FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS SPRING 2002 • VOLUME XXIV, NUMBER 2

American Folklife Center • The Library of Congress BOARD OF TRUSTEES ONLINE INFORMATION RESOURCES Congressional Appointees Kay Kaufman Shelemay, Chair, The American Folklife Center’s Massachusetts Web site provides full texts of Mickey Hart, California many publications, information William L. Kinney Jr., South Carolina about AFC projects, multimedia Judith McCulloh, Illinois presentations of selected collec­ tions, links to Web resources on Presidential Appointees ethnography, and announcements Maureen P. Cragin of upcoming events. The address Assistant Secretary for Public and for the home page is http://www. The American Folklife Center Intergovernmental Affairs loc.gov/folklife/ An index of the was created in 1976 by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs site contents is available at http:// Congress to “preserve and present Fran Mainella www.loc.gov/folklife/afcindex.html American folklife” through pro­ Director, National Park Service The Web site for The Veterans grams of research, documentation, Sonya E. Medina History Project provides an over­ archival preservation, reference ser­ Deputy Director of Projects vice, live performance, exhibition, view of the project, an online “kit” Office of the First Lady for participants recording oral his­ publication, and training. The The White House Center incorporates the Archive of tories of veterans, and a brief pre­ Neal A. McCaleb Folk Culture, which was established sentation of some examples of video- Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs in the Music Division of the Library and audio-recordings of veterans’ of Congress in 1928 and is now one Department of the Interior stories. The address is http://www. of the largest collections of ethno­ Librarian Appointees loc.gov/folklife/vets graphic material from the United Jane Beck, Vice-chair, Vermont The Folkline Information Ser­ States and around the world. Norma Cantú, Texas vice is now a cooperative an­ Tom Rankin, North Carolina nouncement program of the William H. Wiggins Jr., Indiana American Folklore Society and the Ex Officio Members American Folklife Center. It is James H. Billington, Librarian of available only on the American STAFF Congress Folklore Society’s server: www. Lawrence M. Small, Secretary of the afsnet.org. The service provides Smithsonian Institution timely information on the field of Administration Vacant, Chairman, National folklore and folklife, including Peggy A. Bulger, Director training and professional oppor­ Doris Craig, Administrative Assistant Endowment for the Arts Bruce Cole, Chairman, National tunities, and news items of nation­ John Lewis, Assistant to the Director al interest. Acquisitions Endowment for the Humanities David A. Taylor, Acting Coordinator Jack Santino, President, Processing and Cataloging American Folklore Society Catherine Hiebert Kerst, Archivist Ellen Koskoff, President, Judy Ng, Processing Technician Society for Ethnomusicology EDITOR’S NOTES Todd Harvey, Processing Technician Peggy A. Bulger, Director, Marcia Segal, Processing Technician American Folklife Center New Staff Nora Yeh, Archivist Programs Mary Hufford, Folklife Specialist We are happy to report that Michael Taft, Folklife Specialist FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS Rosemary Graham, Todd Har­ David A. Taylor, Folklife Specialist James Hardin, Editor vey, Judy Ng, and Marcia Segal Publications David A. Taylor, Editorial Advisor have accepted full-time posi­ James Hardin, Editor Sheryle Shears, Designer tions as processing technicians Public Events Peggy Pixley, Production at the American Folklife Center. Theadocia Austen, Coordinator Rosemary Graham is complet­ Andrew Wallace, Coordinator Reference ing a master ’s degree in public Folklife Center News publishes ar­ Jennifer A. Cutting, Folklife Specialist history from Colorado State Uni­ ticles on the programs and activ­ Judith A. Gray, Folklife Specialist, versity. Todd Harvey holds a Coordinator ities of the American Folklife Cen­ Ph.D. in musical arts from Ohio Stephanie A. Hall, Automation Specialist ter, as well as other articles on State University, and has been Ann Hoog, Folklife Specialist traditional expressive culture. It is available free of charge from the working at the Center on a tem­ Veterans History Project porary appointment processing Ellen McCulloch-Lovell, Director Library of Congress, American Peter T. Bartis, Project Manager Folklife Center, 101 Independence (Continued on page 19) Sarah Rouse, Program Officer Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C. Janice Ruth, Program Officer 20540–4610. Folklife Center News does not publish announcements Cover: Chum Chan Chavvy, of the Virginia Sorkin, Program Officer Khmer Traditional Ar ts Ensemble, Timothy Roberts from other institutions or reviews por trays the Golden Deer at the Administrative Officer of books from publishers other Administrative Office than the Library of Congress. 49th National Folk Festival, Lowell, Fax: 202 707–2076 Readers who would like to com­ Massachusetts, July 24–26, 1987. Reference Service ment on Center activities or Photo by Rick Reinhar t, cour tesy of Tel: 202 707–5510 newsletter articles may address the National Council for the Tradi­ E-mail: [email protected] their remarks to the editor. tional Ar ts

