Top of page
Posted by: Nicole Saylor
The following is a guest post from Bertram Lyons, the digital assets manager and a folklife specialist at the American Folklife Center’s archives at the Library of Congress. This post originally appeared on the Association for Cultural Equity site and is reposted with permission. Prior to his arrival at the Library, Lyons was the archivist at the …
Posted in: Alan Lomax, Folk Music
Posted by: Stephen Winick
On behalf of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, I’m sad to pass along the news of the death of Pete Seeger, a longtime friend of the AFC Archive and a giant in the folk music world, one of the most significant American folk musicians ever. Many AFC staff members have personal …
Posted in: AFC Events, Alan Lomax, Folk Music, Folksong, Pete Seeger
Posted by: Stephen Winick
“Soldier’s Joy” is one of our favorite fiddle tunes, and one of the oldest and most widely distributed tunes in the English-speaking world. There are numerous renditions of this piece located throughout Library of Congress collections, many of which are online. Let’s take a brief tour of this American classic. “Soldier’s Joy” appeared in late eighteenth-century sheet …
Posted in: Folk Music, Folksong, Old Time Music
Posted by: Nicole Saylor
This week we’re hosting three digital humanities scholars at the American Folklife Center to discuss potential research projects that would draw upon AFC collections. It got me thinking about digital humanities inquiry in developing and understanding the AFC Archives. Across our history, we have embraced new media, explored data- and metric-driven approaches to studying and computing …
Posted in: AFC Events, Archival Practice, Folk Music, Folksong
Posted by: Stephen Winick
As the Old Year turns to the New Year, thousands of people around the world will sing along to “Auld Lang Syne,” a Scottish song that has come to be firmly associated with New Year’s celebrations. The song has a fascinating history, and we’re lucky at the Library of Congress to have several unique items …
Posted in: AFC Events, Folk Music, Folksong, Holidays
Posted by: Stephen Winick
St. George and the Data Dragon: A Digital Assets Mumming Performed by American Folklife Center Staff with Guests Script drawn from multiple plays in the James Madison Carpenter Collection. Compiled by Stephen Winick, with additional material by Stephen Winick, Jennifer Cutting, Theadocia Austen, Hope O’Keeffe, and the company. Digital assets jargon courtesy of Bertram Lyons. …
Posted in: AFC Events, Folk Drama, Folk Music, Folksong, Holidays, Mumming
Posted by: Stephen Winick
This post gives general background to our mumming tradition. For more posts with play texts, videos, audio, and scholarship on the background, please visit this link. Every year, in the week before Christmas, staff members of the American Folklife Center put our research and performance skills into play, bringing collections to life in a dramatic …
Posted in: AFC Events, Folk Drama, Folk Music, Folksong, Holidays, Mumming
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