Top of page
Posted by: John Fenn
This post initially appeared on another Library of Congress blog, Of the People: Widening the Path. Be sure to subscribe to that blog for updates and information about the Of the People initiative at the Library, which has been funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The Library of Congress and the American Folklife Center …
Posted in: AFC Awards
Posted by: John Fenn
This guest post was authored by Jesse Hocking, an archivist at the American Folklife Center who was centrally involved with the acquisition of the collection he describes below. In March 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic began to spread widely in the United States, The Nocturnists, a podcast and medical storytelling community, posted the following message …
Posted in: Acquisitions
Posted by: John Fenn
The American Folklife Center staff is thrilled to welcome our 2021 Folklife Interns: Camille Acosta and Kennedi Johnson. It was a competitive application pool this year, with over 350 candidates—and extremely difficult to make final selections! They’ve both officially “on-boarded” at this point and are navigating the challenges and opportunities of doing a full-time internship …
Posted in: Internship program
Posted by: John Fenn
This guest post comes from Todd Harvey, a Reference Specialist and the curator of Lomax collections at the American Folklife Center. To the Librarian of Congress March 21, 1940 Alan Lomax has in Washington with him today and tomorrow a folk singer for whose excellence he vouchers. This singer, Woodie Guthrie by name, is willing …
Posted in: AFC History, Alan Lomax, John Lomax
Posted by: Megan Harris
The following is a guest blog post by Justina Moloney, an archivist at the Veterans History Project (VHP). People often ask me to explain what an archivist does, and though there are a multitude of different ways I could explain my profession, I generally say, “Oh, I’m a librarian of old things.” While librarians and …
Posted in: Veterans History Project, World War I, World War II
Posted by: Stephen Winick
The American Folklife Center (AFC) at the Library of Congress is pleased to announce the 2021 recipients of its three competitive annual fellowships and awards programs: the Archie Green Fellowships, the Gerald E. and Corinne L. Parsons Fund Award, and Blanton Owen Fund Award. This year, these three awards went to nine projects throughout the …
Posted in: AFC Awards
Posted by: Michelle Stefano
The following is a guest post by West Virginia State Folklorist Emily Hilliard, who directs the West Virginia Folklife Program, based at the West Virginia Humanities Council. AFC staff have been working with Emily, as well as Mike Costello and Amy Dawson of Lost Creek Farm, to co-produce the Homegrown Foodways in West Virginia program, …
Posted in: AFC Events, Appalachia, Film, Foodways, Homegrown Concert Series
Posted by: Stephen Winick
The American Folklife Center is pleased to announce Traditional Folklore in a Digital World, a two-part symposium on August 17 and 24 examining some of the ways folklore is spread, discussed, and transformed in the digital environment. The symposium will bring together leading podcasters and influential figures in social media who are helping define what folklore is in the 21st century. It will consist of two Zoom-based panels, one on podcasts and the other on social media. Each panel brings together four compelling leaders in online folklore, who will present a brief rundown of what they do, and then take questions from the audience. AFC staff, including me, will be there to moderate and direct the questions. The podcast panel features the hosts of Lore, Crimelore, The Folklore Podcast, and Jack Dappa Blues and the African American Folklorist. The Social Media panel features folks from Folklore Thursday, Folk Horror Revival, and the Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic. We hope you'll join us for a fascinating discussion. Both panels are free and open to the public, but registration is required. (Don't worry, the links to register are in this post!)
Posted in: AFC Events, Podcasts
Posted by: Megan Harris
The following is a guest post by Nathan Cross, VHP Archivist and primary author of VHP’s Navajo Code Talkers LibGuide. The Veterans History Project (VHP) is pleased to announce a new resource designed to introduce VHP’s holdings related to the veterans known as Navajo Code Talkers. These veterans, Native Americans who served in the Pacific …
Posted in: Diverse Experiences in Service, Native American History, Oral History, Veterans History Project, World War II