Argentinean stirrups, a Mexican bombilla and a quena made on the streets of Ecuador are among a roomful of Latin American artifacts from one retired Ohio University professor’s authentic collection.
To top off Hispanic Heritage Month, Bruce Ergood, former director of Latin American studies at OU, has lent a personal compilation of souvenirs from his travels south of the border to decorate the Multicultural Center.
“It shows the diversity of the region, which is what Hispanic Heritage Month is all about,” said Chaz Brown, a graduate student studying Latin American studies.
Ergood first traveled to Mexico in 1953 knowing only six words in the Spanish language, including “sí” and “tortilla.” After graduating from the University of Florida with a Ph.D. in sociology, he took a 36-hour bus trip across the border with the American Friend Service Committee, a society of Quakers promoting peace and social justice.
The group spent two years building playgrounds and developing other community projects for small villages around Mexico. During that time, Ergood picked up pieces demonstrating both form and function from street vendors.
“When you spend time in a society that changes your life, you gain respect for the things they have and use and acquire those things to remember the place,” he said.
For Ergood, the display is a colorful reminder of his adventures through South America. Although the retired professor shares Pennsylvania Dutch, Italian and German descent, he considers himself an honorary Latino.
“I pass myself as Mexican all the time,” he said. “I feel very much at home there.”
After nearly 60 years of service in Latin America, Ergood and his wife still travel to Honduras for three months every winter to train health workers with the Episcopal Church. Nearly every country in South America is featured in their collection through worn leather sandals, handmade ponchos, paintings and dinnerware.
“Everything you see in the exhibit is unique, just like him,” said Erica Harding, graduate assistant in the multicultural center and treasurer of the Organization of Latin America at OU. “It puts a visual on Hispanic Heritage Month.”
Harding added that she has seen Ergood as a grandfather figure since she was first introduced to him during her thesis research in Honduras.
A large portion of Ergood’s artifacts is made up of instruments he played and made during his journeys. A set of authentic bamboo quenas, including one he made, are tokens of the jazz band he played with in Argentina. The instruments also remind him of his 85-year-old compadre, Spanish for best friend, who lives in Mexico.
Ergood has never investigated the value of his eclectic assortment of Latin gems.
“Things that are made by hand give us a feeling that we can do things without machines and that’s something I think we are losing today,” he said. “Some of these things aren’t worth anything to anyone, but they are valuable to me.”
oy311909@ohiou.edu
