This is the second blog in a series marking the 75th Anniversary of the End of World War II and will feature an “Aviator Flight Log Book” which will be available during the Arsenal of Democracy Flyover in September 2020. If you were offered a chance to learn to fly at little to no cost, …
Episode eighteen of the Folklife Today Podcast (or Season 2, Episode 6) is ready for listening! Find it at this page on the Library’s website, or on Stitcher, iTunes, or your usual podcatcher. It's the first episode of the podcast that we've created from our homes, while unable to return to our offices or studio in the Library of Congress due to the social distancing measures imposed by Covid-19. In the episode, John Fenn and I talk to three AFC staff members, Allina Migoni, Michelle Stefano, and Maya Lerman, about folklife collections and items that have been inspiring to them in this strange and difficult time. We also talk about some of the materials that have been inspiring us. As usual, there are lots of audio excerpts from tunes, songs, and interviews in AFC collections.
This post is part of a series called Staff Finds During Difficult Times, in which staff members discuss collections and items that have been inspiring them while they are working at home during the Covid-19 pandemic or in other difficult circumstances. Find the whole series here! While working from home these weeks, I have been grateful …
The following is a guest blog post by Tamika Brown, a processing technician for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project (VHP). It is the first in a series of posts from VHP staff. Be careful what you wish for; you just might get it. When I used to wish I could telework, maybe just once …
Margaret MacArthur (May 7, 1928 – May 23, 2006) was a folksong collector, singer, and player of the Appalachian dulcimer. She performed traditional ballads and songs at the Library of Congress in 2005, one of the first of the American Folklife Center concerts recorded for the web, and the video of that concert is presented …
My colleague here at the American Folklife Center, Michelle Stefano, offered an opening post for this series on remote fieldwork by reflecting on the relationships sitting at the core of ethnographic documentation. In many ways her post explored the “why” behind conducting remote fieldwork, even when it might feel challenging or discordant in comparison to …
This guest post by AFC archivist Maya Lerman is part of a series of posts called Staff Finds During Difficult Times, in which staff members discuss collections and items that have been inspiring them while they are working at home during the covid-19 pandemic or in other difficult circumstances. Maya discusses her work on the John Cohen collection and the Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project Collection. The blog includes embedded old-time music and interviews with John Cohen and Tommy Jarrell.
This guest post by Alda Allina Migoni of the AFC reference staff is the first in a series of posts called Staff Finds During Difficult Times, in which staff members discuss collections and items that have been inspiring them while they are working at home during the covid-19 pandemic or in other difficult circumstances. In …
I find inspiration in anthropologist Ulf Hannerz’s characterization of ethnography as ‘the art of the possible’ and take from it the idea of doing the best with what you got. During this time when physical distancing is not only mandatory, but also compassionate, the ways in which we have tended to proceed in setting up …
