April-June 1983 The Library ofCongress, Washington, D.C. Volume VI, Number 2

NewJersey's Pinelands National Reserve

Cowboy Exhibit Opening

Working Cowboy Symposium

Ellen Lovell on State Folk Arts Programs tion meetings. He had visited the afternoon at the Nebraska State Choctaw community in Philadel­ Historical Society researching early FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS phia, Mississippi, and noticed an Omaha Indian photographs. The old Bureau ofAmerican Ethnology next morning folklorist Roger a quarterly publication ofthe report on the bookshelf. Inquiring, Welsch drove me up to Macy, a ride American Folklife Center he found that they were enthusias­ of about two hours through the tic about having the report in their flat-to-rolling countryside of east­ atthe community. But they had no more ern Nebraska. We pulled into Library ofConr;ress enthusiasm than the present gen­ Macy, a small community near the eration ofscholars for the volume's Missouri River, and walked into the AlanJabbour. Director turn-of-the-century theories about Omaha Tribal Administration Choctaw culture. Rather, they were Building to find Dennis Hastings, Ray Dockstader. Deputy Director grateful for the carefully described the young Omaha who has been Elena Bradunas and transcribed ceremonies, which working on cultural projects for Carl Fleischhauer would have been lost but now are Mary Hufford the tribe. He was bustling about Folklife Specialists being relearned. getting ready for our presentation The documentation, one might to the Tribal Council. We were in­ PeterT. Bartis. Folklife Researcher say, had outlived the theories for troduced to a few people, then Eleanor Sreb. Executive Assistant which it had been accumulated, ushered into the Council's meeting Brett Topping. Writer-Editor and had been put to cultural uses room. Doris Craig. Administrative Secretary Lisa Oshins. StaffAssistant the earlier collectors never im­ Dennis Hastings gave an initial agined. Though such collectors talk, then I made a fairly lengthy Tel: 202 287--{j590 might have expected that future presentation describing the proj­ researchers would use earlier field ect, the Fletcher/La Flesche collec­ Archive ofFolk Culture data to develop fresh conclusions, tion, and the Folklife Center's Joseph C. Hickerson. Head they can hardly have foreseen that publication plans. The Council Gerald E. Parsons.Jr.. Reference Librarian the fieldnotes, photographs, sound members seemed interested but Patricia M. Markland. Indexer-Secretary Sebastian LoCurto. StaffAssistant recordings, and published descrip­ were curious to hear for them­ tions they painstakingly created selves. At that point I excused my­ Tel: 202287-5510 would re-enter the very cultural self to run out to the car and Washington. D.C. 20540 process they described, would be retrieve my cassette recorder. prized, studied, and at times When I came back, I discovered readopted by the very people they that the Council had sent for two Managing Editor: Brett Topping had studied. To the later 20th cen­ old men tojoin us. One ofthem was tury was reserved the gradually 80-year-old John Turner, whom I dawning realization that we are a later recorded. I played examples part ofand thus affect all we study. from the cylinder recordings, con­ The efficacy of documentation centrating on the helushka (warrior Director's Column was powerfully brought home to songs) category. When John me during a recent trip to Ne­ Turner began singing along with braska. The Federal Cylinder some of the 1896 recordings, I This column has been devoted to Project, with the assistance of the knew we were home free. After a the subject of documentation be­ L. J. and Mary C. Skaggs Founda­ few pieces we stopped and Mr. fore. I have been a bit preoccupied tion, has recently plunged into its Turner offered supportive com­ with the subject of late, partly be­ dissemination phase with plans to ments. The Council members cause of its place in the Folklife issue published recordings (in LP closed the meeting with a resolu­ Center's mission, partly because it disc and cassette form) selected tion for the Vice Chairman, Mark has emerged as a theme in our Cul­ from the early cylinders. Our first Merrick, to draft a letter of sup­ tural Conservation Report, and published recording will feature port. partly from an anxiety that profes­ Omaha Indian music recorded by After the meeting we adjourned sional students of culture had Alice C. Fletcher and (Omaha In­ to the school across the street, grown so enamored of theory that dian) Francis La Flesche about where we had lunch in the gym/ "mere" documentation was in 1896. My Nebraska mission: to pre­ cafeteria. Then Dennis packed us danger of being neglected. This sent these historical recordings to into the car and drove us to the el­ last concern-that we understand the Omaha tribe and to ask their derly center. They were having a the efficacy ofdocumentation itself support for the idea of the re­ gathering and had been alerted in the larger workings of our civili­ corded publication. that we would be coming. I was in­ zation-was wonderfully pointed I left town on Washington's troduced to the group leader, who up by folklorist Henry Glassie dur­ Birthday, flew westward to Lin­ in turn translated my description ing one of the Cultural Conserva­ coln, Nebraska, and spent the of the cylinder recordings into

