The following is a guest post by Rachel Telford, archivist for the Veterans History Project. Today, the Veterans History Project launches “Over There,” part two of our companion site to the Library of Congress exhibit, “Echoes of the Great War.” While part one explores the United States’ entry into World War I, part two delves …
Note: This is the second in a series of posts about the murder ballad “Batson.” This one discusses the performance recorded by John A. and Alan Lomax from a trio of musicians including Wilson Jones, a.k.a. Stavin’ Chain, in 1934. A little while back, I presented for the first time anywhere a version of the …
The following is a guest blog post co-authored by Rachel Nave McCubbin and her sisters, Lynne Cosby and Patience Fort, who recently traveled from Kentucky and Pennsylvania to the Library of Congress Veterans History Project (VHP) to ceremoniously donate their father’s World War II collection. The veteran’s online record will be made accessible on VHP’s …
This is one of two articles, each focusing on one ethnographic recording of an African American song of World War I. To read the article about “Trench Blues” select here. African Americans left to serve in World War I, beginning one hundred years ago in June 1917, landing in France on June 25. They had …
A celebration of fathers and fatherhood took a long time to be established as a nation-wide observance. Mother’s Day was being locally observed as it was being promoted in the 19th and early 20th century, and became a regular holiday in May in 1914 by presidential proclamation. Father’s Day was locally celebrated around the country …
Note: This is the first in a series of posts about the murder ballad “Batson.” This one discusses previously unpublished versions of the song from manuscript collections at AFC. The ballad “Batson,” collected by John and Alan Lomax from Wilson Jones (whose nickname was “Stavin’ Chain”) and two accompanists, has long been a well-known and …
The following is a guest post by Owen Rogers, liaison specialist for the Veterans History Project (VHP). Library of Congress specialists often give presentations about ongoing Library exhibitions. This post, a version of which also appears on the Library of Congress Blog, relates to the exhibition, “Echoes of the Great War: American Experiences of World War …
This is a guest post by Todd Harvey, a folklife specialist and acquisitions coordinator at the American Folklife Center. John Cohen stopped by the other day to look at some photographs. Since the Library acquired John’s multi-format collection in 2011, we have gladly hosted his periodic visits. Here is a man who first walked through …
This guest blog post comes to us courtesy of Catherine Turner, a high school senior working at the American Folklife Center this Spring on her service project for Park School in Baltimore, MD. Catherine is entering Brown University in Fall 2017, and has spent the last six weeks diving into the collections at the Library …