Texts and audio of the traditional English folktale "Mr. Fox" from John Brickdale Blakeway, Joseph Jacobs, James Orchard Halliwell, Sidney Oldall Addy, and Ruth Tongue. Links to similar tales including the Brothers Grimm's "The Robber Bridegroom" and Charles Perrault's "Bluebeard."
Episode Thirteen of the Folklife Today Podcast (or Season two, Episode 1) is ready for listening! Find it at this page on the Library’s website, or on iTunes, or with your usual podcatcher. Get your podcast here! This is a special episode for us, for a few reasons. Of course, thirteen is a number with folklore …
It’s almost Halloween, and therefore time for spooky stories here at Folklife Today! Witches are, of course, a big part of American Halloween, and the witch is one of the most popular characters featured in costumes and decorations. These range from the standard image of a woman with a pointy hat and a broom, to …
Happy Blogiversary! As our longtime readers may recall, the first post on Folklife Today was posted five years ago today for Halloween 2013. That means we’ve been around for five whole years! All of us at Folklife Today would like to thank all the readers out there who have read our posts over the years. We’d also …
The Folklife Today Halloween Podcast is Live As we hope you’ve come to expect, we have something very special in store this Halloween. As I mentioned in our last post, we’re launching the Folklife Today Podcast on October 29, and hey…that’s today! The first episode is called “Haunting Tunes for Halloween.” It’s hosted by John …
Halloween Is Approaching Fast! As you know, we love to feature special content for Halloween, including scary songs, spooky stories, and fabulous photos. This year, we’re continuing our lead-up to the holiday with the classic folktale “Mr. Fox,” told by Connie Regan-Blake. Hear it in the player at the bottom of this post. But first, …
As we always do when Halloween rolls around, Folklife Today is gearing up for scary fun! We have a couple of spooky stories in store for you, as well as a surprise in late October. Our first scary tale is Jackie Torrence’s classic version of “The Golden Arm.” “The Golden Arm” is an old folktale …
Halloween is here! This year the Library of Congress has decided to make it extra-special, with a pop-up exhibition of our best spooky treasures. The event is called LOC Halloween: Chambers of Mystery, and we hope you’ll visit us for the scary fun–you have just one more day! Also, the Library has just released a new …
If you follow our blog, you may know that the American Folklife Center has joined other Library of Congress divisions in creating LOC Halloween: Chambers of Mystery, an exhibition of our scariest collection items. Today we had the congressional and press preview of the exhibit, and Library staff member Joon Yi shot a few photos of …