Top of page
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
Before the industrial era, much of the work of the creation of clothing was done at home or at small shops. Spinning was a daily activity. Depending on one’s culture, the production of thread and yarn might be entirely women’s work, or work done by the whole family. In northern Europe, spinning was so closely …
Posted in: Folksong, Material Culture, Narratives, Oral History, Textiles, Women's History
Posted by: Megan Harris
Although we often don’t like to admit it, much in life comes down to chance, luck and serendipitous encounters. In April 2014, I attended a panel presentation at the National Council on Public History Annual Meeting in Monterey, California, on the area’s military history. One of the presenters was Enid Baxter Ryce, an artist, filmmaker …
Posted in: AFC Events, Iraq War, Oral History, Students, Veterans History Project, World War II
Posted by: Lisa Taylor
The following is a guest blog post by Tea McCaulla, an English instructor at Pickaway-Ross Career & Technology Center (PRCTC) in Ohio. Each year, she incorporates the Veterans History Project (VHP) into her classroom curriculum, and her students reap the benefits of experiential learning. This year, they received state-wide recognition. Earlier this month, four students …
Posted in: Appalachia, Narratives, Ohio, Oral History, Storytelling, Students, teachers, Teaching, Veterans History Project, World War II
Posted by: Stephen Winick
Note: This blog was updated in 2024 to add an oral history interview video, to convert it into a Homegrown Plus blog. Last Summer I profiled Billy McComiskey, Irish-American button accordion player, National Heritage Fellow, and leader in the east coast Irish traditional music scene. I promised to update our readers when the concert went …
Posted in: AFC Events, Celtic Music, Homegrown Concert Series, Homegrown Plus, Irish American History
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
When I was a kid, March signaled kite-flying time. A girl between two boys, I did what my brothers did, and the three of us would go to a large field near our home where kites had less chance of winding up in a tree. We flew diamond shaped kites that my mother favored, or …
Posted in: Games, Legends, Material Culture, Myths, Proverbs, Toys
Posted by: Stephen Winick
The following is a guest post by Todd Harvey, AFC’s Lomax collection curator. Portions of the post appeared in a short essay Todd contributed to the Haiti box set pictured below. In 2009, ethnomusicologist Gage Averill edited and compiled the CD box set Alan Lomax in Haiti 1936-1937, and wrote the accompanying Grammy-nominated notes. He …
Posted in: AFC Events
Posted by: Guha Shankar
(This guest blog is provided courtesy of our old friend, David Cline, assistant professor of history and director of the graduate certificate in public history at Virginia Tech. Many Library patrons will be familiar with David, through the dozens of video interviews he has conducted for the Civil Rights History Project (CRHP) and also because …
Posted in: African American History, African Americans, Charles Sherrod, Civil Rights, Civil Rights History Project, Freedom Struggle, Glen Pearcy Collection, Oral History, Photographs, Shirley Sherrod, Southwest Georgia Project, Student Interracial Ministry
Posted by: Lisa Taylor
The following is a guest blog post by Rachel Telford, Archivist for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project (VHP). A version of this article was previously published on the Library of Congress Blog, March 6, 2017. “…In January of ’06 for the very first time in my life, I went to the VA and …
Posted in: Hispanic American History, Impact of Service, Iraq War, Narratives, Oral History, Storytelling, Veterans History Project, Vietnam War