Folklife Today

Rheagan Martin of the Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled interviews Folklife Specialists Stephen Winick and Jennifer Cutting about the connections of the mumming tradition to the American Folklife Center. Mumming is a folk drama tradition in which groups of performers go house to house singing and performing a play. Jennifer describes the James Madison Ca...

In the fourth episode of the Folklife Today subseries focusing on Community Collections Grantees, AFC Events Coordinator Thea Austen and Folklife Specialist Meg Nicholas chat with Queen Nur and AJ Rivers, about Queen’s CCG project “Community on the Line: The Culture of Urban Soul Line Dancing in the Philadelphia, New Jersey and Delaware Tri-State Area,” and the public program the team held at the...

This episode of Folklife Today explores an important collection of Gullah Geechee sound recordings in the archives of the American Folklife Center. The collection features over four hours of Gullah Geechee people singing sacred music, preaching to congregations, and giving testimonies in 1955 and 1956. Courtney Siceloff, then-director of Penn Community Services, recorded this collection at communi...

In the third episode of the Folklife Today subseries focusing on Community Collections Grantees, AFC Folklife Specialist Meg Nicholas interviews Laura Grant, the project leader for the CCG project “Returning to Our Roots: Documenting Traditional Nuwä Harvests.” Bringing together members of the diasporic Kawaiisu community in California, the project documented traditional gathering practices alongs...

In the second episode of the Folklife Today subseries focusing on Community Collections Grantees, AFC Folklife Specialists Nancy Groce and Meg Nicholas interview Neil Mellon, the Executive Director of the Habele Outer Island Education Fund and CCG project team leader Modesta Yangmog about their CCG project, “Warp and Weft of Yap’s Outer Islands: Backstrap Weaving in Micronesia.” The project docume...

The first episode in a new subseries of Folklife Today , interviewing project teams about their Community Collections Grants projects. In this episode, AFC Folklife Specialists Michelle Stefano and Meg Nicholas chat with Tameshia Rudd-Ridge and Jourdan Brunson, from their CCG project “If Tenth Street Could Talk.” The project follows descendants and residents as they work to preserve the historic f...

This episode features singer-songwriter Thea Hopkins, a member of the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe of Martha’s Vineyard, in discussion with staff members of the American Folklife Center. Hopkins adapted songs from the American Folklife Center archive several times. On the first occasion she sang a lullaby recorded by ethnomusicologist Willard Rhodes from a young girl named Margaret at the Haskell Resi...

This episode looks at scary stories in the American Folklife Center archives, including ghost stories, witch tales, and other terrifying tales. Hosts Stephen Winick and John Fenn talk with AFC intern Hanna Salmon about scary stories in the new guide “Folktales and Oral Storytelling: Resources in the American Folklife Center Collections.” We then listen to and discuss a “Vanishing Hitchhiker” tale...

This episode looks at storytelling and folktale traditions in the American Folklife Center archives, including “Jack Tales,” tall tales, animal tales, and other stories. Hosts Stephen Winick and John Fenn talk with AFC intern Hanna Salmon about the new guide “Folktales and Oral Storytelling: Resources in the American Folklife Center Collections.” We then listen to and discuss excerpts of tales fro...

This episode looks at the work of Cormac Ó Haodha, who held the 2024 John B. Lovelace Fellowship for the study of the Alan Lomax collection, a position situated within the library’s Kluge Center. Cormac comes from Cúil Aodha in the Múscraí gaeltacht of County Cork, Ireland. He came the Library specifically to study recordings Alan Lomax made in January 1951, of singers local to the Múscraí G...

This episode looks back at the recent work of Joseph Z. Johnson and Deena Owens, interns who created research guides on African American Banjo Playing and on Sacred Harp singing for the American Folklife Center. The interns talked about their work and shared a few of their favorite field recordings from our collections. More information on the songs as well as photos of some the singers and links...

This episode looks back and ahead at the 2023 Homegrown Concert series, which is currently in progress. Hosts Stephen Winick and Michelle Stefano interview the series producer Theadocia Austen and folklife specialist Doug Peach. The participants talk about the series as a whole, and each picks one or two songs for us to hear. The episode contains songs from Jake Blount, (African American folk musi...

