This blog post about the Arkansas writer Charles J. Finger is part of a series called “Hidden Folklorists,” which examines the folklore work of surprising people, including people better known for other pursuits. A series of sepia-toned photographs held by the University of Arkansas Library’s Special Collections division shows an amiable-looking young man with luxuriant …
In Part VI, we examined UNESCO’s 1972 World Heritage Convention and some of its underlying notions and approaches that have influenced the development of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) framework of today. In particular, I singled out its use of listing – namely, the World Heritage List – as a mechanism for preservation by drawing …
The American Folklife Center (AFC) at the Library of Congress is pleased to announce the 2019 recipients of its three competitive annual fellowships and awards programs: the Archie Green Fellowships; the Gerald E. and Corinne L. Parsons Fund Award; and the Blanton Owen Award. This year, these three awards went to eleven projects throughout the …
As you may have figured out, our previous post about having discovered the origin of all folklore everywhere was an April Fools’ Day practical joke. If you followed the link to the podcast, you actually heard about the roots of the April Fools’ Day tradition. This post is to set the record straight! Episode six …
Episode six of the Folklife Today Podcast 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! In this exciting episode, folklorists at the American Folklife Center announce that we have discovered the origin of all folklore everywhere! The artist …
If you happen to have seen the recent documentary Creative Feds, about federal workers who have musical careers which complement their federal jobs, you might have noticed a familiar face or two. One of the main characters in the film is AFC’s own folklife specialist Jennifer Cutting, who works here as a Research and Programs …
Episode four of the Folklife Today Podcast is ready for listening! Find it at this page on the Library’s website, or on iTunes, or with your usual podcatcher. Or, hear it in the player below! Our latest podcast episode, “Kumbaya: Stories of an African American Spiritual,” presents some of the background to this classic old song, …
A few weeks ago we announced in Folklife Today that our fieldwork guide, Folklife and Fieldwork, was available in a new Spanish-language edition. At that time, I mentioned that the next step would be to place a pdf online, and we’re glad to say it’s available! You can download both English and Spanish versions here. Once …
The American Folklife Center is delighted to announce that an important oral history collection documenting the lives and working careers of Ironworkers in the Upper Midwest is the latest addition to the Occupational Folklife Project collections online at the Library of Congress’s website. In 2011, Professor James P. Leary, from the Center for the Study …
