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Category: Archival Practice

Modesta Yangmog of Asor Island, Ulithi Atoll interviewing master lavalava weaver Conchita Leyangrow of Lamotrek Atoll in Talguw on Yap Island

Save the Date: Community-driven Archives Online Discussion Event

Posted by: Michelle Stefano

This post is a save-the-date announcement for the online discussion event, the Community-driven Archives: Local Needs/Global Practices in Safeguarding Living Cultural Heritage, bringing together panelists to discuss examples of community-guided documentation and archival preservation work from international perspectives. The event is hosted by the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, in collaboration with the American Folklore Society and the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore.

Side by side 3/4 length portraits of women wearing PPE for mold remediation.

A Special “Cleaning Job:” Mold Remediation at the American Folklife Center Archive

Posted by: John Fenn

In October 2022, the American Folklife Center began a 4-month project performing mold remediation on paper and photographic materials for several collections. In order to reduce the burden on Conservation Division staff and increase AFC's ability to process collections more efficiently, the Center's archivists and technicians received training on how to treat mold so that those collections can be safely preserved and made available for research. By having AFC-trained staff do this work ourselves, collections can be made ready for researchers much sooner. This blog post presents the reflections of Serena Chiu and Carolina Restrepo on their training and work in mold remediation.

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

The American Folklife Center: 2022 in Review

Posted by: Nicole Saylor

As 2022 draws to a close, we at the American Folklife Center want to take time to reflect on a year devoted to deepening our commitment to community-centered stewardship, adapting to hybrid work and planning for the future. The year was marked by the Library’s return to full onsite operations, leadership transitions, and moves to new public and staff spaces that make way for the transformation of the Jefferson Building. The year brought waves of change and staff rose to the challenge. Read about the year's highlights in this blog post from AFC's new director!

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

More Haitian Voices: The Rigaud collection finding aid goes online

Posted by: Todd Harvey

This guest post was authored by Marcia K. Segal, an archivist at the American Folklife Center who processed and authored the finding aid to the collection she describes below. Melville Herskovits, Alan Lomax, and Laura Boulton – three notable collectors, whose recordings of religious expression in Haiti are among the collections at the American Folklife …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

There is No Eye: The John Cohen collection is ready for research

Posted by: Nicole Saylor

This is a guest post by archivist Maya Lerman, who completed processing on the John Cohen collection. Maya has written for the blog about her work on this collection previously, and another of our staff, Todd Harvey, offered a recollection of Cohen’s rich body of documentation upon his passing last year. Musician, visual artist, writer, …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Vast folk music festival collection now described online

Posted by: Nicole Saylor

This is a guest post by archivist Maya Lerman. We’re pleased to announce that the finding aid for the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) collection is now online. The collection includes broad documentation from the National Folk Festival, the Lowell Folk Festival, and other major cultural events. Its acquisition marks a significant expansion …