In this episode for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, John Fenn and Steve Winick invite guests to talk about Asian collections in the American Folklife Center. Allina Migoni talks about the earliest known recordings of Korean music, playing segments of a lecture by Robert Provine and a song sung by Ahn Jeong-Sik. Sara Ludewig discusses the Linda LaMacchia collection, including recordings made...

In this episode for Women’s History Month, Allina Migoni and Michelle Stefano take a look through the collections of the American Folklife Center to find insights into how women have shaped those around them and passed down their cultural traditions, and to listen to reflections about their identities and lives. The episode honors women in the American Folklife Center archive, including homemaker...

In this episode, John Fenn, Michelle Stefano, and Stephen Winick discuss Groundhog Day traditions. Drawing on the research of Don Yoder, they discuss the history and folklore of the holiday, including groundhog traditions among the Pennsylvania Dutch, groundhog songs, weather proverbs, and even cooking and eating groundhogs! Songs include two versions of “Groundhog,” one of “Fod,” and one of “Prow...

In this episode, hosts John Fenn and Stephen Winick introduce three scary stories for you to enjoy: a witch tale told by Appalachian singer and activist Aunt Molly Jackson, a ghost story told by blues musician and gravedigger John Jackson, and the story of Jack O Lantern told by folklorist Jack Santino. Steve and John also discuss a little of the history of Halloween, and introduce the Library of...

In this episode, hosts John Fenn and Stephen Winick talk with Jennifer Cutting about items that caught their eyes and ears. Cutting discusses commercial recordings of tunes collected by Cecil Sharp, and Winick tells stories of the recording sessions, which Sharp personally supervised and described in his diaries. Cutting discusses her friend, the late Tony Barrand, an important collector of morris...

In this episode, hosts John Fenn and Stephen Winick interview American Folklife Center interns Bryan Jenkins and Elisa Alfonso. Jenkins discusses AFC’s Web Cultures Web Archive, and interviews AFC reference librarian Allina Migoni about it. Alfonso discusses several versions of the Latin American children’s song “Señora Santana,” and speaks of its association with the 1960s Cuban children’s exodus...

In this episode, hosts John Fenn and Michelle Stefano, with guest Thea Austen, explore Ukrainian materials in the American Folklife Center Archive. Interview segments include a discussion of Ukrainian embroidery and dance, between Geraldine Johnson and Taissa Decyk; and a discussion of a Ukrainian family bandura band who immigrated to the United States as refugees in the late 1940s, between Stephe...

In this episode, hosts Stephen Winick and John Fenn, with guests Betsy Peterson, Jennifer Cutting, and Melanie Zeck, explore songs and music from Irish American women in the American Folklife Center archive. Performances include Maggie Hammons Parker singing “Ireland’s Green Shore,” Hattie Scott Gould playing “The Irish Washerwoman” on the fiddle, May Mulcahy playing “Nori from Gibberland” and “Pu...

In this episode, hosts Stephen Winick and John Fenn, with guest Theadocia Austen, talk about songs of springtime, from agricultural and pastoral songs about farms and flowers to love ballads…and one dance tune. They also play the songs, including Pearl Nye’s version of “Early in the Spring,” the Copper Family’s rendition of “When Spring Comes On,” Baptiste Pierre’s version of the Haitian song “Fle...

This episode examines the story of La Llorona, the Weeping Woman of Mexican and Latin American ghostlore. Hosts Stephen Winick and John Fenn discuss Winick’s research into the legend for the Folklife Today blog, and interview three guests. Camille Acosta, who wrote a thesis about the Llorona legend, talks about her research and the meanings the story has for kids and adults. Allina Migoni, the Lat...

This episode looks back at the 2021 Homegrown at Home Concert series. Hosts John Fenn and Stephen Winick interview the series producer Theadocia Austen and folklife interns Kennedi Johnson and Camille Acosta. The participants talk about the series as a whole, and each picks one or two songs for us to hear. The episode contains songs from Neli Andreeva (Bulgarian traditional song), Brother Arnold H...

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 Summe...

This episode looks 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 guests Nicki Saylor and Jennifer Cutting, present their favorite summer songs. Songs include the Finnish “Kesa Ilta,” the Tuvan “Let The Sun Shine On My Verdant Summer,” the African American work song “Long Hot Su...