Homegrown At Home 2022 Is Underway!
By: Stephen Winick
The Homegrown at Home 2022 Concert Series is underway. Find out all the details of the upcoming series in this blog!
Posted in: Folklife Today
Blogs Categories: Uncategorized
Blogs Categories: Uncategorized
A Date with History
By: Naomi Coquillon
This is a guest post by Rachel Gordon, Educational Programs Specialist in the Library’s Informal Learning Office, with thanks to Muhannad Salhi of the African and Middle Eastern Division for help identifying resources, and for his Ramadan blog post. It’s a particularly appropriate time to think about the date palm and its dense, sticky, highly …
Posted in: Minerva’s Kaleidoscope
World IP Day 2022—IP and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future
By: Alison Hall
The U.S. Copyright Office joins intellectual property organizations around the world in celebrating World Intellectual Property Day. This year's theme is IP and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future. The Copyright Office is sharing the message that everyone, no matter their age, is a creator.
Posted in: Copyright
Reading is for Everyone
By: Jan Grenci
The collections of the Prints & Photographs Division include many images that depict the act of reading. When I recently prepared a Flickr album on the subject, I had a number of photographs, prints and posters to spare. Let me show you some of the posters that I didn’t use but are equally worthy of …
Posted in: Picture This
Homegrown Plus: Walter Parks
By: Stephen Winick
We're filling in the Homegrown Plus series with one that got away, our great 2020 concert with Walter Parks, one of the first "Homegrown at Home" concerts. Walter is a consummate guitarist who founded the duo The Nudes before spending more than a decade as the lead guitarist for Woodstock legend Richie Havens. We're particularly happy to present this concert, which showcased our collections in a unique and compelling way. Walter has done extensive research on our 1944 recordings of Okefenokee Swamp music made by Francis Harper. He has arranged material from the collection for his own performances, including his Homegrown Concert, which is almost entirely made up of material from the collection. If that weren't enough, Walter made the journey from his current home in St. Louis all the way down to the Chesser homestead, so he could record part of his concert video in the same place where the archival recordings were made. It gives his concert an extraordinary sense of place, and we're particularly delighted to present it to you here.
Posted in: Folklife Today
Homegrown Plus: Ánnámáret
By: Stephen Winick
We're continuing the Homegrown Plus series with our first concert to feature Sami music, performed by the fascinating singer, songwriter, and musician Annamaret. The American Folklife Center was very happy to co-sponsor this concert with our friends at the Embassy of Finland. Annamaret's project Nieguid duovdagat has earned her some of the top honors available for folk music in Finland, including Folk Music Record of the Year for 2021. For her Homegrown concert, Annamaret performed songs from Nieguid duovdagat, accompanied by the same musicians who featured on the award-winning recording: Ilkka Heinonen, who specializes in folk music on the jouhikko, G-violone and contrabass; and Turkka Inkila, who plays flutes and electronic instruments. In our conversation, I spoke with Annamaret about Sami culture, the Sami's status as the only Indigenous community in Europe, and the impact of colonialism on Sami life. And, of course, we spoke about Sami music, including yoik, and her own career as a musician and cultural advocate. Watch both the concert and the interview in this blog post, and find links to some further Sami resources you can explore.
Posted in: Folklife Today
What’s in a Name: Using Pseudonyms When Registering Works with the Copyright Office
By: Nora Scheland
The following is a guest post by Jessica Chinnadurai, a registration specialist at the U.S. Copyright Office. My first name, Jessica, was the most popular baby girl name in the 1990s. My last name, Chinnadurai, is a unique surname with origins in southern India. The dichotomy has resulted in me being fascinated by names. We …
Posted in: Copyright
Cooking Up History: One a Penny, Two a Penny, Hot-Cross Buns!
By: Naomi Coquillon
Hot-cross bun recipes from the collections and a beloved family favorite from a Library staffer.
Posted in: Minerva’s Kaleidoscope
It's National Library Week!
By: Brian McCurdy
This week we are celebrating National Library Week! This year's Honorary Chair, Molly Shannon, honors the work of her favorite librarian--her mother. Read on to learn more about the history and importance of National Library Week.
Posted in: NLS Music Notes
What will the Implementation of the CASE Act mean for me? An Update on the Copyright Claims Board and Launch of ccb.gov
By: Nora Scheland
The Copyright Office has announced the launch of a new website, ccb.gov, where businesses, creators, and users will be able to learn about the new Copyright Claims Board and how to file, opt out, or respond to claims when it opens later this year. Read on to find out what the Copyright Claims Board and ccb.gov will mean for you.
Posted in: Copyright