This post was written by Nancy Groce, Senior Folklife Specialist at the American Folklife Center.
The American Folklife Center is excited to announce the launch of its new easy-to-use Botkin Lecture Resource Guide, which gives users direct access to hundreds of hours of world-class lectures on folklore, folk music and traditional culture by prominent scholars, artists, authors and performers.
Since 2003, the American Folklife Center (AFC) has sponsored the Benjamin A. Botkin Lecture Series. The series is named in honor of Botkin (1901-75), a prominent folklorist who headed the American Folklife Center’s archive in the 1940s, and curated by AFC staff. The Botkin Lecture Series annually features 8-10 prominent scholars, researchers, authors, and experts from across the United States and around the world speaking on a wide variety of folklife related topics.
Over the years, hundreds of prominent folklorists, ethnomusicologists, traditional artists, and scholars have accepted AFC’s invitation to present Botkin Lectures. More than 130 of their presentations have been videotaped for the AFC collections. However, they can be difficult to find, especially by topic or area of interest. The new Botkin Lecture Guide, which is organized and cross-referenced by more than a dozen topics including Music & Dance, Verbal Arts, Food & Agriculture, Visual Arts & Adornment, and Fieldwork & Documentation, makes finding, accessing and enjoying these talks easy. Featuring such important figures in the world of folklore as Stetson Kennedy, Billy Bragg, Nora Guthrie, Anthony Seeger, Don Yoder and Martha Cooper, the Guide is an excellent introduction to the world of contemporary folklore scholarship.
Botkin Lectures are usually 45-55 minutes in length and recorded at the Library before an audience of 50-70 people. Speakers are asked to prepare engaging public presentations designed for non-specialist audiences. Botkin Lectures are therefore suitable for high school, college, and adult education courses. Many Botkin lectures are closed captioned to meet ADA specifications. (In some cases, we also record an interview with the lecturer and post both together here at Folklife Today in the blog series “Botkin Folklife Lectures Plus,” which is also accessible from the Guide.
Botkin lectures may be accessed online or downloaded without charge for personal use or for educational programming. (Crediting the American Folklife Center and the Library of Congress is always appreciated, however!)
We hope you’ll enjoy exploring the full range of lectures available through the new Botkin Lectures Resource Guide — once again, at this link!