In recognition of African American History Month, this interview with research scholar LRenee, details her research into collections in the American Folklife Center Archive in January 2026. A poet, performer, and author, she received a Gerald E. and Corinne L. Parsons Fund Award (2024) to support her research on Black communities in coal mining and tobacco farming towns of Southwest Virginia and West Virginia. The main focus of LRenee’s research was the George Korson Collection of Songs of Bituminous Coal Miners and the Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project Collection, with specific attention to the songs of African American coal miners who were recorded by Korson in her West Virginia community, nearly a hundred years ago. The interview focuses on her research and her aims to incorporate her archival findings into new work including an interdisciplinary manuscript of poems and prose and storytelling performances for public audiences.
As the Veterans History Project celebrates 25 years, Col. Bob Patrick, U.S. Army (Ret.), reflects on a decade of growth, outreach and unexpected treasures. From working with Ken Burns to preserving veterans’ stories and personal artifacts, he shares how VHP became a national archive capturing the voices, memories and experiences of America’s veterans. More than history on a page, these stories capture the experiences of those who lived it.
In February of 1983 two fieldworkers from the American Folklife Center's Pinelands Folklife Project headed to Port Norris, New Jersey in order to meet up with former menhaden fishermen and do some recording of shanties the group knew. The fieldworkers were Mary Hufford and Rita Zorn Moonsammy, and as Mary notes in her tape logs the visit and recordings were made "partly on behalf of the Smithsonian Institution's Office of Folklife Programs in an effort to audition the shanty singing of four men" for possible inclusion in the 1983 Festival of American Folklife. This post presents audio and photos from the interview, including medleys of sea shanties.
Depending on its form, chocolate has served many roles for members of the military: a comforting treat or drink, a token of friendship, a form of currency and, in some cases, the difference between life and death. This post explores veterans’ memories of eating and drinking chocolate during wartime, as documented in Veterans History Project collections.
Celebrate the end of the annual Great Backyard Bird Count (and perhaps learn a thing or two about said backyard birds) through selections from the American Folklife Center's archive.
In this post we look at the life and legacy of Joe Hickerson, longtime employee and head of the Archive of Folk Culture, who passed away on August 17, 2025. Joe was well known as a folklorist, archivist, ethnomusicologist, and folksinger. He was an important public face for folklore and folk music, and his passing will be seen as the end of an era among folk music enthusiasts, as well as for those of us at the American Folklife Center.
The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress today launches its eighth 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 features interview excerpts from the Occupational Folklore Project with 8 workers whose jobs involve health and healing – from an emergency room pediatrician to a hospital nutritionist, a large animal veterinarian to an anesthesiologist. Find links to the podcast, and to the full interviews with the participants, in this blog post.
This COVID Recollections entry details an upcoming American Folklife Center symposium and concert, both focused on COVID-19 and cultural heritage, which will take place at the Library of Congress on March 12 and 13, 2026. These events are free and open to the public, but the concert requires pre-registration. The American Folklife Center is organizing these events as part of the COVID-19 American History Project.