2 Folklife Center News NFFA to NCTA: The Organization Broadens Its Mission

Los Pleneros de la 21 at the 49th National Folk Festival, Lowell, Massachusetts, 1987. Photo by James Higgins By Andrew Wallace nent home were slim. Program failed to put the organization on director Sarah Gertrude Knott a sound footing, in large part The first part of this article, “The (1895–1984) and the associa- because there was no money to National Folk Festival: The Sarah tion’s board of directors hoped pay for a qualified executive. Gertrude Knott Years,” appeared in to establish Eastern and Western Knott felt that the festival the winter 2002 issue of Folklife sites for the festival, in alternat­ should continue as it always Center News. ing years, but no serious candi­ had, relying on unpaid perform­ dates presented themselves. The ers, and using the revue format By the late 1960s the National organization was in a precarious (a single stage, with a series of Folk Festival Association position financially, and there short acts) that the festival had (NFFA) had reached a cross­ was no consensus between the followed from its earliest years. roads. The National Folk Fes­ board and Knott as to what Others felt that, in order to pre­ tival had been moving to a direction the NFFA should take sent the best traditional artists, new location each year, to Flo­ programmatically. groups and individuals should rence and Covington, Kentucky; Sarah Gertrude Knott’s be paid, and the format include St. Petersburg, Florida; Den­ health was fragile, as she ap­ some of the features that festi­ ver, Colorado; Syracuse, New proached seventy-five, and she vals such as the Newport Folk York; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; was unable to pursue her ideas Festival and the Smithsonian’s and Knoxville, Tennessee; and as energetically as she once had. Festival of American Folklife prospects for finding a perma- Several business managers had had developed. These two Spring 2002 3 events revolutionized folk art arts administrator, although sylvania, had been active in pre­ presentation. Newport, begin­ none of it was in the folk or tra­ senting traditional music ning in 1963, popularized the ditional arts. through the Folklore Society of multistage format, mixed popu­ At the same time, several new Greater Washington, which he lar and highly traditional people became involved in the helped found in 1964. Perdue artists, and relied heavily on NFFA as program advisors, had taken a faculty position at fieldwork and workshop pre­ bringing new ideas and a fresh the University of Virginia, and sentations. Ralph Rinzler perspective to both the festival he was to become president of brought many of these the NFFA during the fol­ concepts with him when lowing critical years of he came to Washington transition. to work on the Smithson- In the spring of 1971, as ian festival, first held in plans were moving for­ 1967. ward for the festival at Wolf Trap, Sarah Ger­ t this critical trude Knott became seri­ moment, three ously ill. She went into Kentuckians, the hospital in Princeton, old friends of Kentucky, and subse­ AKnott, came to the rescue quently resigned as pro­ of the NFFA. John Whis­ gram director on the man, states’ representa­ advice of her doctor. At tive of the newly formed this same time I was Appalachian Regional working at the National Commission, became Park Service program­ chairman of the presi- ming folk and traditional dent’s committee of the music for a project called board. To stabilize the Humanisphere that was organization, Whisman to take place on the restructured the board, National Mall, next to the laid out a business plan, Reflecting Pool, in front and applied for a grant of the Lincoln Memorial. from the new National Less than a month before Endowment for the Arts. it was to open, the Nixon In 1970 T. Sutton Jett, White House abruptly an official with the cancelled the project, and Department of Interior, I was detailed to the engineered a coopera­ National Folk Festival tive agreement with the Association, under the National Park Service, Maybelle Car ter at the 35th National Folk Festival, Wolf cooperative agreement, whereby the NFFA Trap Farm Park, Vienna, Virginia, 1973. The festival to pull the Wolf Trap festi­ would provide advice was the occasion for a reunion of the Car ters and the val together. The program and programming to the Addingtons, the first families of country music. Photo advisors had full-time National Park system in by Julie Snow. Cour tesy of Andrew Wallace jobs, and Bernache had exchange for an annual little or no experience in stipend. As part of that agree­ and the organization. Mike producing live events. That job ment, the 33rd National Folk Seeger was a noted musician fell to me, and for the next five Festival would be held at Wolf and expert on Southern tradi­ years I served as festival direc­ Trap Farm Park, a recently com­ tions. Richard Spottswood, a tor and program director for the pleted facility located in Vienna, librarian by trade, was a record organization, on detail from the Virginia, and the first national collector and radio host with an Park Service. park devoted to the performing encyclopedic knowledge of arts. The board hoped that Wolf early ethnic and vernacular n several respects, the 33rd Trap would provide a perma­ music. (He later produced a fif- National Folk Festival, held nent home for the festival. teen-volume set of recordings August 26–29, 1971, was Harlowe Dean, another board for the Library of Congress, unlike any that had gone member who worked for the entitled Folk Music in America, Ibefore it. Performers received a National Park Service, recom­ to celebrate the U.S. Bicenten­ small honorarium and all their mended that the NFFA hire Leo nial.) Gene Rosenthal owned the expenses were paid. The festival Bernache, with whom he had Adelphi record label, which fea­ was divided into evening con­ worked at Columbia Artists’ tured legendary blues artists certs, held in the Filene Center, a Management, one of the coun- from Memphis and Saint Louis. 3,500-seat indoor-outdoor am­ try’s largest artists’ manage­ Charles Perdue, who had just phitheater, and daytime con­ ment agencies. Bernache had completed a doctorate in folk­ certs and workshops, held on considerable experience as an lore at the University of Penn- multiple stages throughout the 4 Folklife Center News park grounds. The National Folk gone on to be one of the coun- Festival was the first event to try’s most successful communi­ use the park grounds for per­ ty events, drawing 250,000 peo­ formances, and it set a precedent ple each Memorial Day for other events at Wolf Trap. weekend. The Border Folk Festi­ Most significantly, the festival val, begun the following year, featured artists who would has been held every year since at never have appeared at the earli­ Chamizal National Park, locat­ er festivals. Payment opened ed on the border between El new possibilities for engaging Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico. performers, and the program Cosponsored by the Park Ser­ committee (Spottswood, Rosen­ vice, the festival presents a wide thal, Seeger, Perdue, and range of Hispanic traditions, as myself) called for a new well as those of other regional approach to programming. cultures. The National Council To cite one example, African- for the Traditional Arts is no American music had usually longer involved in these festi­ been represented at the festival vals, but the NFFA was instru­ by gospel choirs, often from mental in their founding. Seed­ educational institutions such as ing festivals throughout the Fisk University. The blues, country was a goal of the NFFA urban and rural, and other secu­ from its earliest years that took lar musical forms, had been on a new significance as the largely passed over. In 1971, one National Folk Festival took to whole evening concert was the road again during the 1980s. devoted to these genres, with performances by the Beale Street ne of our primary chal­ Jug Band, Hacksaw Harney, lenges during the early Mose Vinson, Rev. Robert 1970s was to establish Wilkins, John Jackson, and the an identity for the young interpreter Taj Mahal. ONational Folk Festival at a time These now legendary musicians when the Festival of American were brought to the festival by Folklife (now called the Smith­ programmers with a deep sonian Folklife Festival) was knowledge of and interest in being held on the National Mall commercial recordings of black Poster used to adver tise the 38th a few miles away. The Smithson- artists, from the 1920s to the National folk festival at Wolf Trap ian’s festival was free, received present. Farm Park, Vienna, Virginia, 1976. lots of attention from the press, Commercial recordings, and Cour tesy of NCTA and extended over two weeks in the people who produced them, late June and early July as it were to become a fertile source jamin A. Botkin, continued to be geared up for a three-month- in identifying artists for the fes­ held in conjunction with the fes­ long run for the U.S. Bicentenni­ tival, a trend that continues to tival through 1973. Botkin con­ al in 1976. The National Park this day. The releases of spe­ tinued to be an active board Service became a cosponsor of cialty labels devoted to country, member right up until his death that event in 1973, and thus had bluegrass, polka, Native Amer­ in 1975. The transformation of involvement in both festivals. ican, French Canadian, Cajun, the festival, and the organiza­ As the Park Service’s folklife as well as companies produc­ tion, was a gradual process that coordinator, I was drawn into ing a broad spectrum of tradi­ took place during the 1970s, as the programming for the Smith­ tional music, such as Round­ old board and committee mem­ sonian festival as well. Our er, Arhoolie, and Smithsonian bers left, new ones arrived, and approach to programming the Folkways, have been mined to those of us working on program National Folk Festival was to provide an unending stream of development explored new focus on excellence and diversi­ great musicians from through­ approaches to presentation and ty, representing the whole range out the country. new partnerships. of performance in the worlds of There was, of course, some Regional festivals were initi­ folk and traditional music and continuity with past festivals. A ated in Seattle, Washington; El dance. Thus, though the empha­ number of the performers at the Paso, Texas; San Francisco, Cali­ sis was always on primary tradi­ 1971 festival, particularly dance fornia; and Lexington, Ken­ tion bearers, we also presented groups, had appeared at earlier tucky. The Northwest Folklife artists who were noted inter­ Nationals, and would continue Festival, begun in 1972 in coop­ preters. John Hartford, Taj to do so for the next two or three eration with the National Park Mahal, John Prine, David years. A scholarly symposium, Service, the Seattle Center, and Bromberg, John Fahey, the New organized by folklorist Ben- the Seattle Folklore Society, has Lost City Ramblers, and Pete Spring 2002 5 Ricky Skaggs, Buck White, Sharon White, Cheryl White, and Jerr y Douglas performing in Karachi, Pakistan, during the 1980, two-continent “Southern Music, U.S.A.” tour, sponsored by the USIA. Photo by Joseph T. Wilson Seeger appeared at the National ally as part of the “Folk Festival Agency’s (USIA) overseas tour­ during these years. USA” series until the late 1970s. ing program. Immediately after At the same time we sought to This began a relationship the 36th National Folk Festival, present genres and traditions between the festival organiza­ a group of twenty-three musi­ that were little known outside of tion and public radio, both cians and dancers, representing their regions or cultures. Folk­ nationally and with local affili­ Cajun, Appalachian, Puerto lorist Jim Griffith brought, on ates, which introduced listeners Rican, and African American separate occasions, a Tohono throughout the United States to traditions, departed on a six- O’odham waila (chicken a broad spectrum of traditional week tour of Latin America. Par­ scratch) dance band, from the music. NPR coverage was a ticipants included Marc Savoy, San Xavier reservation near Tuc­ strong motivation for recording D.L. Menard, and Lionel son, and Yaqui deer dancers the entire festival and other LeLeux; the Highwoods String from southern Arizona. Guy events, using professional Band with the Bannerman Fami­ Logsdon introduced us to equipment and engineers. (The ly Cloggers; Martin, Bogan, and Speedy West and his Oklahoma ultimate result is the National Armstrong; Angel Luis Catala Swing Band, the first of its genre Council for the Traditional Arts with Ernestina Reyes; myself, as to appear at a folk festival. The Collection, which will reside in program manager; and Jim Grif­ Wild Magnolias were the first the Archive of Folk Culture. See fith, as presenter. The tour, Mardi Gras Indian group to Folklife Center News, winter called “Rascos Musicales del appear outside of New Orleans. 2002, p. 7.) In 1974 PBS video­ Pueblo” (dubbed “the musical The groundbreaking Cajun taped the National Folk Festi­ rascals” by participants), toured band Beausoleil, founded by val, which was broadcast nine countries in Central and Michael Doucet, appeared at the nationally as part of the “In Per­ South America, introducing 1976 festival, as did Clarence formance at Wolf Trap” series. audiences to aspects of Ameri­ “Gatemouth” Brown, with his Since then, many of the festivals can music and culture never multiethnic jazz and R&B band and tours have been videotaped, before presented overseas. “Gate’s Express.” and these tapes form a signifi­ We landed in Guatamala City, Beginning in 1971, National cant part of the collection. Guatamala, our first stop, on Public Radio (NPR) recorded the Also in 1974 the organization August 6 and, walking into our evening concerts at each festi­ established a relationship with hotel, were greeted by the image val, and they were aired nation­ the United States Information of Richard Nixon on a television 6 Folklife Center News screen in the lobby, resigning as revival singer-songwriters, from throughout the country president of the United States. “Hee Haw” TV characters, and served on the board: Charles Over the past twenty-five years women in antique costumes lan­ Camp, Timothy Lloyd, David the NCTA has organized seven guidly strumming the dulcimer. Whisnant, Barry Lee Pearson, more multicultural tours for the Accordingly, in late 1976 the Peggy Bulger, Ellen Lovell, Ger­ USIA, covering a large part of board of directors voted to ald Parsons, Marc Savoy, Nick the globe. In addition the organ­ change the name of the organi­ Spitzer, Chris Strachwitz, ization has served as a consult­ zation to the National Council Michael Doucet, Horace Boyer, ant to the agency and recom­ for the Traditional Arts (NCTA). John Vlach, and John Cephas, to mended many of the traditional Not long after this, the board name a few. artists who took part in the made another fundamental In the early eighties John USIA-sponsored tours. change and did away with the Holum, who had joined the decades-long practice of public board in 1974, became chairman, he bicentennial year membership in the organiza­ a position he continues to hold marked another turning tion. There were never more today. Holum is an attorney point for the organiza­ than two hundred or so mem­ from South Dakota with a keen tion, one that would set it bers, and the cost of servicing interest in traditional music. He Ton the course it has held down to the membership far outweighed was active in George McGov- the present. In the spring of 1976 any benefits that accrued to the ern’s and Gary Hart’s presiden­ the board hired Joseph T. Wilson organization. tial campaigns, and served as an as executive director, to replace Previously, the trustees had undersecretary of state under Leo Bernache. been elected by the member­ President Clinton. Charles At the time, Joe Wilson was ship, but now they would be Camp, Maryland state folk­ working on Madison Avenue, selected by the executive direc­ lorist, became president at about but he was from the little town of tor and a nominating committee, the same time and served for Trade, the easternmost commu­ with the review and approval by over a decade. Barry Lee Pear­ nity in Tennessee, and had deep the full board. This completed a son, professor of folklore at the roots in Appalachian culture. He process of restructuring the University of Maryland, is the had spent years writing about board that had begun in the current president. and recording traditional artists early 1970s. Wilson could now and working with folklorists, involve key people in moving he National Folk Festival collectors, and record companies. the organization forward. The continued to be held each He had spent time in Nashville, paid staff at the time was a summer at Wolf Trap managing country singer Marty minuscule three people, so through 1982, and the Robbins. He had a broad knowl­ board members had real work to Tprogram continued to present a edge of folklife in the United do. They were active in planning wide range of traditions from States, was a great judge of events and were vital in staffing across the country, broadening authenticity and virtuosity in festivals. Over the next two its scope to include some of grassroots culture, and knew decades, public folklorists, the recent immigrant art forms, how he wanted to present it to the musicians, and cultural activists particularly from Asia. There public. He also was one major had organization- change: Wilson al and political felt that because savvy and a vision other festivals for the future of were available for the National Folk interpreters and Festival Associa­ revivalists, the Na­ tion. tional Folk Festi- The first part val should concen­ of that vision in­ trate on presenting volved chang­ the great tradition­ ing the name of al artists that were the organization. rarely featured at Wilson, and many other festivals. of us on the board During this time, at the time, felt in 1977, Lee Udall, that the NFFA’s wife of form- role in the field er Interior Secre­ extended beyond tary Stuart Udall, producing festi­ joined the staff of vals. Moreover, the NCTA as as- the term “folk fes- sociate director, tival” conjured up Michael Flatley, of Riverdance fame, performing in a workshop at the bringing her expe­ images with the 41st National Folk Festival in 1979, when he was still a teenager. rience as an public of folk- Photo by Margo Newmark Rosenbaum administrator and Spring 2002 7 spending several years with the formers’ ethnic groups. Some of try to present its vision of artis­ organization. Among other the other in-reach tours tar­ tic and cultural diversity and to things, Udall and Joe Wilson geted Franco-American, Yiddish, establish ties with communities coauthored a folk festival hand­ Swedish, Mexican American, on a national level. Moreover, book, published by the Univer­ and Cambodian communities. the cooperative agreement with sity of Tennessee Press, that Outreach tours, on the other the National Park Service became required reading for hand, are designed to introduce stipulated that the NCTA would anyone interested in producing the public as a whole to the assist with programming through­ a traditional arts festival. diversity and virtuosity of tradi­ out the national system. An In 1978 the NCTA put togeth­ tional American artists. The opportunity awaited. er “Greenfields of America,” a acclaimed Folk Masters series of The NCTA had been working tour of Irish-American music the late eighties and early with Cuyahoga National Recre­ and dance organized by folk­ nineties (Folk Violin, Steel ational Area, a newly formed lorist Mick Moloney that visited String Guitar, Banjo) played park an hour south of Cleve­ Irish-American communities mainstream venues throughout land, Ohio, in presenting tradi­ throughout the United States. the country, from Portland, tional music events at the rural This was a pioneering effort, Maine, to San Diego, California. site. Bluegrass, polka, and and nothing like it had been In 1982 the Filene Center at tamburitzan festivals had done before. It was to be one of Wolf Trap burned to the ground drawn large and enthusiastic the NCTA’s crowds. Paul greatest contri- Squire, who butions to the had previously field of tradi­ worked with tional arts, or the Smithson- for that matter ian Folklife Fes­ to the arts as a tival, was on whole in Amer­ the staff of the ica. There had park, and Tim been a couple of Lloyd, on the pilot touring NCTA board, projects about was the Ohio this time, a state folklorist. Franco-Ameri- It was decided can tour in that the 46th, northern New 47th, and 48th England and an National Folk Irish tour, but it Festivals would was the NCTA be held at that took tradi- Cuyahoga. The tional-arts tour­ festival would ing to a new be a partner­ level. Over the The Masters of the Folk Violin in the finale of the highly successful 1988 tour. ship between next twenty Performers, left to right: Kenny Baker, Mike Doucet, Dave Doucet, Seamus the NCTA, the years, the orga­ Connolly, Joe Cormier, Claude Williams, and a sixteen-year-old Alison National Park nization put on Krause. The next year Krause appeared in the National Folk Festival in Low­ Service, and the road over ell with her new band, Union