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Posted by: Meg Nicholas
The American Folklife Center takes readers on a virtual tour through the graveyards and cemeteries documented in its archives on the eve of National Visit a Cemetery Day (October 29).
Posted in: Collection Highlight
Posted by: Stephen Winick
The latest post in the Homegrown Plus series features the Skye Consort and Emma Björling, an eclectic group performing British, Irish, Canadian, and Scandinavian music and songs in a variety of traditional and modern styles. Just like other blogs in the series, this one includes a concert video, a video interview with the musicians, and connections to Library of Congress collections.
Posted in: AFC Events, Homegrown Concert Series, Homegrown Plus
Posted by: Stephen Winick
This post in the Homegrown Plus series features the Windborne Trio, a vocal group from New England. Windborne is usually a quartet, but Jeremy Carter Gordon was prevented from performing at this show. Luckily, before Jeremy joined the group, Windborne toured as a trio, so they had the repertoire, arrangements, and experience to put together a stunning show without him. Consequently, for this concert Windborne was Lynn Mahoney Rowan, Will Thomas Rowan, and Lauren Breunig. In their concert they performed a mix of old and new favorites, including American, English, Georgian, Corsican, and Basque songs. Just like other blogs in the Homegrown Plus series, this one includes a concert video, a video interview with the musicians, and connections to Library of Congress collections.
Posted in: AFC Events, Folksong, Homegrown Concert Series, Homegrown Plus
Posted by: Meg Nicholas
AFC Folklife Specialist Meg Nicholas wheels out some gouda pictures and cheesy stories from the American Folklife Center’s collections to celebrate National Cheese Curd Day.
Posted in: Collection Highlight, Foodways, Occupational Folklife Project
Posted by: Michelle Stefano
The American Folklife Center announces the launch of the Chicago 1977: People, Places, and Cultures transcription campaign, as part of the Library of Congress By the People volunteer transcription initiative, and based on the Center's Chicago Ethnic Arts Project Collection from 1977.
Posted in: AFC History, Fieldwork, Folklorists, Volunteer
Posted by: Stephen Winick
"These should rank with the best shanty and sea-song recordings ever made." So said the sea shanty expert William Main Doerflinger in May, 1942, describing the recordings he had recently made of the retired sailor Patrick Tayluer. Circumstances have conspired to keep those recordings under wraps, until this blog series. In this second post, we’ll hear another of his shanties (“Paddy Lay Back” or “Mainsail Haul”) and one of his sea stories. Then, we’ll use available evidence to create a new biography of Patrick Tayluer (1856-1948), a multifaceted sailor, soldier, singer, storyteller, model-builder, long-distance walker, and, of course, shantyman.
Posted in: Folksong, Patrick Tayluer, Sea Shanties
Posted by: Michelle Stefano
Folklife Specialist Nancy Groce announces a new American Folklife Center archival collection, the Warp and Weft of Yap’s Outer Islands: Backstrap Weaving in Micronesia, as supported through the Center's Community Collections Grant program.
Posted in: Acquisitions, AFC Awards, Community Collections Grants, Pacific Islander History
Posted by: Stephen Winick
Rachel Sumner and Traveling Light, a trio from the Boston area playing bluegrass and old time music, are the latest entry in our Homegrown Plus series, in which we include a concert video, an interview video, and a set of links to explore. You'll find it all in this post...along with a bonus song video! Singer, multi-instrumentalist, and Lennon Award-winning songwriter Rachel Sumner is a fixture of the Boston roots and Americana scene. She fronts the trio Traveling Light on vocals, guitar and banjo, with Kat Wallace on fiddle and Mike Siegel on upright bass. Together they specialize in applying their deeply rooted bluegrass know-how to new interpretations of traditional folk songs and tightly crafted original songs written by Sumner. The band has previously participated in our Archive Challenge at Folk Alliance International and contributed a song to our special Labor Day presentation in 2003. In this concert they made a special effort to play some songs that are part of the American Folklife Center archive, making this another entry in the Archive Challenge as well.
Posted in: Bluegrass, Concerts with Archive Challenge Content, Cowboy and Western Music, Folk Music, Homegrown Plus, Old Time Music
Posted by: Meg Nicholas
For International Clown Week, AFC Folklife Specialist (and former clown) Meg Nicholas guides readers through the types of clowns found in the American Folklife Center's archival collections.
Posted in: clowns, Collection Highlight