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Archive: 2015 (97 Posts)

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The Folklore and Folksong of Trains in America, Part Two

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

This is the second part of a two-part article on the folklore of trains. Part one, focusing on the development of railroads in the United States and related songs and lore can be found here. Part Two: Trains and American Culture The coming of the railroads made profound changes in life and culture in the …

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

Collection Snapshot: Merle Korte and the End of WWII

Posted by: Megan Harris

This month sees a round of 70th anniversaries relating to the end of World War II–the release of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6th and 9th, and Japan’s announcement of surrender on August 15th. The Veterans History Project‘s (VHP) official commemoration will come next month, with the September 8th release of an …

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

Don Yoder (1921-2015): The Man Who Put the “Life” in “Folklife”

Posted by: Stephen Winick

Did you ever wonder why U.S. government institutions like the Library of Congress use the word “folklife” rather than the more common “folklore?” Largely, we can thank the influence of Don Yoder, the eminent Pennsylvania folklorist, who passed away Tuesday at the age of 93. Long before the founding of the Library of Congress’s American …

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

AFC Junior Fellow April Rodriguez on Lomax’s Choreometrics

Posted by: Stephen Winick

The American Folklife Center is very grateful to April Rodriguez, one of this year’s 36 Library of Congress Junior Fellow Summer Interns.  April has been working with Alan Lomax’s choreometrics materials, a lesser-known but crucial aspect of his research. Her work has revealed aspects of the collection our own staff didn’t know about, and will …

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

Happy Birthday, United States Coast Guard!

Posted by: Lisa Taylor

August 4th marks the 225th birthday of the U.S. Coast Guard, the only military organization within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard work tirelessly to safeguard our nation’s maritime interests and environment around the world. Click here to access digitized collections of more than 130 veterans …

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James P. Leary and Folksongs of Another America

Posted by: Stephen Winick

The following post introduces James P. Leary, a researcher who has published extensively on Library of Congress collections in the American Folklife Center. Most of the quotations from Leary in this article come from an email interview we did in July 2015, but I also quote occasionally from a lecture he gave at the Library …

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

Picturing the Korean War

Posted by: Megan Harris

Sixty-two years after the armistice was signed ending the Korean War, on July 27, 1953, the conflict remains slightly hazy for many Americans. Sandwiched between World War II and Vietnam, and involving fewer service members and battle deaths than either, the Korean War may seem a bit of an enigma. There are not as many …

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

The Folklore and Folksong of Trains in America, Part One

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

Part two of this article is available at this link. Part One:  The Development of the Railroads The advent of railroads in the United States is part of the country’s coming-of-age story as an industrial power during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Because of this, trains and people associated with the developing railways became …