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Category: Jewish American History

Two full-length photos of a bearded man dressed in Ottoman attire.

The Faith of Far Away Moses: Yom Kippur, 1893

Posted by: Stephen Winick

Note: This is part of a series of posts about Far Away Moses, a fascinating celebrity of the 19th century, who served as the model for one of the keystone heads on the Thomas Jefferson Building.  Moses, a Sephardic Jew from Constantinople, knew some of the most prominent Americans of his era, including Theodore Roosevelt …

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

Chicago Ethnic Arts Project Goes Online

Posted by: Stephen Winick

The following guest post by Ann Hoog is part of a series of blog posts about the 40th Anniversary Year of the American Folklife Center. Visit this link to see them all! The American Folklife Center is pleased to announce a new online presentation of the Chicago Ethnic Arts Project Collection.  The photos and audio …

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

World Storytelling Day: Stories of Strong Women

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

March 20 is World Storytelling Day.  Tying storytelling with the equinox in March is thought to have originated in Sweden as Alla berättares dag (all storytellers day) in 1991 or 1992. Other countries joined to celebrate storytelling on the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere and the first day of autumn in the …

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

Searching for Nina Tarasova

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

This week the Library of Congress historic newspaper resource, Chronicling America, will pass a milestone of making ten million digitized pages of American newspapers available free online. These papers were selected by institutions in thirty-eight states and territories, with more expected to be added. When I was working on an article, “Russian American Song,” for …

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

What is it About May?

Posted by: Lisa Taylor

I confess. I always get a little giddy in May. Maybe it’s because the longer, warmer days of May mark the impending arrival of summer, my absolute favorite season. Yes, I am one of the rare lovers of brutally hot, humid DC summers. Or maybe May brings out the giddiness in me because I admire …

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

“A Dudele”: A Little Song for Jewish Heritage Month

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

Jewish vocal music culture in the United States reflects the variety of the many different parts of the diaspora from which the Jewish immigrants originally came, as well as different song traditions among Jewish denominations. This essay will examine some of the Jewish folksongs curated by the Recorded Sound section, the Music Division, and the …