Folklife Today

This post looks at photos and recordings of some important calypso stars of the 1940s New York music scene, Macbeth the Great (Patrick MacDonald), Duke of Iron (Cecil Anderson) and Lord Invader (...

https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2024/04/caught-my-eye-and-ear-calypso-photos-and-recordings-1946-1947/

In this post, we discuss the frequently repeated claim that William Shakespeare originated the knock knock joke. The claim is an example of metafolklore, in that it’s a traditional story, or cr...

https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2024/04/knock-knock-whos-there-metafolklore-jokes-and-shakespeare/

Enjoy two video interviews with the ethnographer, photographer, and filmmaker Michael Ford. Michael first visited the American Folklife Center in 2014, soon after we were able to acquire his sign...

https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2024/04/botkin-folklife-lectures-plus-michael-ford-mississippi-ethnographer-photographer-filmmaker-and-author/

The American Folklife Center announces its new Story Map, California Gold: Sidney Robertson Cowell, 1930s California Folk Music, and the American Folklife Center, which follows the folk music co...

https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2024/04/celebrating-california-gold-afcs-new-story-map-on-the-northern-california-folk-music-from-the-1930s-collection/

We're continuing the Homegrown Plus series with an entertaining and educational concert and interview by Reverend Robert B. Jones, Sr., an inspirational musician and storyteller celebrating the h...

https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2024/04/homegrown-plus-american-roots-music-with-rev-robert-b-jones-sr/

In this post, Nancy Groce (Senior Folklife Specialist at the American Folklife Center) highlights "Custodians and Janitors in Colorado" -- a new collection available from the American Folklife Ce...

https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2024/04/custodians-and-janitors-new-occupational-folklife-project-collection-launched/

It's time for another Classic Edition of Homegrown Plus! Embedded in this blog post, you'll find two concert videos (from 2009 and 2013) with the Northern Kentucky Brotherhood Singers, a 2013 int...

https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2024/04/homegrown-plus-northern-kentucky-brotherhood-singers/

In this post, guest authors Sara T. Bernstein and Elise Chatelain, members of Dismantle Media and Culture Alliance, describe their experiences documenting the COVID-19 experiences of service and ...

https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2024/04/covid-recollections-people-make-the-world-move-pandemic-stories-from-new-orleans-area-service-and-hospitality-workers/

This interview by AFC staff member, Guha Shankar, with Sarah Bryan, Executive Director of the cutural arts organization, the Association for Cultural Equity (ACE), highlights ACE's work in produc...

https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2024/04/we-have-our-work-cut-out-for-us-a-conversation-with-sarah-bryan-executive-director-of-the-association-for-cultural-equity/

This post looks at the history and meaning of the nursery rhyme "Humpty Dumpty." It considers several popular origin stories for the rhyme, including that it is about Richard III of England, or a...

https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2024/03/humpty-dumpty-metafolklore-riddles-and-yolks/