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Posted by: Stephen Winick
With Labor Day approaching, I’d love to introduce you to some of our resources on the folklore and folklife of labor. This area of study has many names, from the more formal “occupational folk culture” to the more colloquial “laborlore.” It also has many sub-areas, from the study of occupational folk speech, including jargon, to …
Posted in: Cowboy and Western Music, Folksong, Holidays
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
During the week of August 25, 1835, the world was treated to a fantastic story of scientific discoveries by the famous British astronomer, Sir John Herschel. He had realized the speculations of his father, astronomer Sir William Herschel, as he discovered life on the moon.[1] Or so the readers of The New York Sun were …
Posted in: Legends
Posted by: Stephen Winick
This post presents two primary source documents, both in the public domain, which are difficult to find online. Both relate to my previous post on William John Thoms. They are the first two columns in Thoms’ series “Folk-Lore,” which ran in the journal The Athenæum from 1846 to 1849, and in Notes & Queries from …
Posted in: England, Folklorists
Posted by: Stephen Winick
August 22 is an important date to folklore fans. It is, in fact, the anniversary of the first appearance of the (originally hyphenated) word “Folk-Lore” in print. The medium was a letter to the editor of the Athenæum, a scholarly journal, and the author was William John Thoms, although he wrote the letter under his …
Posted in: England, Folklorists, Uncategorized
Posted by: Lisa Taylor
Every year around this time, young people get ready to head back to school. For college students, this means there are books to purchase, roommates to meet, outrageous debt to acquire and cafeteria food to hate. However, all the stress and uncertainty that comes with going back to school is nothing compared to what many …
Posted in: Oral History, Veterans History Project
Posted by: Stephen Winick
The following is a guest post by Charles Lockwood, the Operations & Development Director of Texas Folklife, Austin Texas. Mr. Lockwood has an MA in Ethnomusicology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. The Quebe Sisters Band performed in AFC’s Homegrown Concert Series on August 20, 2014. See the concert in the player below: While …
Posted in: AFC Events, Cowboy and Western Music, Folk Music
Posted by: Kate Stewart
This summer, 125 teachers from around the country came to Washington to participate in five Library of Congress Summer Teachers Institutes to learn more about using the library’s primary sources in the classroom. At each week-long institute, staff from the American Folklife Center and the Veterans History Project participate in an open house, where curators …
Posted in: Civil Rights, Civil Rights History Project, Teaching
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
Note: a second part of this article is available presenting further research: “Who Were Those Gals?: Buffalo Gals Revisited,” Folklife Today, August 17, 2020. “Buffalo Gals” is an example of a song with a complicated “life.” Tracing the background of an old folksong or folk tune can be difficult, and often its origins can only …
Posted in: Alan Jabbour, Folksong, Pete Seeger, Sidney Robertson Cowell
Posted by: Megan Harris
One of the standard questions that we suggest Veterans History Project interviewers ask veterans is, “How was the food?” This simple question can yield surprising answers, and uncover fascinating elements of the military experience. After seeing my blog post about holiday menus in the military, VHP director Bob Patrick mentioned a specific food memory to …
Posted in: Foodways, Oral History, Veterans History Project