The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress is pleased to announce the recipients of its fellowships and awards for 2015. This year, AFC awarded support to eight researchers or teams in six states and the District of Columbia. To find out how to apply for next year’s awards, please visit our research awards …
The American Folklife Center is pleased to announce the arrival of our new traveling exhibit, Treasures from the American Folklife Center Archive. The exhibit is a series of lightweight, colorful vinyl banners containing information about the American Folklife Center, the Library of Congress, and (as the title suggests) some of the treasures found in our …
At the American Folklife Center, researchers come from around the world to study our unparalleled documentation of traditional culture. But sometimes, they don’t even have to come here. Occasionally, new discoveries by our staff are so exciting or so curious that we feel prominent researchers need to know. For this reason, our reference librarians keep …
The following is a guest post by folklorist and blues scholar Barry Lee Pearson. It introduces the Sherman Holmes Project, which will play in the Library’s Homegrown Concert Series on Wednesday, April 15. More concert information is at this link! During the 1940s, job opportunities in Northern industrial centers attracted rural African Americans from throughout …
As I have mentioned several times on this blog, the 100th birthday of Alan Lomax is fast approaching. We’ll be celebrating the birthday itself with an exhibit, and then extending our celebrations throughout the year. However, today I thought it might be fun to show you that we’ve already gotten a jump on our celebrations …
Back in our 100th blog post, I mentioned some of our upcoming ideas for celebrating the 100th birthday of Alan Lomax (1915-2002). The birthday will take place on January 31, but our plans last all year! These plans are developing and firming up, so I’ll take this opportunity to fill you in. First, though, I’ll …
This is a guest blog post by folklife specialist Catherine Hiebert Kerst. The photos are by Stephen Winick for AFC. For anyone who missed the September, 2013 Cultural Heritage Archives: Networks, Innovation, & Collaboration Symposium hosted by the American Folklife Center, or anyone who wants to revisit it, the full webcast is online at the …
This guest blog post is by Alexandra Jaffe, who spoke on this topic at noon on December 2, 2014 in the Montpelier Room, 6th floor, James Madison Building, Library of Congress as part of the American Folklife Center’s Benjamin Botkin Lecture Series. Jaffe is a professor of Anthropology at California State University, Long Beach with …
October was American Archives Month, and last Thursday was Ask an Archivist Day. In honor of that event (although a little late), we decided to compile a list of Frequently Asked Questions that we often get– not necessarily reference questions, but those from our own friends and family or when we introduce ourselves as employees …