Top of page

Category: AFC 40th Anniversary

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Alan Jabbour 1942 – 2017

Posted by: Stephen Winick

On behalf of the American Folklife Center, I’m very sad to pass on the news of the death of our founding director, Alan Jabbour. Alan was a folklorist, fiddler, fieldworker, and friend of the highest caliber, and he will be missed at AFC and around the world. AFC’s current director, Betsy Peterson, expressed the feelings …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Kentucky Bourbon, Millennial Tastes, and the Language of Folklore

Posted by: Stephen Winick

The following is a guest blog post by Sarah Lerner, who is currently an intern at AFC. For the past forty years the American Folklife Center has devoted countless hours to the documentation and preservation of our nation’s traditional arts, cultural expressions, and oral histories. Our work is supported and presented though a vocabulary defined …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

“Oral Tradition” on the Walls of the Jefferson Building

Posted by: Stephen Winick

The following is a guest post by Jennifer Cutting.  A longtime member of the AFC Staff, Jennifer is also a trained docent and leads fascinating tours of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building.  Her post is part of a series of blog posts about the 40th Anniversary Year of the American Folklife Center. Visit this link …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

The American Folklife Center: 40 Years of Change

Posted by: Stephen Winick

The following post is part of a series of blog posts about the 40th Anniversary Year of the American Folklife Center. Visit this link to see them all! This year the Library’s American Folklife Center (AFC) turns 40. Detailed histories of AFC are available elsewhere [1], so we thought we’d do something different in this …

Three men outside the Library of Congress

Billy McComiskey: Irish American Tradition Bearer

Posted by: Stephen Winick

The following post is part of a series of blog posts about the 40th Anniversary Year of the American Folklife Center. Visit this link to see them all! As I mentioned in last week’s post, all of us at AFC are happy to congratulate Billy McComiskey on winning a National Heritage Fellowship Award from the …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Billy McComiskey, AFC’s 40-Year Friend, Wins a Major Award

Posted by: Stephen Winick

The following post is part of a series of blog posts about the 40th Anniversary Year of the American Folklife Center. Visit this link to see them all! The American Folklife Center is thrilled to congratulate Billy McComiskey, one of the country’s top button accordion players in Irish traditional music, for winning a 2016 National …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

American Folklife Center Reissues Four Historic LPs

Posted by: Stephen Winick

The following guest post by Jennifer Cutting is part of a series of blog posts about the 40th Anniversary Year of the American Folklife Center. Visit this link to see them all! The American Folklife Center (AFC) is pleased to announce the availability online of four titles from our historic series of record albums, Folk …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

AFC Congratulated in the Congressional Record

Posted by: Stephen Winick

On May 23, 2016, Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District took the time to commend the American Folklife Center for 40 years of service to the nation on the floor of the House of Representatives. His statement appeared in the Congressional Record. AFC is grateful to the Congressman for his work with us …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Chicago Ethnic Arts Project Goes Online

Posted by: Stephen Winick

The following guest post by Ann Hoog is part of a series of blog posts about the 40th Anniversary Year of the American Folklife Center. Visit this link to see them all! The American Folklife Center is pleased to announce a new online presentation of the Chicago Ethnic Arts Project Collection.  The photos and audio …