Station. Photo by Richard Bram the local park thirty tours that cooperating traversed the entire country, for the second time in its short association, a nonprofit organi­ including Hawaii, from large existence. As one of the few zation. The three-day event cities to small rural communi­ events that used the entire park would be free to the public, pre­ ties, introducing the public to an facility, the National Folk Festi­ sent evening concerts and multi­ astonishing range of traditional val was able to go on as sched­ ple daytime performances on music and culture. Every per­ uled, with multiple stages locat­ several stages, and feature the formance on all of these tours ed around the park grounds, but traditions of the region. The was recorded and/or video­ the fire galvanized Wilson and NCTA would be responsible for taped, significantly expanding the board into taking action on programming the stages, in con­ the NCTA Collection. an idea that had been ferment­ junction with a local program These tours can be broken ing for several years. The festi­ committee, while the local spon­ down into two broad categories: val had been very successful at sor would program the craft and in-reach and outreach. In-reach Wolf Trap. It paid its own way, material culture portion of the tours are targeted towards a spe­ attracted large audiences, and festival. This was, in a way, a cific group, as was “Greenfields garnered respect for the organi­ return to the concept of the earli­ of America,” and tend to play in zation. But the National Folk er festivals of the Knott years. communities where there are Festival was historically a road The agreement between the large concentrations of the per- show, moving around the coun­ NCTA and the local sponsor 8 Folklife Center News New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians meet Chinese Dragon Dancers from Atlanta in a mock street confrontation at the 56th National folk festival, Chattanooga, Tennessee, 1994. Photo by Michael P. Smith stipulated that the sponsor n 1986 the National Park Ser­ attracted entry-level workers would continue to produce a fes­ vice requested that the from Yankee, Irish, Greek, Por­ tival, on an annual basis, after National Folk Festival be tuguese, Polish, and a host of the National departed for a dif­ held in New York City, in other nationalities, was now ferent site. This, too, was a twist Ilower Manhattan, as part of a drawing immigrants from South­ on earlier festivals. Knott’s con­ larger summer event celebrating east Asia to work in the new cept had been that the organiza­ the reopening of the Statue of high-technology industries. tion would sponsor state and Liberty on its hundredth By the fall of 1986, Park regional festivals all over the anniversary. The festival drew Superintendent Sandy Walters country as feeders for the huge crowds but was somewhat and Joe Wilson felt that Lowell national event. The new concept swallowed up in the mammoth would be an ideal place for the reversed this idea. The new celebration. A few months later festival, with over fifty-five eth­ National Folk Festival would Joe Wilson received a call from nic groups in the area and a huge seed regional festivals all over another Park Service site that regional population from which the country, remaining at a site was to result in the most success­ to draw an audience. The Lowell for three years to develop local ful of all the NCTA’s partner­ Festival Regatta Committee had organizational and program­ ships. been producing successful eth­ ming expertise. The local orga­ In 1977 Wilson had visited nic festivals for over a decade. nization would continue to Lowell, Massachusetts, Ameri- Coincidentally, the American produce a traditional arts festi­ ca’s oldest industrial city, an Folklife Center was in the midst val, with NCTA’s help as hour’s drive northwest of of a year-long study of tradition­ needed, after the National Folk Boston. At that time, Lowell al arts and culture in Lowell (see Festival moved on to a new loca­ National Historical Park was in Folklife Center News, winter tion. its early formative stages, and 1988, Vol. 10, No. 1). The festivals at Cuyahoga Lowell was just beginning to The National Folk Festival at were highly successful. They emerge from a long period of Lowell was an immediate suc­ brought large crowds, provided economic decline. A unique cess. Over 150,000 people an opportunity for program­ partnership between federal, attended in 1987, the 49th festi­ ming innovations, and laid the state, municipal, and private val, and the crowds got larger groundwork for future festi­ organizations had been de­ every year. In 1988, the National vals. Cuyahoga continued to signed to help rejuvenate the Folk Festival celebrated its fifti­ hold an annual festival through city. A decade later Lowell was a eth year, in healthier shape than the mid-1990s, when lack of model for such partnerships and it had ever been, a free event cel­ financial support forced its the city was, once again, thriv­ ebrating cultural diversity in the demise. ing. The old mill city, which had heart of a city noted for its diver­ Spring 2002 9 sity. The organization was, Joe singer from Tuva, in central has a substantial minority popu­ Wilson has remarked, reinvent­ Asia; a Georgian male choir; and lation, approaching 50 percent, ing the folk festival as a joint instrumentalists from central and through careful program­ effort between local organiza­ Russia. ming, the National Folk Festival tions and the NCTA, and creat­ The National Folk Festival at succeeded in drawing thou­ ing the largest audiences ever Johnstown drew annual crowds sands of African Americans to to attend such events in the in excess of one hundred thou­ the festival. Attracting mixed process. When the National Folk sand. The Johnstown Folk Festi­ Festival left Lowell, organizers val has been held each year since audiences has always been an feared that attendance at the 1993, on Labor Day weekend, elusive goal for folk festivals in new Lowell Folk Festival would and is a highly successful event. general and the National Folk drop, but during the 1990s the The NCTA still offers program­ Festival in particular. Perform­ Lowell Festival saw an increase ming advice, but has no other ers such as Little Milton, Fontel­ in attendance. Under a continu­ direct involvement. la Bass, and the Blind Boys of ing partnership with the NCTA, In 1993 the National Folk Fes­ Alabama assured that Dayton it has grown to become the tival moved south, returning to audiences were a true reflection largest and most respected Chattanooga, Tennessee, where of the population. Cityfolk has event of its kind in the United the second National Folk Festi­ continued to produce a large fes­ States. val had been held in 1935. Folk­ tival, called the Cityfolk Festi­ Johnstown, Pennsylvania, lorist Douglas Day, who was hosted the next three National working for Allied Arts of val, each year since the National Folk Festivals, from 1990 to Greater Chattanooga at the time, departed. 1992. The cosponsor in this grit­ laid the groundwork for their For the past three years the ty industrial town was the John­ sponsorship. The Festival was National Folk Festival has been stown Area Heritage Associa­ held in early October and was held in East Lansing, Michigan, tion, which operates the plagued by bad weather the first in partnership with Michigan Johnstown Flood Museum. two years, but it had a signifi­ State University Museum and Whereas the Lowell festivals cant impact on the community the City of East Lansing. Once were held in the center of the nevertheless, and drew good again the festival was held in the city, the Johnstown site was crowds in the final year. The pro­ downtown area of the communi­ Cambria City, a ten-block-long gramming at Chattanooga was ty, but had a very different feel ethnic neighborhood about a very strong, with the rich cultur­ from Dayton, Chattanooga, mile from downtown with the al stew of the Southeast to draw abandoned Bethlehem Steel from. Highlights of the Chat­ Johnstown, or Lowell. The festi­ mills as a backdrop. The Johns­ tanooga festivals included a val was held in mid-August, town festivals emphasized the shape-note singing convention shortly before classes resumed eastern European cultures that and a street parade that featured at MSU. East Lansing is a univer­ are prominent in the makeup of a mock confrontation between sity town and this ambience per­ the industrial heartland. There Mardi Gras Indians from New meates the community. Audi­ are eight ethnic churches in Orleans and Chinese dragon ences were huge, sophisticated, Cambria City, and many of these dancers from Atlanta. diverse, and appreciative. The churches held social events to The National Folk Festival local sponsors had produced a coincide with the festival. The then moved on to Dayton, Ohio, folklife festival for several years Johnstown festivals were held for a three-year run (1996–98) in before the National arrived, and over Labor Day weekend and cooperation with Cityfolk, one many of the community resi­ of the country’s oldest and most will continue to do so after­ dents held family reunions at successful folk-arts presenting wards. Preparations are now the same time. The National organizations. Dayton is a rust- under way for the National Folk Folk Festival thus became the belt city with a dying industrial Festival to be held in Bangor, impetus for a larger community base and has had trouble attract­ Maine, the Pine Tree State’s sec- celebration, a huge block party ing people to the downtown area ond-largest city. The next three with the festival at the hub. One after business hours. Executive years will undoubtedly add of the programmatic highlights Director Phyllis Brzozowska another unique chapter to the of the Johnstown years was in worked for several years to festival’s history. 1990, when an extraordinary bring the festival to Dayton, hir­ group called Voices of the Soviet ing Timothy Lloyd to direct the Andrew Wallace is a folklorist and Union appeared at the festival event for Cityfolk. The festival musician who served as program before embarking on an NCTA was held in the heart of the tour of the Mid-Atlantic and downtown business district, director of the NFFA from 1971 to New England states. The had major support from the city 1975, and as associate director of entourage consisted of a government, and brought the the NCTA, 1988–97. women’s vocal ensemble from largest crowds to the central Archangel, in the far north of the core of this racially mixed city Russian Republic; a throat within living memory. Dayton 10 Folklife Center News NEA Heritage Fellow Opens New “Homegrown” Concert Series

