AFC Fellowship and Award Recipients 2025

The American Folklife Center (AFC) at the Library of Congress is pleased to announce the 2025 recipients of its competitive annual fellowships and awards programs: the Archie Green Fellowship, the Gerald E. and Corinne L. Parsons Fund Award, and the Blanton Owen Award Fund. This year, these awards went to eight projects throughout the United States, whose proposals were reviewed and selected by internal and external panels at the American Folklife Center and the Library of Congress.

Archie Green Fellowships

The Archie Green Fellowships (AGF) were established in 2010 to honor the memory of Archie Green (1917-2009), a pioneering folklorist and labor historian, who championed the establishment of the AFC. The Fellowships are intended to support original, independent field research on the culture and traditions of contemporary American workers and occupational groups. The digital Occupational Folklife Project (OFP) oral history collection is based on AGF fieldwork and preserved in the AFC archive. Interviews from this collection are posted to the LC’s website and used as the basis of AFC’s ongoing America Works podcast and other AFC programming. To date, the Archie Green Fellows have added more than 2,000 substantive oral history interviews to the AFC archive, of which more than 1,200 are now available through the OFP portal.

This year, the Archie Green Fellowship panel received and reviewed a large, diverse and exciting set of applications. After discussion, it awarded funding to these four applicants:

Folklorist Joel Chapman of Baltimore, Maryland, received an Archie Green Fellowship for “Cycling Lore: The Occupational Folklore of Bicycle Workers in America.” He will conduct 40 or more interviews with craftspeople who hand-build custom cycle frames and wheels as well as workers in other cycle-related trades, such as bicycle mechanics, bike shop owners, bicycle couriers and food delivery riders, component makers, brand designers, tour and adventure guides, vloggers, and social media influencers. Interviews will take place throughout the United States.

Folklorist Georgia Ellie Dassler of Richmond, Virginia, was awarded an Archie Green Fellowship for her project “Vets on the Trail: The Occupational Culture of American Sled Dog Veterinarians.” She will research and document veterinarians, focusing on those who serve the American mushing industry and work with dogs involved in sled-dog racing. She will conduct 12 interviews with “trail vets” throughout the United States to document their careers and occupational lives, their work with sled dogs, and explore the complexities of working with animals and their owners on and off the trail. She will also attend and arrange for interviews during Alaska’s renowned Iditarod race.

Folklorist Amy Grossmann from the North Carolina Folklife Institute received funding to document the occupational experiences of “Professional Firefighters in Greensboro, North Carolina.” She will interview 30 members of the Greensboro Fire Department (GFD) to document their occupation and their shared experiences, and to record the knowledge and history that shapes their professional and personal identities. She notes that “Understanding the traditions, routines, and cultural practices of the GFD will illuminate the unique identity of this professional firefighting force and the vital role it plays in its community. It also will inform public understanding of firefighters working in other communities.” The project coincides with the 100th anniversary of Greensboro’s professional fire department and it is being enthusiastically supported by the GFD’s management and union.

Ethnomusicologist Austin Richey of Hamtramck, Michigan, received an Archie Green Fellowship for his project “Backstage Detroit: Labor and Artistry at the Detroit Opera.” He will conduct 24 in-depth oral history interviews and create visual documentation exploring the intricate relationship between labor and artistry in one of America’s premier performing arts institutions. The project will highlight the collaborative efforts required to create large-scale opera performances through interviews with vocalists, stagehands, costume designers, lighting and sound technicians, wig and makeup specialists, chorus and orchestra members, and other behind-the-scenes workers who bring opera productions to life. Richey’s research is being actively supported by Opera management and unions, and his interviews will contribute a nuanced understanding of contemporary cultural labor and its role in shaping Detroit’s artistic landscape.

The Gerald E. And Corinne L. Parsons Fund Award

The Gerald E. and Corinne L. Parsons fund was established by AFC reference librarian Gerry Parsons (1940-1995) in honor of his parents Gerald and Corinne Parsons. It enables individuals to come to the Library of Congress to pursue research at the American Folklife Center and other LC divisions with ethnographic holdings. This year, the Parsons Award funding was divided between two innovative projects:

Folklorist Lora Bottinelli of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, received a Parsons Fund Award to conduct onsite research with Library collections related to waterfowling lifeways and folklife. She plans to focus on the “Honkers and Quackers” collection created by Gerald E. Parsons, as well as other AFC collections containing waterfowling materials. Her findings will be used to amplify the voices of Chesapeake waterfowling artists, practitioners, and conservationists through a series of online and video vignettes and to explore the possibility of a traveling exhibition.

Folklorist Olivia Phillips of Bloomington, Indiana, received a Parsons Fund Award to research the influences of African American musicians and musical styles on the influential North Carolina musician Frank Proffitt. She will spend time at the Library researching two important AFC collections: the Anne and Frank Warner collection and the Folk-Legacy Records Project.

The Blanton Owen Fund Award

The bi-annual Blanton Owen Fund Award was established in 1999 in memory of folklorist Blanton Owen (1945-1998) by his family and friends to support ethnographic field research and documentation in the United States, especially by younger scholars and documentarians. This year, the committee voted to support two projects:

Folklorist Allison Cate of Nashville, Tennessee, received funding to complete four in-depth oral history interviews with founders and key organizers of the East Nashville Tomato Art Festival. Now in its 20th year, the popular local event, which grew out of a 2004 tomato-themed art show, attracted nearly 70,000 people to the Five Points neighborhood in 2024. Cate plans to donate her documentation and rights for its use to Nashville Public Library’s Special Collections.

Ethnomusicologist Justin Hunter of Fayetteville, Arkansas, received funding for “She Heard Arkansas: An Ethnographic Biography of Mary Parler.” His project explores the life and contributions of Arkansas folklorist Mary Parler (1904-1981). Best remembered as the wife of Arkansas folklorist Vance Randolph, Parler was an important scholar, educator and fieldworker in her own right. Her formidable collection of thousands of songs, stories, proverbs, riddles, etc. is now housed at the University of Arkansas Special Collections. In addition to archival research, Hunter will interview descendants of some of the Arkansas artists and tradition-bearers recorded by Parler to assess the status of traditions and traditional arts within their communities. The study will produce academic papers, public presentations, a book, and a website.

Artists in Resonance Fellowship

Now in its second year, the Artists in Resonance Fellowship supports artists in creating new musical works inspired by and sourced from collection materials in the American Folklife Center Archives. Created with the generous assistance of the late folk musician and broadcast engineer Mike Rivers (1943-2021), AIR Fellows are selected through a competitive application process. The 2025 AIR fellow is Amanda Pascali, an internationally acclaimed, bilingual singer/songwriter who blends folk/Americana influences with Mediterranean, Balkan, and Latin rhythms. She is a Fulbright Fellow who pioneered the first comprehensive project to translate and revitalize folk songs written in Sicilian— a UNESCO endangered language. We will have more about Pascali in a future post.

About the Center and the Library

The American Folklife Center was created by Congress in 1976 and placed at the Library of Congress to “preserve and present American Folklife” through programs of research, documentation, archival preservation, reference service, live performance, exhibition, public programs and training. The center includes the American Folklife Center Archive of folk culture, which was established in 1928 and is now one of the largest collections of ethnographic material from the United States and around the world. For more information, visit the AFC homepage at loc.gov/folklife. For more information about AFC funding opportunities, visit American Folklife Center: Research Awards, Fellowships and Funded Internships.

The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution, is the world’s preeminent reservoir of knowledge, providing unparalleled collections and integrated resources to Congress and the American people. Many of the Library’s rich resources and treasures may also be accessed through the Library’s website at loc.gov.