The American Folklife Center is pleased to announce the selection of three summer interns who will work on public programs, outreach activities and descriptive access work. One intern comes to us from the Utah State University folklore studies program, and two are supported by the AFC Internship Fund.
Hanna Salmon is a PhD candidate in Ethnomusicology at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research examines how Palestinian storytellers foster affective atmospheres through their performances. By studying the musical and vocal practices that storytellers employ in their tellings, she analyzes how those affective atmospheres come into being as well as their implications for communal belonging and political action. As part of her research, Hanna has had the privilege of studying storytelling in the Seraj Libraries Art of Storytelling Academy. She has performed internationally in storytelling festivals as both a storyteller and oud accompanist in Palestine, the UAE, Canada, and the US. She is always looking for new stories to tell. Locally in Austin, Hanna currently performs as an oudist and vocalist in the Viva Palestina Orchestra and UT Austin’s Bereket Middle East Ensemble. She is thrilled to participate in the AFC’s internship, and she is excited to engage with the Library’s Arabic-language, Arabic music, and storytelling materials. She especially looks forward to learning more about designing public resources and programming around folkloric practices.
Maggie Jones has just graduated magna cum laude from First Nations University of Canada’s Indigenous Languages Program with a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics. They have an interest in Algonquian languages, Indigenous oral history, language revitalization, and journalism. Through their program, they have worked on language revitalization projects for the Michif, Tsuut’ina, Sauk, and Cree languages. Maggie is a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and seeks to help preserve the history of the Baltimore Lumbee community. In their free time, they like to play with their pet Toulouse geese, hike, and write short stories. From this internship, they hope to gain experience and skills to help Indigenous communities preserve and access their intangible cultural heritage within large institutions like the LOC.
Melanie Kimball is earning an MA in folklore studies at Utah State University. Her research interests include supernatural legends, folk beliefs, vernacular religion, and ethnomusicology. Her thesis investigates how people use music as an apotropaic and folk remedy for fear. Melanie enjoys reading, drawing, and participating in a nearby Balinese gamelan. Because she’s passionate about making folklore studies more accessible, she’s excited to intern at the Library this summer and learn how to work with communities to collect and present folklore in a way that benefits and educates everyone involved.
Internship program hits a dozen
Since 2017, the AFC Internship Fund has supported 12 paid internships. It was started by a generous donation from the late Peter Bartis, a former staff member. As the American Folklife Center approaches its 50th anniversary in 2026, we are committed to building this fund to help train a new generation of cultural workers.
Interns at the American Folklife Center are not idle observers – they are immediately assigned mission-critical projects. They benefit from working side-by-side with senior folklorists, ethnomusicologists, and archivists. They expand their professional networks by participating in public programs and academic symposia. Following their internships, many have gone on to graduate studies in folklore, ethnomusicology, and related disciplines. Others have joined cultural heritage organizations. Some have taken the skills learned during their internships into new, dynamic directions. Yet, all agree that their time at the American Folklife Center was crucial to their professional development.
Past interns have made invaluable contributions to the work of the American Folklife Center. To understand the impact of your financial support, consider some of the accomplishments of our ten interns during their time at the AFC.
Trelani Duncan and Mackenzie Kwok (2018)
Duncan and Kwok were instrumental in launching the Folklife Today podcast and the AFC’s Story Map publication. The interns contributed to podcast scripts and appeared on an episode of Folklife Today to discuss their internship experiences. Kwok conducted research on AFC collections, which she used to draft a Story Map on fieldwork surveys undertaken by the AFC from 1977 to 1998.
Tali Gelenian and Edward Wang (2019)
Gelenian’s audio production and research skills were instrumental to the development of AFC’s second podcast, America Works. In collaboration with AFC staff, Wang researched, created, and published a Story Map highlighting collections from the Chicago Ethnic Arts Project—a fieldwork survey undertaken by the American Folklife Center in 1977.
Camille Acosta and Kennedi Johnson (2021)
Acosta worked on a Story Map related to collections from the Southwest United States. Johnson helped create a Story Map on Hispanic cultural performances and contributed to a podcast on the 2011 Homegrown concert series.
Elisa Alfonso and Bryan Jenkins (2022)
Alfonso and Jenkins worked collaboratively on a Story Map featuring 1930s collections from the California Folk Music project. The two also supported AFC’s podcast production, even appearing in an episode of Folklife Today to discuss their internship experiences.
Deena R. Owens and Joe Z. Johnson (2023)
Johnson assisted with the curation of a full season of the America Works podcast. He was instrumental in eight episodes focused on African American workers. Johnson also created a research guide on African American banjo players and an accompanying blog post on Folklife Today. Owens facilitated research visits to the AFC Reading Room, created a research guide on shape-note singing traditions, and authored a blog to highlight her research. Johnson and Owens also appeared on an episode of Folklife Today to discuss their internship experiences.
We invite you to support future interns at the American Folklife Center. Your investment will not only assist the Center to build the next generation of cultural heritage professionals but will support our mission to preserve and present folklife. Here is how to donate: Visit this website and follow the instructions to contribute to “The American Folklife Center Internship Fund.”