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Archive: 2016 (93 Posts)

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

A VHP Mystery, Solved

Posted by: Megan Harris

  Do you believe in fate? If not, the story of a new Veterans History Project (VHP) acquisition may change your mind… As readers of Folklife Today may recall, this past February, VHP archivist Rachel Telford wrote a blog post about the newly received George Washington Pearcy collection. At the time of the donation, the …

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 …

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

Caught My Eye: John McGill’s WWI Photograph

Posted by: Megan Harris

The following is a guest post by Christopher Pohlhaus, IT (Multi-media) Specialist for the Digital Scan Center, Library of Congress. Of the more than 100,000 collections that are part of the Veterans History Project, approximately 20% are digitized and available online. For those collections that are presented on the Veterans History Project (VHP) website, the …

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

Lomax Challenge Videos Part 3

Posted by: Stephen Winick

Note: This post is part of series of blog posts celebrating the centennial of Alan Lomax’s birth, and also part of another series celebrating the 40th anniversary of AFC! In a previous blog post, Jennifer Cutting and I explained the background to our Lomax Challenge showcase at last year’s Folk Alliance meeting. (We also presented the …

A fairy-like goddess plays a long pipe. A hare sits next to her on a mushroom, and a cherub and three more hares listen to her tune.

Ostara and the Hare: Not Ancient, but Not As Modern As Some Skeptics Think

Posted by: Stephen Winick

If you’re curious about modern holiday beliefs and calendar customs, you might be reading or doing research about them online. Chances are, you come across some stories that the presenters claim are ancient, and reach into the pre-Christian past. One popular story you might have seen recently involves the origin of the Easter Bunny. Essentially, …