Eddie Pennnington, Alonzo Pennington, Linda Lay, and David McLaughlin on the Library’s Neptune Plaza for the opening of the Center’s new concer t series Homegrown 2002: the Music of America. Photo by James Hardin

By James Hardin On a bright spring day, April Rag” and “Mose’s Blues”and 24, they took the stage on the was then joined by Alonzo for Guitarist Eddie Pennington, his Neptune Plaza in front of the duet renditions of “Nine-Pound son Alonzo, Linda and David Library’s Jefferson Building, Hammer,” “Chicken Reel,” and Lay of the Appalachian Trail where tourists, Library and con­ “Preacher and the Bear.” Alon- Band, and David McLaughlin gressional employees, and other zo’s own remarkable perform­ were the first performers in a Capitol Hill workers and visi­ ance ably demonstrated the folk new series of concerts presented tors sat on the steps to enjoy process of passing on one’s by the American Folklife Center, an hour of “homegrown” music. skills to the next generation. in cooperation with the Folk­ Pennington was introduced by Eddie then brought to the stage lore Society of Greater Wash­ Kentucky state folklorist Bob Linda and David Lay and David ington and the Kennedy Cen- Gates. In attendance as well was McLaughlin, old friends from ter’s Millennium Stage, and Congressman Ed Whitfield from NCTA’s Masters of the Steel with the assistance of state Kentucky’s First District. String Guitar Tour, who enter­ folklorists from around the Eddie began with virtuoso tained the audience with rendi­ nation. solo performances of “Guitar tions of “Angel Band,” “I’ll Spring 2002 11 religions, and ages. I can think of no better way for the Library to celebrate the Center’s role in preserving and presenting folk culture than by sponsoring these outdoor concerts.”

