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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
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
One hundred years ago this month, February 26, 1917, what is generally acknowledged as the first recording of jazz was released. “Livery Stable Blues,” performed by the Original Dixieland Jass Band [1] was a best-selling record for Victor, but is a problematic “first” as it is a recording of a white band performing an African …
Posted in: African American History, African Americans, Blues, Folk Music, Folksong, Jazz
Posted by: John Fenn
Song of the Week: Barbara Allen Since my junior year in high school, when my dad handed me a copy of Tom Rush’s Blues, Songs, and Ballads (1964) the song “Barbara Allen” has held onto me. Little did I know back then that this is Child Ballad 84, that it is one of the most collected ballads …
Posted in: Charles Lafayette Todd and Robert Sonkin, Folk Music, Folksong
Posted by: Lisa Taylor
Not unlike many of you, I sit in a cubicle facing a computer monitor for several hours each work day. But I’m not here to share my many thoughts on poor ergonomics or eye strain. (I could type pages on the subject, but that would probably make my wrists and eyes hurt.) Part of my …
Posted in: African Americans, Cultural Heritage, Iraq War, Narratives, Oral History, Storytelling, Veterans History Project
Posted by: Stephen Winick
The following is a guest post from AFC folklife specialist Michelle Stefano. On February 22 at noon, the Library of Congress will host the talented dancers of Urban Artistry, Inc. in the Coolidge Auditorium as part of the Homegrown Concert Series of the American Folklife Center. Audience members are in for a treat: three rounds …
Posted in: Uncategorized
Posted by: Stephen Winick
Note: this is the fifth, and probably the last, post on Folklife Today concerning Far Away Moses, a nineteenth century Jewish guide and merchant whose face was the model for one of the “keystone heads” sculpted in stone on the outside of the Library of Congress’s Thomas Jefferson building. For the other posts about Moses, …
Posted in: AFC History, Far-Away Moses, Jewish American History, Jewish Americans, Legends, Proverbs, Uncategorized