One reason I became interested in the study of folklife was to learn through the voices of peoples who are often under-represented in history. As this is the end of February, African American History Month, and March is Women’s History Month, it seems a good time to take a look at what African American women have to teach us. The primary-source collections of the American Folklife Center, and the Library as a whole, provide wonderful ways to experience history as presented by African American women.
Archive for February 2015 (8 posts)
Beyond “I Regret to Inform You”
This is the third in a series of blog posts related to correspondence in Veterans History Project collections. Not long after I started working at the Veterans History Project (VHP), I came across a collection that immediately mesmerized me. Pertaining to Army Corporal Jose Mares, who became a prisoner of war during the Korean War, […]
Q & A with Journalist Vern Smith on the Voices of Civil Rights Project Collection
Two weeks ago, Beth Domingo of AARP’s Life Reimagined Institute and journalist Vern Smith came to the American Folklife Center to talk with us about their work on the Voices of Civil Rights project (AFC 2005/015), sponsored by AARP and donated to the Library of Congress in 2005, and to hear about our recent work […]
“Today Was Tough–But I Took It”
During February and March 2015, the Veterans History Project will be running a series of blog posts discussing correspondence collections. The following is a guest post by Digital Conversion Specialist Matt McCrady. Many of the young men drafted into service in World War II arrived at boot camp at the height of physical fitness, fresh […]
Preparing thousands of the earliest ethnographic recordings on wax cylinders for transfer to the National Audio-visual Conservation Center
Judith Gray, a specialist in Native American cultures, has been spending a lot of quality time down in the chilly decks of the Library’s Jefferson building lately. She curates the largest body of early recordings of indigenous American music and stories in the United States contained on nearly ten thousand wax cylinders. When not on […]
“Moments with You”: Correspondence in VHP Collections
Writing from Normandy on June 13th, 1944–a week after D-Day–Navy Lieutenant Tracy Sugarman explained his thoughts and emotions during the invasion to his wife, June: I thought a lot about you, Junie dear – and I was so grateful to you and for you that it seemed to encompass my entire feelings. Above all else […]
Alan Lomax Materials on Exhibit in the Library’s Great Hall
As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, we are celebrating the Centenary of Alan Lomax’s birth with a series of events here at the library and out across the land. As you’ve seen, we have been staging Lomax events for months in preparation for the birthday. Since the actual birthday, January 31, fell on […]
Recognizing African-American Veterans This Month and All Other Months Too
As a native Washingtonian, I grew up in a predominantly African American community and proudly attended D.C. Public Schools, where Black History was taught as a regular part of the curriculum, and not just during February. As far as my elementary school music teacher was concerned, “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” also known as “The […]