ddie Pennington’s gui- tar-playing style, a com­ plex form of thumb-pick- ing, originated in a rural Earea of western Kentucky, in Muhlenburg County. Popular­ ized by Merle Travis and further developed by instrumentalists such as Chet Atkins, this music had a common source in Mose Rager, a guitarist from the region. Eddie Pennington, the son of a coal miner, also learned to play guitar from Mose Rager, but he stayed at home, in Prince­ ton, Kentucky, to become a county coroner and funeral director. (Pennington noted recently that he presided at the funeral of National Folk Festival founder Sarah Gertrude Knott, also of Princeton.) Music was a part of his fam­ ily heritage. Relatives say that his great-great grandfather, Edward Alonzo Pennington, who was unfairly convicted of a murder, played a tune still played today called “Penning- ton’s Farewell” as he sat on his coffin watching the hangman prepare the noose. Eddie’s father, a coal miner, played fid­ dle and taught his son songs Kentucky state folklorist Bob Gates, Congressman Ed Whitfield (of about the life of a coal miner. Kentucky’s First District), Eddie Pennington, and Alonzo Pennington Today, Pennington continues to on the Neptune Plaza, with the dome of the Capitol in the background. play this ornamental instrumen­ Photo by James Hardin tal style, enlivening his public See You in My Dreams,” and “I’ll and photographed, and the doc­ performances with humorous Fly Away,” among others. umentation added to the Cen- stories about his experiences as The Center’s new series, ter’s Archive of Folk Culture. a funeral director. He has recent­ “Homegrown: The Music of The concerts will be broadcast at ly been featured on stages at the America,” will present tradi­ a later time on “Traditions,” National Folk Festival, as part of tional music and dance from hosted by Mary Cliff, on WETA the Folk Master series at the communities across the United 90.9 FM, an NPR affiliate. Diane Barns of Wolf Trap, and on the States. “We are working with Kresh, director, Public Service Masters of the Steel String Gui­ federal and state folklorists, and Collections, helped launch the tar Tour. He was named a other professionals from associ­ new series, which revives the National Heritage Fellow for ated fields, to identify perform­ tradition of summer events on 2001 by the National Endow­ ing groups noted for their excel­ the Neptune Plaza. “Folklife is ment of the Arts. lence in presenting authentic about community,” she said, community-based musical tra­ “and the American Folklife Cen­ he Library of Congress ditions,” said Peggy Bulger, ter is devoted to preserving the has a history of present­ director of the American Folklife ties that bind us together so that ing folk music concerts Center. future generations will know us that dates to December The “Homegrown” concerts as we are today. Folklife con­ T20, 1940, when Alan Lomax will be audio- and video-taped nects human beings of all races, arranged for a Coolidge Audito- 12 Folklife Center News In 1948 Vermont folksong collector Helen Har tness Flanders brought three folksingers to the Library of Congress for a concer t. Shown here in the Coolidge Auditorium are (front row) Charles Fennimore (from Maine), Elmer George, and Asa Davis (both from Vermont); (back row) Harold Spivacke, chief of the Music Division; Flanders; Duncan Emrich, chief of the Folklore Section. Library of Congress photo

The Golden Gate Quar tet was fea­ tured in an ar ticle in Time magazine after their appear­ ance in Washing­ ton, D.C., January 27, 1941. Photo by Libsohn-Ehren- berg

Spring 2002 13 rium performance of the Golden ing of the front doors to the versary of the opening of the Jef­ Gate Quartet, with Josh White Thomas Jefferson Building. The ferson Building (1997) and the on guitar. A month later, in Janu­ success of that event led to the two-hundredth anniversary of ary 1941, the Quartet appeared “Neptune Plaza Concert Se­ the Library of Congress (2000). at Constitution Hall at an Inau­ ries,” sponsored by the newly The Homegrown Concert Se­ gural Gala, under the sponsor­ created American Folklife Cen­ ries will be conducted in cooper­ ship of First Lady Eleanor Roo­ ter and, initially, with the assis­ ation with the Millennium Stage sevelt. The hall is owned by the tance of the National Council for at the John F. Kennedy Center DAR, which two years earlier the Traditional Arts. The series for the Performing Arts. Folk had forbidden a performance lasted for nineteen years and groups will appear at the Library there by African American con­ included a culturally diverse of Congress at noon and again, at tralto Marian Anderson. range of performers, such as six in the evening, at the In 1948 folksong collector Andean singers; Egyptian, fla­ Kennedy Center. Washington, Helen Hartness Flanders, wife menco, Polish, and Hungarian D.C., area residents who would of Vermont senator Ralph Flan­ dancers; blues guitarists; Afri­ like to be put on a mailing list to ders, presented a lecture and can drummers and African receive notices of performances concert of New England ballads, American dancers and singers; in this series and other free with three New England folk­ and bands representing Cajun, public events sponsored by singers, again in the Coolidge. A zydeco, klezmer, Indonesian, the American Folklife Center folk music concert, September Puerto Rican, Cuban, Swiss, should write or email the Center. 23, 1976, on the Library’s Nep­ Irish, and many other cultural tune Plaza, featuring “Big traditions. Thanks to the National Council for Chief” Ellis, John Cephas, and Recently, folk performers the Traditional Arts for back­ Phil Wiggins, celebrated the have been included in the cele­ ground information on Eddie Pen­ U.S. Bicentennial and the open- brations for the hundredth anni­ nington.

This year’s Homegrown Con­ June 19: Karl and the Country tradition is just now emerging cert Series performers include: Dutchmen, from Trempealeau, from the House of God Keith Wisconsin, are one of the coun- Dominion Church, where, for over May 15: Yuqin Wang and try’s finest German “Dutchman” sixty years, it has been an integral Zhengli “Rocky” Xu are extraor­ polka bands. Led by Karl part of worship. The tradition has dinary Chinese rod puppeteers, Hartwich, on accordion and con­ its roots in Florida, where folk­ originally from Beijing, and now certina, the band, with its thump­ lorist Bob Stone of the Florida living in the Portland, Oregon, ing tuba marking the beat, plays Folklife Program has brought it to area. Chinese rod puppetry is an to packed dance halls throughout national attention, but it has ancient traditional art form dat­ the Midwest. Karl has also played spread throughout the country. ing back more than a millenni­ at the National Folk Festival The Campbell Brothers, Chuck um. Many of the featured stories in Lowell, Massachusetts, the and Darick, are from Rochester, also have ancient origins. Wang Smithsonian Folklife Festival in New York, and their lead singer, and Xu have performed all over Washington, D.C., and on Garri­ Katie Jackson, lives in Baltimore. the United States, since coming son Keillor’s “Prairie Home Com­ to this country in 1996. Nancy panion.” Wisconsin Folk Arts September 19: To Be An­ Nusz, director of the Oregon Program director Richard March nounced. A National Endow­ Folklife Program, will introduce will be on hand to introduce this ment for the Arts Heritage Fel­ and interview them. band. low for 2002.

June 5: The Blind Boys of Alaba­ July 24: Chuck Brown is a Wash­ October 8: Bob McQuillen, the ma, featuring lead singer ington, D.C.-area institution and dean of New England contra- Clarence Fountain, formed as a the father, and inventor, of the dance musicians, will bring his group in 1937 at the Talladega regional musical style known as group “Old New England,” from Institute for the Deaf and Blind. go-go, that swept the area in the New Hampshire, to play a tradi­ Today the group performs 1970s. Brown will lead an eight- tional dance on the Neptune throughout the United States piece band for the Homegrown Plaza. McQuillan has been play­ and around the world. Their concert. One of D.C.’s many folk­ ing accordion and piano and recent CD “Spirit of the Centu­ lorists with expertise in this musi­ writing tunes for more than fifty ry” won the 2002 Grammy cal form will introduce and explain years. He is the acknowledged Award for Best Traditional Soul the traditionality of “go-go.” master of this venerable genre, Gospel Album. This perform­ and has led countless groups ance is sponsored by the Music August 28: The Campbell Broth­ over his long career. Lynn Mar­ Division and is part of the ers present Sacred Steel, African tin, New Hampshire Folklife Library of Congress program I American gospel music with elec­ Program Director, will intro­ Hear America Singing. tric steel guitar and vocal. This duce the group.

