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.
On March 11, 2025, the American Folklife Center held a panel discussion with four cultural documentarians of the COVID-19 pandemic, as part of the COVID-19 American History Project. In this post, we feature the webcast of the panel discussion, alongside photos from the event.
On June 5, 2024, the American Folklife Center welcomed Istiwanāt Live!--an Arabic musical ensemble, or takht, formed by four ethnomusicologists with expertise in Middle Eastern music--to perform as part of the Homegrown Concert Series. Many of the group's songs were reinterpreted from archival collections at the American Folklife Center. In this post, find a video of group's performance and oral history interview, along with notes on their performance from ethnomusicologist (and current AFC intern) Hanna Salmon.
Recently, the American Folklife Center received a generous donation from the estate of Peter Bartis, a former AFC staff member, to support our internship program. In this post, we express our appreciation to the Bartis family and detail the excellent work of our former interns, who were supported by previous financial contributions.
The American Folklife Center (AFC) is proud to announce a new research guide, which highlights AFC collections related to the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. The National Heritage Fellowship is the highest honor for the traditional arts in the United States. Since 1982, the award has recognized lifetime achievement among traditional artists and advocates for the traditional arts. On Friday, September 29, 2023, the American Folklife Center will be hosting a public ceremony to honor the 2023 recipients of the National Heritage Fellowship. Awardees of the 2020, 2021, and 2022 National Heritage Fellowship will also be celebrated, as the COVID-19 pandemic inhibited their in-person recognition. Find about about the new guide and the ceremony in this blog post!
A handful of recently published online finding aids describing American Folklife Center collections provide detailed windows into collections documenting a range of traditions, from New Mexican Midwinter Masquerades to traditional music from the Sudan region. The following round-up draws heavily on descriptions created by the archivists who processed these amazing collections. Roxane Connick Carlisle Collection, …
Note: This is a guest post by John Fenn. John is the new head of the Research and Programs section of the American Folklife Center. My first weeks here at the American Folklife Center have been a whirlwind of meetings, trainings, and orientations to all aspects of the Library of Congress. As I’ve wandered through …
This is a guest post by Maya Lerman, processing archivist at the American Folklife Center. We’re pleased to announce the launch of the finding aid for the Vida Chenoweth collection, circa 1940-2000. (Find it at the link above. The permanent handle for this resource is [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/eadafc.af016007]) During my first year as an archivist at the American …
