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Archive: July 2018 (6 Posts)

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

Cooling Off at Beaches, Lakes, and Ponds

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

When I was growing up going swimming near home usually meant going to a public pool, or possibly a nearby man-made lake.  But when we visited relatives in the summer swimming more often was at the beach, at a lake, or at a quiet section of a river. I liked swimming in natural waters, but …

An unidentified Marine sits in her truck.

Crossing Milestones for Female Marines: Examining the Maria C. Villescas Collection

Posted by: Megan Harris

The following is a guest post by Sam Meier, a Library of Congress Junior Fellow working with the Veterans History Project (VHP) this summer. For decades, women’s military careers have been constrained by the assumption that they are less physically capable than men. Even today, those who oppose complete gender integration often assert that gender-based …

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

Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Missions within VHP’s Female Veterans Collections

Posted by: Megan Harris

The following is a guest post by Lisa Gomez, a Library of Congress Junior Fellow working with the Veterans History Project (VHP) this summer. This summer, while serving as an LC Junior Fellow, I’ve had the honor and opportunity to explore the fascinating collections of photographs and oral histories archived by the Veterans History Project. …

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

Come to an Irish Session on July 28

Posted by: Stephen Winick

This summer, the American Folklife Center is hosting a series of informal jams to celebrate our living folk traditions, and to bring to life the collections from our vast ethnographic archive.  The idea grew out of the jam we held to honor our founding director, Alan Jabbour (see a video here), and the series started …

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

Lou Curtiss, San Diego Folk Promoter 1939 – 2018

Posted by: Stephen Winick

The American Folklife Center is sad to pass on the news that San Diego folk arts promoter Louis F. Curtiss has died. He passed away at home on July 8. Curtiss was a founder of the San Diego Folk Festival, the owner of Folk Arts Rare Records, and a longtime festival and concert promoter and …

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

Folklife at the International Level: the Roots of Intangible Cultural Heritage Part II, with Valdimar Tr. Hafstein

Posted by: Michelle Stefano

In the last post, the Folklife at the International Level series took a turn into the world of “intangible cultural heritage” (ICH), a category of heritage on the global stage that developed decades ago, thanks to the joint efforts of WIPO and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). As noted, since the …