14 Folklife Center News Rosenberg Donates Bluegrass Music Collection

By David A. grass and old- Taylor time music al­ bums. In 1998 Folklorist Neil he received a V. Rosenberg, a Grammy award leading authori­ for his con­ ty on the distinc­ tributions to tive type of the notes for American tradi­ the album An­ tional music thology of Amer­ known as “blue­ ican Folk Music grass,” has agreed (Smithsonian/ to donate his Folkways). As large and impor­ the author of tant research col­ the column “Thir­ lection on the ty Years Ago subject to the This Month,” in American Folk- Bluegrass Un­ life Center. This limited, the lead­ announcement ing popular mag­ was made by azine on the Center director genre, he shared Peggy Bulger at Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys at the Chautauqua Park Bluegrass his historical the Library of Festival, Franklin, Ohio, September 8, 1968. Photo by Carl Fleischhauer insights with Congress on Feb- from Bluegrass Odyssey. Cour tesy of the photographer a broad audi­ ruary 27, before ence of enthusi­ the start of an illustrated lecture, programs featuring bluegrass asts for many years. by Rosenberg and Carl Fleisch­ music; photographs of musi­ hauer, based on their new book cians and fans; songbooks sold osenberg is a professor of Bluegrass Odyssey: A Documen­ at bluegrass shows; early blue­ folklore in the Depart­ tary in Pictures and Words (Uni­ grass publications; correspon­ ment of Folklore at versity of Illinois Press). The dence with musicians and oth­ Memorial University of authors discussed their field­ ers; fieldnotes; files of academic RNewfoundland, where he has work and how they assembled research materials; and com­ been based since 1968. He is also and selected the photographs mercial disc recordings. an accomplished musician. and texts for the book, which is a Through his research and While a graduate student at lively exploration of the blue­ writing, Rosenberg has made Indiana University in the early grass music community from major contributions to the study sixties, he played the banjo in the 1960s to the 1980s. The lec­ of bluegrass music. His many the house band at Bill Monroe’s ture was sponsored by the publications include the semi­ Brown County Jamboree, a American Folklife Center, the nal Bluegrass: A History (1985) country music show park in Office of Scholarly Programs, and Bill Monroe and His Blue Bean Blossom, Indiana. In 1963 and the Center for the Book in Grass Boys: An Illustrated Discog­ he managed the jamboree, and the Library of Congress. raphy (1974). His article “From in 1967 and 1968 he helped run Rosenberg’s collection, which Sound to Style: The Emergence the band contests at Monroe’s he has amassed over the course of Bluegrass,” published in the first two Bean Blossom blue­ of the past forty-three years, Journal of American Folklore in grass festivals. This immersion includes: sound recordings of 1967, was a significant con­ in the scene provided him with a bluegrass shows, interviews tribution to the then-nascent rare opportunity to learn the with musicians and other im­ field of bluegrass scholarship. bluegrass repertoire and per­ portant figures in the bluegrass He is in demand as the writer form it on stage; meet, and in scene; off-air recordings of radio of the liner notes for blue­ some cases perform with, many

Spring 2002 15 of the leading bluegrass musi- in turn be com­ cians of the day; and become plemented by acquainted with the business the Archive’s side of bluegrass. As well, he celebrated developed a unique relationship field record- with Bill Monroe—“the father of ings of tradi- bluegrass”—that helped inform tional music his later analysis of the history from the South and style of bluegrass music. that were made Currently, in addition to his aca- during the first demic work, Rosenberg main- half of the twen­ tains a career as a perform- tieth century ing musician. He is a member of by John and two bands in Newfoundland: Alan Lomax, Crooked Stovepipe, a bluegrass Herbert Hal- group; and The Black Auks, a pert, and others.” collaborative improvisational “Over many ensemble. years of fol- “We are thrilled that Neil’s lowing blue- collection is coming to the grass music, Archive of Folk Culture,” said I’ve amassed Folklife Center director Peggy quite a col- Bulger. “Neil Rosenberg is lection,” said arguably the preeminent scholar Rosenberg. on bluegrass music, and his “I’m happy to unique, meticulously organized know that it research materials will be a will have a treasure trove for researchers secure home at who seek a deeper understand- the Library of ing of the sound, the style, the Congress, and Center director Peggy Bulger accepts donation of the meaning, and the movers and that the music first increment of the Neil V. Rosenberg Bluegrass Music shakers of bluegrass music dur- made by blue- Collection from Rosenberg on February 27. Photos by ing the second half of the twenti- grass greats James Hardin eth century. What’s more, his like Bill Mon- collection will complement and roe, the Stanley Brothers, and The collection, to be called the the Country Gen- Neil V. Rosenberg Bluegrass tlemen will b e Music Collection, will be donat­ preserved and ed to the Center in increments in housed along- the coming years. Under the side the collec- terms of the agreement with the tions of such Center, Rosenberg will continue formidable re- to use parts of the collection that searchers as are important for his ongoing Robert W. Gor- research, and will ship mate- don, John and rials to the Center when he no Alan Lomax, and longer needs them for this pur- Herbert Halpert. pose. On February 27, he trans- I’m particularly ferred the first increment of his pleased to know, collection: five reel-to-reel tapes too, that this containing recordings of blue- material will grass shows, live radio broad- not only be pre- casts, and disc recordings, served for the which are part of a larger body future but that of tapes he began making in it will also be 1959 that he calls his “blue­ made available grass anthology.” Other mate- to future stu- rials will follow in due course. dents and in- After the entire collection has terested mem- been received and processed, it bers of the will be made available to the public.” public.

American Folklife Center board trustee William Kinney (left) congratulates Carl Fleischhauer on the publication of Bluegrass Odyssey. 16 Folklife Center News Folklife Center Board Creates the Archie Green Union

