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The PVCC college library was renamed in 2011 for retired faculty Dr. Warren Buxton and his wife Jo in appreciation of the Indigenous and American West art collection they donated to the library in 1989 for permanent display.
The Buxton collection today is estimated to be worth over $400,000. The collection includes artists from across the Americas. Our collection contains katsina dolls, pottery, stone, wood figures, beadwork, batik, mixed media, watercolors, oils, etchings, hand-colored and offset lithography, block print, chromolithography, gouache, and mateo. Most items represent the period from 1930 to 1989, but you'll also find a parfleche bag from the 1880s and a corn husk bag from 1910. The couple decided to donate the art to the college when Mrs. Buxton became ill, and it became necessary for them to sell their home where the collection was displayed. She died in 1997.
"We are pleased to name the library after a couple who have contributed so much to PVCC and the entire Maricopa Community College District," said Library Faculty Shelle Witten. "Warren Buxton gave this gift from their hearts and never asked for recognition. They fell in love with the unique genre of Native American art and craft and wanted to share it beyond the walls of their own home."
Dr. Buxton was a respected original faculty member who retired from the PVCC Business/IT Division in 1997 after working in the district for nearly 40 years. Following his retirement from PVCC, Dr. Buxton spent five years in the MCCCD Active Retirement Program as curator of the Buxton Collection. He developed a comprehensive database and guide to the collection items and worked with the PVCC librarians to design and implement a cataloging system for each art piece. In 2007, he wrote his autobiography, The Jo and Warren Buxton Art Collection: But Who Were Those Buxtons?
He also purchased and then donated 151 books, valued at $3,775, to the PVCC library to support students' research needs about indigenous Americans, Native American and Western artists, and the history of the Americas.
Dr. Buxton initially joined the Maricopa Community Colleges as faculty of Phoenix College's workforce training program, a result of the federal Manpower Development and Training Act of 1963. Data processing was a new discipline, and the MCCCD's administrative team appointed Dr. Buxton to serve concurrently, in 1968 and 1969, as the Director of Data Processing and resident faculty. Dr. Buxton died on December 16, 2018.
For more background on the collection and to see some featured artists check out our YouTube Channel.
Images from the art collection, artist info, and Buxton biographies:
Buxton Art Collection
