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Posted by: Stephanie Hall
For Valentine’s Day, let’s examine love songs in the light of historical changes of the early twentieth century, through the new presentation The Library of Congress Celebrates the Songs of America. As the nineteenth century gave way to the twentieth, love underwent many changes: young people wanted relationships without much involvement from parents and elders, …
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
What could the songs sung, composed, and/or danced by Americans from the colonial period to the present teach us about the history of the United States? How could U.S. history help us to better understand American songs? These are questions explored in the new online presentation The Library of Congress Celebrates the Songs of America. …
Posted in: Folk Music, Folksong
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
There are many examples of songs of the winter season available among the online presentations from the American Folklife Center’s archive, but the largest group of these is found in California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties, a documentary project of the California Work Projects Administration headed by Sidney Robertson Cowell from 1938 …
Posted in: Folksong, Holidays, Sidney Robertson Cowell
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
The first time I saw Boll Weevil, He was sitting on a cotton square. The next time I saw Boll Weevil, He had his whole family there. This song about the boll weevil is one of many popularized by Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter, Woody Guthrie, and other artists. A version of this most widely known …
Posted in: Animals, Folk Music, Folksong, John Lomax, John Wesley Work III, Ruby Terrill Lomax
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
As November is Native American Heritage Month, it seems a good opportunity to talk about some of the services the American Folklife Center provides for American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians, and for those who wish to learn more about them. The archival collections of the Library of Congress include the largest body of …
Posted in: Alice Cunningham Fletcher, Folk Music, Folksong, Frances Densmore, Francis La Flesche, Languages and Dialects, Native American History
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
This time of year in the northern hemisphere, agricultural communities celebrate the last harvest of the growing season. A great deal of work goes into the raising of food for our tables. Before electric refrigerators and local grocery stores, people also needed to work throughout the growing season to preserve food. The completion of that …
Posted in: Foodways, Mary Hufford, Women's History