The American Folklife Center has a tradition of performing a mummers’ play, a traditional form of folk drama, each holiday season. This year we reach back into the vaults to present our very first mummers’ play from 2009. The characters included Mother Christmas, Doctor Brown, Bold Slasher, and Little Saucy Jack. The lines of the script were adapted by Jennifer Cutting and Stephen Winick from scripts in the James Madison Carpenter Collection. Happy Holidays!
This blog post presents a story about a young boy who is visited on St. Nicholas’s day (December 6) by the saint and his monstrous companion Krampus. Essentially a hairy, horned devil, Krampus was said to accompany St. Nicholas to punish naughty children. When the saint and the demon do something unexpected, the boy's assumptions are challenged! Published in Vienna, Austria, in 1897, the story is presented as a memoir by Ernst von Beisinger. It sheds light on how the Krampus tradition was enacted and deployed within families to encourage good behavior in 19th century Austria. This post presents the text of the story with commentary on its connections to other monsters, and to the Krampus tradition today.
Happy birthday to the U.S. Marine Corps! Established on November 10, 1775, the Marine Corps has been “always faithful” ever since. 250 years later, in recognition of this monumental birthday, the Veterans History Project (VHP) presents “Semper Fidelis: the U.S. Marine Corps,” an online presentation featuring 20 narratives from Marines who served across the years and around the globe. Through oral histories and original memoirs, correspondence, diaries and photographs, these veterans share their experiences as part of the few, the proud.
Hear about the tradition of mumming, or traveling your local area performing a brief play during the winter holidays. In this episode of the American Folklife Center’s podcast, Rheagan Martin of the Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled interviews Folklife Specialists Stephen Winick and Jennifer Cutting about the connections of the mumming tradition to the American Folklife Center. Mumming is a folk drama tradition in which groups of performers go house to house singing and performing a play. Jennifer describes the James Madison Carpenter Collection, which contains play scripts, recordings, photos, and drawings related to mumming. Stephen explains how the mumming tradition was brought the Library of Congress. Both talk about the connections of mumming to the solstice and to other wintertime traditions.
The latest Veterans History Project blog highlights a special display celebrating the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps, on view December 9, 2025, through January 31, 2026, in the Thomas Jefferson Building. Drawing from collections across the Library of Congress, including oral histories, letters, photographs, posters and personal artifacts, the exhibit brings to life the stories, service and sacrifices of Marines across generations.
Timed around the Project’s 25th anniversary, the display underscores the ongoing mission to preserve and share veterans’ voices, ensuring these stories remain accessible for future generations.
A vivid watercolor portraying a soldier writing a letter home. A graphite sketch of a comrade looking pensive. A detailed woodcut depicting a street scene in North Africa. Together, these works capture not only the sights of war, but also the humanity within it – through the eyes of Army medic and artist William K. …
This blog highlights a special display celebrating artwork held within Veterans History Project (VHP) collections, on view December 9, 2025, through January 31, 2026, in the Thomas Jefferson Building. Unique amongst VHP’s holdings are two-dimensional works of art, such as drawings, paintings, illustrations and photographs, documenting servicemembers’ experiences from WWI through Iraq and Afghanistan.
Timed around the Project’s 25th anniversary, the display underscores the ongoing mission to preserve and share veterans’ voices, ensuring these stories remain accessible for future generations.
These days, it’s hard to make it through December in the U.S. without encountering Krampus. Hairy, scary, hoofed, and horned, the devilish character is wildly popular from coast to coast. Across the country, hundreds of events feature Krampus, including parades, “runs,” Christmas markets, and even mall photo-ops. Books, magazines, movies, and comics highlight his history and his adventures. But American Krampus is entirely a 21st century phenomenon. As recently as 2000, the Library of Congress had not a single book about Krampus in English. So just who is Krampus, and where does he come from? We’ll take a look at the medieval origins and modern development of Krampus in this blog.
This post announces the launch of “Forged By the Sea,” the Veterans History Project’s latest online exhibit, which celebrates the Navy’s 250th birthday. The post discusses Navy history in broad terms and spotlights some of the featured collections, as well as directing readers to additional Navy-related resources.
