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Archive: July 2020 (12 Posts)

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

‘Yes, You Can’: The Rose Witherspoon Spence Story

Posted by: Lisa Taylor

The following is a guest post by Matt McCrady, a Digital Conversion Specialist for the Library of Congress. “It was a world of men,…We were trained and taught that our whole life was to make sure that these men were happy” Rose Witherspoon Spence was always a little “different.” That is the word she uses …

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

There is No Eye: The John Cohen collection is ready for research

Posted by: Nicole Saylor

This is a guest post by archivist Maya Lerman, who completed processing on the John Cohen collection. Maya has written for the blog about her work on this collection previously, and another of our staff, Todd Harvey, offered a recollection of Cohen’s rich body of documentation upon his passing last year. Musician, visual artist, writer, …

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

Traditional Sports for Unity

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

The ancient concept of the Olympics was to create competitions that brought people together once every four years in a ritual in honor of the god Zeus. Wars were banned while the games were put on allowing people of different states to participate and travel to and from the games safely. People came from all …

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

VHP’s Newest Online Feature: ‘First, Serve: Athletes in Uniform’

Posted by: Lisa Taylor

The following is a guest post by Matt McCrady, a Digital Conversion Specialist for the Library of Congress. Particularly during wartime, joining the military often means putting on hold important aspects of one’s life, such as college or marriage. Similarly, the unexpected draft notice can mean the end of a promising college athlete’s hope for …

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

Homegrown Plus: Cora Harvey Armstrong

Posted by: Stephen Winick

In the Homegrown Plus series, we present Homegrown concerts that also had accompanying oral history interviews, placing both together in an easy-to-find blog post. (Find the whole series here!) We’re continuing the series with Cora Harvey Armstrong, a gospel singer, piano player, songwriter, choir director, and bandleader born and raised in King and Queen County, Virginia. The Richmond-born …

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

Power for the Pacific and the Cactus Air Force

Posted by: Kerry Ward

This is the fifth blog post 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. I think we can all agree that summer 2020 looks a little different than we had planned.  Having cancelled …

A dancer in Native American regalia on an ornate marble floor with a group of hoops merged to form a sphere.

Homegrown Plus: Nakotah LaRance, 1989-2020

Posted by: Stephen Winick

Normally, the Homegrown Plus series is a way to bring together the videos of Homegrown concerts with other information about the artists, including oral history interviews.  This time, however, we have a more solemn duty: to celebrate the life and legacy of Nakotah LaRance, an outstanding Native American hoop dancer from Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, New …

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

Working Together Apart: Growing Even More Appreciative of Vietnam Veterans

Posted by: Lisa Taylor

The following is a guest blog post by Candace Milburn, a processing technician for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project (VHP). It is the fifth in a series from VHP staff. Click on the following names to read previous articles in this series: Tamika Brown– Processing Technician Andrew Huber– Liaison Specialist Tracey Dodson– Administrative …

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

Arlo Guthrie Birth Announcement by Woody Guthrie Featured at No Depression

Posted by: Stephen Winick

As our readers may remember, we've been working with No Depression, The Journal of Roots Music, which is published by the nonprofit Freshgrass Foundation. They're publishing a column called Roots in the Archive, featuring content from the American Folklife Center and Folklife Today. The latest Roots in the Archive column is about the Arlo Guthrie birth announcement, a fantastic manuscript item from the Alan Lomax Collection. The Arlo Guthrie birth announcement is a handwritten, illustrated letter created by Woody Guthrie to announce the birth of his son Arlo. It was sent by Woody to his friend Alan Lomax in 1947. Typed and embellished with finger-painted lettering, the announcement is in the form of a handmade greeting card, a single sheet folded in half to form a front and back cover and a center spread. The front consists of stylized line art representing a mother and baby, a greeting to the Lomax family, and the name "Arlo Guthrie," painted in several different styles and colors. The back consists of the words "Here I Am" in large painted letters. Both sides bear the date, and the name "Arlo Guthrie" written in Woody’s handwriting. Read more about it at the link! The column also features the whimsical text of the birth announcement, which is written in the voice of baby Arlo, and my own thoughts on this one-of-a-kind manuscript. Of course, the American Folklife Center also has many more resources related to Woody Guthrie, and you can find out more about those in the column too.