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Posted by: Meg Nicholas
This fourth and final entry in the Dog Days of August series puts a spin on the topic and looks at another member of the Canidae family that can be found in the American Folklife Center's collections.
Posted in: Animals, Collection Highlight, Dog Days of August
Posted by: Douglas D. Peach
During the COVID-19 pandemic, dining sheds--outdoor seating areas at dining establishments, theorized as “pandemic folk architecture”--were a mainstay of New York City's restaurants. In this post, Senior Folklife Specialist Nancy Groce reflects on the ephemeral nature of this foodways tradition, as dining sheds are now disappearing from the city's restaurants.
Posted in: COVID-19 American History Project, COVID-19 pandemic, Fieldwork, Foodways, Material Culture, New York
Posted by: Douglas D. Peach
The American Folklife Center recently posted a new collection of interviews with workers at the Tillamook County Creamery Association (TCCA), a farmer-owned dairy cooperative in coastal Oregon, to its Occupational Folklife Project website. This post is an interview with Dr. Jared Schmidt, a public folklorist based in Oregon, who conducted the interviews with TCCA workers. In 2021, Schmidt received an Archie Green Fellowship from the American Folklife Center to undertake this research.
Posted in: Fieldwork, Foodways, Occupational Folklife Project, Oral History, Oregon, Uncategorized, Wisconsin
Posted by: Meg Nicholas
This third installment of a month-long series featuring photographs of dogs from the American Folklife Center highlights the playful (and snoozing) pups whose pictures can be found throughout the Center's archival collections.
Posted in: Animals, Collection Highlight, Dog Days of August
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: Douglas D. Peach
The American Folklife Center is seeking an organization to conduct oral history interviews with Americans about the COVID-19 pandemic, as part of the COVID-19 American History Project. In this post, learn more the opportunity and how to apply.
Posted in: COVID-19 American History Project, COVID-19 pandemic, Fieldwork, Narratives, Oral History, Uncategorized
Posted by: Meg Nicholas
The second entry in a month-long series on the Dog Days of August, highlighting American Folklife Center collections items featuring "man's best friend," this post presents the story of war dog Lucky, who served with the United States Marine Corps in WWII, alongside photographs of other dogs found in collections in the Veterans History Project.
Posted in: Animals, Collection Highlight, Dog Days of August, Veterans History Project
Posted by: Douglas D. Peach
In this post, Nancy Groce (Senior Folklife Specialist, American Folklife Center) highlights a new exhibition organized by Los Herederos -- a 2023 recipient of a Community Collections Grant (CCG) from the American Folklife Center -- that celebrates the cultural diversity of Queens, New York.
Posted in: Community Collections Grants, Cultural Heritage, Exhibits, Folk Art, Oral History, Uncategorized
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