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Archive: 2020 (7 Posts)

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

John A. Lomax and Alan Lomax papers now online

Posted by: Nicole Saylor

This is a guest blog post by Todd Harvey, a Reference Librarian and curator of the Lomax collections at the American Folklife Center. The American Folklife Center announces long-awaited digital access to a tranche of Lomax family correspondence. It follows similar treatment for the Bess Lomax Hawes collection and the Alan Lomax collection. Most of …

A man plays banjo while another man plays guitar

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

Vast folk music festival collection now described online

Posted by: Nicole Saylor

This is a guest post by archivist Maya Lerman. We’re pleased to announce that the finding aid for the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) collection is now online. The collection includes broad documentation from the National Folk Festival, the Lowell Folk Festival, and other major cultural events. Its acquisition marks a significant expansion …

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

“Doing Something Useful:” A Tribute to AFC’s longtime volunteer, Howard Kramer

Posted by: Nicole Saylor

This is a guest post by processing coordinator Ann Hoog, who among many other things, coordinates interns and volunteers at the American Folklife Center. One of the American Folklife Center’s long-time volunteers, Marshall Howard Kramer, passed away April 30, 2020, of COVID-19. Howard was a beloved member of AFC’s family for nearly 20 years. He …

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

Bess Lomax Hawes Digital Collection Launches

Posted by: Nicole Saylor

This is a guest post by reference librarian Todd Harvey, who curates the Lomax family papers at the American Folklife Center. Today, the American Folklife Center announces the launch of the Bess Lomax Hawes (1921-2009) digital collection, now available at this link. A scholar, teacher, performer, writer, and filmmaker, Bess established and stewarded the Folk …

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

Ready for research: Documentation of Southern pottery, Southeast Asian cultures, and Armenian folk crafts

Posted by: Nicole Saylor

This is a guest post by American Folklife Center archivist Jesse Hocking, who is part of a new cohort of archives staff across the Library who were hired to help bring collections out of the processing backlog. The American Folklife Center is excited to announce that the collection of Nancy Sweezy (1921-2010), noted folklorist, potter, …