1964 as Professor of Folklore in the Department of Anthropology. During his career, he received numerous honors and awards including an honorary LL.D. from the University of Prince Edward Island in 1986, the Annual Harvey A. Kantor Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement in Oral History in 1979, and the Marius Barbeau Medal from the Canadian Folklore Studies Association for outstanding lifetime contributions to the field of folklore in 1991. Ives organized the Folklife Center in 1992, combining the Northeast Folklore Society and the Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History, which he founded in 1957. He edited the monograph series Northeast Folklore since 1958 and wrote several books. Click here to read more about the history of the MFC.