Archie Green (wearing a carpenters union hat from his local) at the San Francisco waterfront, with his wife, Louanne, May 2000. Photo by David A. Taylor By Jane Beck his trade and in his membership dealing with—not just remnants in the union. He lived and of songs from an older time. This Archie Green already had spent breathed it. He was a partici­ was real, the fabric of life. He two decades in the building pant. As one of his fellow stu­ made his case with real exam­ trades on the San Francisco dents in MacEdward Leach’s ples, real situations, and we lis­ waterfront—first as a ship­ class on the ballad, I remember tened to and questioned our wright, then “going uptown” being drawn to Archie’s enthu­ comrade who was older and into carpentry—before he ever siasm for the material, his exten­ wiser, but still one of us. These entered graduate school in folk­ sive knowledge of it, and his were stimulating and memo­ lore at the University of Penn­ focus and deep love for the peo­ rable discussions. sylvania in the mid-sixties. To ple who created this lore. They The late sixties saw Archie that experience he brought with were truly his brothers, people working part-time for Ralph him a rich body of songs and tra­ he had shared life with. He Rinzler at the Smithsonian. Rin­ ditional lore—so much a part of brought us the understanding zler had created the Festival of him from his years immersed in that this was living lore we were American Folklife, which was Spring 2002 17 held for the first time in 1967 on the National Mall in Washing­ ton. The following year he invit­ ed Archie to come to the Smith­ sonian to work on labor studies for the next festival. Archie accepted and, with his love of politics, it wasn’t long before he found himself involved in a full-scale lobbying effort. He believed ardently in this field of folklore he was so much a part of, and he was one of the first to realize the significance of hav­ ing it recognized on the national scene as an established part of our governmental structure. Legislative aides had found their way down to the festival on the Mall during their lunch hour, and Jim Hightower, then an aid to Texas Senator Ralph Yarborough, was astounded to hear Bill Monroe playing. That touched a responsive chord and led to a collaboration with Archie Green with Sen. Mark Hatfield at the twentieth-anniversary celebra­ Archie to introduce the initial tion of the American Folklife Center, September 18, 1996. Hatfield was an folklife bill. original sponsor of the legislation that created the Center. Photo by Larry This first attempt at legisla­ Glatt tion failed because some key people in the folklore field testi­ ening experience didn’t stop matured. Throughout that time fied against it, but the disheart- Archie. Instead he learned Archie has been in the wings, from it and drew his battle advising, cheerleading, saluting lines. Archie always brought an every milestone—supportive at immediacy and a passion to every turn. It is the right whatever he was doing. For two moment in the history of the years, with no money coming in, Center to honor that person who he ignored the pressures of almost single-handedly enabled daily life and walked the corri­ the American Folklife Center to dors at the Capitol unceasingly. come into being, and what better With the zeal of a missionary, he way than through the Archie regaled all who would listen. He Green Union, an organization was a visionary, button-holing created by the Center’s Board key senators and members of of Trustees and made up of the House and indoctrinating friends and supporters, nomi­ them on the import that folklife nated by the current board, to held for the federal govern­ assist the American Folklife ment. Gradually he made Center through advice and believers out of them. Through fund-raising activities in carry­ dint of his labors, in 1976 the ing out its mission to pre­ Congress passed the Ameri­ serve and present American can Folklife Preservation Act, folklife. The symbol of the union which both defined American captures the essence of the man folklife and established the who led the way and stands American Folklife Center at the as a monument to his life-long Library of Congress. struggle to establish a perma­ Jane Beck, the first president of the This was a watershed event in nent and recognizable folklife Archie Green Union, with a framed acknowledging the important presence within our political copy of Public Law 94–201, the American Folklife Preser vation Act, role played by folk traditions system. which was “presented to Archie and cultural heritage in our lives Green in grateful appreciation for as Americans. Just last year the Jane Beck is director of the Vermont his vision and dedication, which led American Folklife Center cele­ Folklife Center, a trustee of the to the creation of the American brated its twenty-fifth birthday, American Folklife Center, and the Folklife Center, January 2, 1976.” and over the years its strength first president of the Archie Green Photo by James Hardin and influence have grown and Union. 18 Folklife Center News EDITOR’S NOTES from page 2 gies for the Save Our Sounds first for anyone familiar with the project), and Tsai Hong Miller Capitol grounds). But plans for the International Storytelling (processing the Eleanor Dickin­ the completed center, scheduled Collection. Judy Ng, who began son Collection). When he com­ for 2004, promise a newly land­ as a temporary employee at the pletes his work for the leader­ scaped plaza, enhancing the end of last year, holds an MLS ship program, John Lewis will appearance of the historic land­ from Syracuse University. Mar­ return to the Center as assistant scape designed by Frederick Law cia Segal holds an MLS from to the director. This position has Olmsted. The visitor center will Catholic University and has been vacant since Tim Lloyd left include a link to the Library of been working at the Center on a the Center in 1995 to become Congress’s Jefferson Building, temporary appointment, pro­ director of folklife programs at and in general provide a more cessing collection material for Cityfolk in Dayton and director congenial experience for tourists the Save Our Sounds preserva­ of Dayton’s National Folk Festi­ visiting the Capitol. Visitation tion project. val, which was held there to the city has been down Director Peggy Bulger could 1996–98. markedly since September 11, but not be happier: “The Center has “John has years of experience The Washington Post for April had a strong staff of profession­ in library administration and a 15 reported an unexpectedly als since the beginning, and great sense of humor,” says healthy rebound in the number of many have worked valiantly to Peggy Bulger. “Both will be visitors coming to the District. do the vital day-to-day work of extremely useful to him here, The American Folklife Center preserving, arranging, and man­ especially at this time when so will be ready. On the Neptune aging the vast amount of ethno­ many new projects and activi­ Plaza, a new program of outdoor graphic material in the Folk ties are under way.” concerts has begun. Carrying on Archive. But there has never the tradition of the popular Nep­ been a fully staffed processing Folk Music Revival tune Plaza series and an even section. The arrival of several longer history of folk music pre­ large collections, such as the Across the street from the Li­ sentations at the Library of Con­ International Storytelling Col­ brary of Congress, on the gress, the first concert featured lection, and the work of the Save grounds of the U.S. Capitol’s guitarist Eddie Pennington (as Our Sounds audio-preservation “East Front,” preparations are described in this issue). Other project have focused new atten­ under way for a new under­ concerts will include Chinese tion on the importance of ground visitor center. A few puppeteers, Southern gospel, archival management. With our grand old trees have been taken Wisconsin polka music, and four new processing technicians down along the approach from New Hampshire contra danc­ at work, we will be better able to East Capitol Street (a shock at ing. Signs of spring! preserve our price­ less heritage of folklife documen­ tation, and assure future donors that their collections, which often repre­ sent a lifetime of work, will receive the care they deserve.” In addition, the Center was fortu­ nate to have three participants in the Library’s Leader­ ship Development Program working on special assign­ ments for a number of months: John Lewis (coordinat­ ing relations with veterans’ organiza­ tions at the Veter­ ans History Proj­ ect), Robert Sala- The Smokey Town Singers, Native American drummers and chanters from Wisconsin, per­ dini (developing formed at an outdoor concer t on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol, in celebration of the Bicen- fund-raising strate- tennial of the Library of Congress, April 24, 2000. Photo by James Hardin

Spring 2002 19 Phil Wiggins and John Cephas on the Library’s Neptune Plaza in 1985. The well-known Wash- ington-area blues musicians met at the National Folk Festival in 1976, at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia, and have been playing together ever since. They performed on several occasions at the Librar y of Congress for the American Folklife Center’s Neptune Plaza series, and they have had a long-standing relationship with the National Council for the Traditional Ar ts. Ar ticles in this issue recount the history of the NCTA and of folk music presentations at the Library of Con­ gress. Library of Congress photo

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