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More Summer Songs on the Folklife Today Podcast

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This post gives background to our latest episode of the Folklife Today podcast. This episode continues our look at songs about summer, from the amorous adventures of young lovers to the backbreaking work done by convicts in the sun. Hosts John Fenn and Stephen Winick, along with guest Jennifer Cutting, present their favorite summer songs. Songs include the English “Sweet Primroses;” the Trinidadian “One Fine Summer’s Morning” and “June Come, You No Marry;” the Tuvan “In Summer Pastures;” the African American work song “Worked All Summer Long;” and the Basque “When the Sun Shines Everywhere, How Good the Shade is!”

Touching from a Distance: Lessons Learned in a Virtual Interview Environment

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The following is a guest blog post by liaison specialist Owen Rogers and is meant to supplement the Veterans History Project’s (VHP) Conducting Virtual Oral History Interviews in Light of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Check back next week to learn more about interviewing veterans in person during the COVID-19 pandemic. When I first began recording veterans’ […]

Navigating AFC Collections Geographically: U.S. Territories

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Staff at the American Folklife Center continue to use new digital tools to support remote discovery and access for our resources by users of all kinds. Whether you are a community scholar, a teacher, an academic researcher, a creative artist, or a curious consumer of local culture we hope that our geographically-oriented research guides offer […]

Homegrown Foodways in West Virginia Film Series: “Ravioli and Sauce” and “Turkish Cuisine and Seed Keeping” Premiere September 15

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The following is a guest post by West Virginia State Folklorist Emily Hilliard, who directs the West Virginia Folklife Program at the West Virginia Humanities Council. AFC staff have been working with Emily, as well as Mike Costello and Amy Dawson of Lost Creek Farm, to co-produce the Homegrown Foodways in West Virginia program, a […]

VHP’s Newest Online Exhibit: Twenty Years of Service: Post 9/11 Veterans

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Today the Veterans History Project (VHP) launches a new online exhibit, part of our Experiencing War web feature series. Titled “Twenty Years of Service: Post 9/11 Veterans,” the exhibit explores the stories of 12 veterans who served during and after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Selected from VHP’s holdings of over 5,000 recent […]

Navigating AFC Collections Geographically: Pacific Region States

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Staff at the American Folklife Center continue to use new digital tools to support remote discovery and access for our resources by users of all kinds. Whether you are a community scholar, a teacher, an academic researcher, a creative artist, or a curious consumer of local culture we hope that our geographically-oriented research guides offer […]

Homegrown Foodways in West Virginia Film Series: “Korean Heritage and Kimchi” Premieres September 1

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The following is a guest post by West Virginia State Folklorist Emily Hilliard, who directs the West Virginia Folklife Program, based at the West Virginia Humanities Council. AFC staff have been working with Emily, as well as filmmakers Mike Costello and Amy Dawson of Lost Creek Farm, to co-produce the AFC’s Homegrown Foodways in West […]

Outgoing Archive Director Leaves Big Shoes to Fill

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From late December 2012 through early June 2021, Nicole Saylor led a team of archivists, ethnomusicologists and folklorists that curates the nation’s largest ethnographic archives. She worked to preserve the American Folklife Center’s collecting legacy while accelerating the transformation of an already well-established archives for the digital age. She recently took a position at the Library as the Chief of the Digital Innovation Lab, a position established to lead the Library’s innovation with digital collections and to support its digital transformation. As she began her new position, we interviewed her about her time at AFC.

Let Us Strive

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This guest post comes to us from Veterans History Project staff member, Rachel Mears (Head, Collections Preservation, Access, and Analysis). With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up […]

Summer Festivals and Celebrations

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Summer solstice was traditionally a time of revelry as the end of planting and the beginning of summer were celebrated. As the summer crops ripen, the fruit of the labor of planting is celebrated in various ways, especially the harvest of staple crops. The grain and hay harvests in late July and early August is […]