The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress today launched its seventh season of “America Works,” an original podcast series that honors the creativity, resilience, and dedication of the 168-million-strong American workforce. The new season focuses on workers whose jobs involve animals – from sustainable farmers to a fishing shop owner to a taxidermist as well as a port sampler who measures fish and a trash hauler who uses draft horses. The eight-episode series, part of the American Folklife Center’s ongoing Occupational Folklife Project, introduces audiences to a wide range of voices from the contemporary American workforce. Each episode, excerpted from a longer full-length oral history interview, runs approximately five minutes. The first episode is available now on Apple Podcasts and at loc.gov/podcasts. Subsequent episodes will be released each Thursday through June 5th. This blog post provides an overview of the season and a preview of upcoming episodes.
In the concluding half of a two-part blog series, AFC Folklife Specialist Meg Nicholas unpacks some of the contradictions between a true-crime oral history and the historical record, and reveals the eventual outcome of the trial.
This post recounts three stories of formal dresses that were made out of World War II silk parachutes. In two cases, they were wedding dresses, meaning that silk once intended for war had been transformed into a symbol of new beginnings. These stories are striking reminders that history isn’t just found in archives or interviews—it’s stitched into uniforms, tucked into footlockers and woven into parachute silk transformed into wedding gowns. These everyday artifacts speak volumes, capturing emotion, memory and meaning in ways words sometimes cannot. The stories come from the collections of the Veterans History Project.
In this entry of Folklife Today, a casual listen to a lesser-known AFC collection quickly morphs into a twisty exploration of a centuries-old murder case, its ties to a regional folk drink, and some of the challenges encountered when working with oral histories. This entry is the first in a two-part series.
The American Folklife Center proudly announces the availability of an online collection of documentary field research created through the Community Collections Grants (CCG) program. Unearthing the Lost Songs of Kohala is an initiative of the research team of Mark Boots Keahi aʻamau pio ʻole i ka poli o Pele Lupenui (project director, interviewer, and musician), Adam Palya (videographer), and Cheryl Lupenui (project manager). Their year-long efforts have resulted in this unique collection of video recordings, song sheets, and photographs that document generations-old “heirloom songs” of the Kohala region in the northwest portion of the island of Hawai’i.
Join us as we continue to explore Jack tales! Jack tales are adventure stories in which Jack is faced with various forms of adversity, and uses his wits and luck to win the day. Some of these stories feature magical elements such as silver swords and flying ships, but in others Jack uses only his brains, his hands, and his meager possessions. From the earliest Jack tale, a slightly bawdy medieval story, to the famous "Jack and the Beanstalk," and beyond to other tales, we'll look at old world and new world elements of the stories. Audio of three stories is embedded, with links to many more audio and text versions of traditional Jack tales.
The state of Minnesota is home to many traditions, communities, and forms of expressive culture. In this post, we highlight collection materials from the American Folklife Center pertaining to the folklife and cultural heritage of the North Star State.
An overview of "Jack tales" in the collections of the American Folklife Center. The phrase refers to a loose cycle of adventure stories featuring a young hero, most often named Jack, who makes his way in the world with cleverness and wit. This post introduces the genre and presents five tales told by four tellers: Samuel Harmon, Maud Long, Nora Hicks, and Ray Hicks, who all come from the same extended family.
