In December 2004, just weeks shy of his 100th birthday, Woodstock lost one of the true “living treasures” of the Hudson Valley and the Catskills: prolific scholar/historian/author Alf Evers. But in addition to his great, immersive, lavishly illustrated, coffee-table-worthy history tomes, Evers left behind a voluminous archive of research materials: more than 12,000 objects of great potential usefulness for those interested in the history of Woodstock, the Byrdcliffe Art Colony, the American Arts and Crafts Movement and many other Catskills-related topics.
Those documents are now in the possession of the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, which makes the Alf Evers Archive available to researchers at its headquarters at 34 Tinker Street. And Evers’ large collection of books on regional and national history is now available as a browsing library in the Loom Room of White Pines at Byrdcliffe itself. Archivist Eila Kokkinen has been working on organizing the materials since 2006, but Evers’ collection of historic photographs needs to be scanned and digitized – as soon as possible – before it inexorably fades with time.
To help raise funds for this worthy (and pressing) project, an all-star cast of Woodstock-area musicians – some of them arguably historical artifacts themselves – will gather on Saturday, August 29 at the Kleinert/James Center for the Arts to present a concert dubbed Alf-Scan. Amy Fradon, Leslie Ritter, Scott Petito, Jules Shear, Marc Black, Tom Pacheco, Brian Hollander, Mikhail Horowitz, Gilles Malkine, Ed Sanders and Michael Veitch with Julie Last will perform beginning at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $25 general admission, $22 for Byrdcliffe Guild members: money well-spent for a rollicking evening and a terrific cause.
The Kleinert is located at 36 Tinker Street. For more information and to purchase tickets, call (845) 679-2079 or visit ulsterpub.staging.wpengineguild.org/alfscan.html.
Alf-Scan fundraising concert for Evers Archive, Saturday, August 29, 8 p.m., $25/$22, Kleinert/James Center for the Arts, 36 Tinker Street, Woodstock; (845) 679-2079, ulsterpub.staging.wpengineguild.org/alfscan.html.
Join the family! 