2 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS Omaha. I played the same batch of lection. The tapes I recorded with an etiological story about the helushka songs, and they seemed to Mr. Turner include the original re­ Omaha flute, using as its hero the make quite an impression. I cordings together with his transla­ ubiquitous Orphan about whom noticed two old men near the back tions, interpretations, spontaneous many Omaha stories are told, and whose hands were beating along songs, stories, and other commen­ shared some of his repertory of with the drum rhythm; they began taries. A singer, player of the jokes. But events prevented our talking to one another and pulled traditional Omaha flute, and launching another recording ses­ cassette tapes out of their pockets. traditionalist in cultural matters, he sion. John Carter of the Historical It was a fascinating session for me clearly enjoyed the session, joking Society, representing my ride back and a good start in our efforts to and singing spontaneously as the to Omaha, arrived on the scene, share the recordings with the tribe. case presented itself. His interpre­ and the next thing I knew I was say­ Then we went over to the hospital tations (as well as his cautionary ing a round ofgoodbyes. and-after Roger Welsch regret­ words regarding certain sacred or Two months later, I find myself fully took his leave- repeated the secret ceremonial songs) represent still mulling over the experience. It performance for a group gathered invaluable supplementary docu­ certainly confirmed all my beliefs for the occasion. I saw that the re­ mentation for the cylinders. I was about the cultural power of turn of the cylinder recordings to thrilled at his interest and secretly documentation. The interest and the Omaha was shaping up as quite began to scheme about recording enthusiasm of the Omaha people a community event. him again. was electric, and the recording ses­ Next Dennis took me to a hous­ The next morning we encoun­ sion with John Turner dramatized ing project where we visited Char­ tered Mr. Turner again at the the fact that the cylinders are not lie Edwards, a 91-year-old man Administration Building and ex­ simply documents a/the past, but a who had been an active singer for pressed a vague hope that we could legacy from the past. My personal much of his life. We played the record him again. We got into a presence may have helped--one same helushka songs for him, and I lively conversation where he told cannot satisfy the responsibility for used a Nagra tape recorder to re­ dissemination simply by mailing cord his responses. off some tapes. Yet we could not The next day after lunch we have created such interest if the stopped by the Tribal Building in cylinders were not inherently inter­ hopes of finding John Turner BOARD OF TRUSTEES esting. The recording session with there. Sure enough, there he was John Turner in many ways sym­ waiting in the lobby. I asked if he Janet Anderson, Oregon and California, bolized the whole effort. It yielded would be interested in a recording Chairman precious information about the session where he would comment Ronald C. Foreman, Jr., Florida, Vice 1896 recordings, and, as a semi­ on the cylinder recordings. He Chairman public event, it dramatized the seemed quite willing, so we started Raye Virginia Allen, Washington, D.C., "living" quality of the traditions looking for a room to appropriate and Texas preserved on the cylinders. Mr. for recording purposes. Most of Edward Bridge Danson, Arizona Turner provided the symbolic link the rooms had ambient noise from David E. Draper, California between past and present as he lis­ the air circulation system, and be­ Jeanne Guillemin, Massachusetts tened, laughed, interpreted, and fore we knew it our search became William L. Kinney,Jr., South Carolina sang. The turning tape-reels, re­ a major project involving several St.John Terrell, NewJersey cording the cylinders side by side administrators. Finally we selected with his commentary, attested to an office which seemed to have less the symbolic importance of the ambient noise, at which point the event as a contemporary effort to­ Vice Chairman authorized shut­ Ex Officio Members ward cultural conservation. ting off the air system altogether In early April John Turner Daniel J. Boorstin, The Libtarian of Con­ for a while. I set up the Nagra and passed away. Not all that he knew Mr. Turner was ushered in, accom­ gress survived him; yet his legacy to the S. Dillon Ripley, Secretary of the Smithso­ panied by Dennis and various Omaha people is rich. Part of that nian Institution other people from the administra­ legacy is imbedded in the record­ Francis S. M. Hodsoll, Jr., Chairman, tive offices. Our recording session ings he made, and in the memories National Endowment for the Arts had become a public event. of all of us who attended that re­ William Bennett, Chairman, National En­ We recorded for over two hours. cording session. As I listen once dowment forthe Humanities Mr. Turner listened to nearly all again to the tapes we made, I hear Alan Jabbour, Director, American Folklife the cylinder recordings on two cas­ his voice juxtaposed with voices Center settes which Maria La Vigna (for­ from before his birth- butalsojux­ merly of the Federal Cylinder taposed with the younger voices of Project) had selected as a represen­ those of us who were there, and tative sampling from the entire col­ whose task is now to carryon.

APRIL-JUNE 1983 3 exhibition catalog and their own COWBOY EXHIBIT OPENING bandanas, replicating a bandana used by Theodore Roosevelt dur­ inghis 1912 campaign. The reception was held in the lobby and atrium of the Madison building. An action-filled statue made from painted fiberglass, "Progress II" by Luis Jimenez, greeted guests inside the lobby doors. The statue captures the three elemental figures of the cow­ boy drama, frozen in perpetual motion-the mounted cowboy plunging after a longhorned cow, which strains away from his lariat with every fiber of her rangy body. Ambient Western music for the evening was provided by Riders in the Sky. The concept for an exhibition on the cowboy originated at the Amer­ ican Folklife Center four years ago. A generous gift from United Tech­ nologies Corporation, a company known for its interest in supporting American arts, assisted the Center and the Library to develop the con­ cept into a major exhibition, ac­ companied by a lavishly illustrated catalog. Individuals such as the Li­ brary'S curator Ingrid Maar, guest curator Lonn Taylor, and design­ ers Robert Staples and Barbara Charles were instrumental in mounting the exhibit and produc­ ing the catalog, as were many divi­ sions of the Library, including the Exhibits Office, the Publishing Of­ fice, and the Information Office. Their efforts were coordinated by Carol Nemeyer, Associate Li­ brarian for National Programs. Following the reception The Li­ brarian of Congress, Daniel J. Boorstin, hosted a formal dinner. (Photo byJohn T. Gibbs) Among the guests were Attorney General William French Smith, President and Mrs. Reagan Montana to no avail. He went on to Senator Edward Zorinsky of Ne­ joined The Librarian of Congress comment on the items that were on braska, Supreme Court justices DanielJ. Boorstin in front ofa ban­ display, "This exhibit can remind Sandra Day O'Connor, Lewis Pow­ dana-garbed white marble statue those of us who work or visit here ell, and Byron White, former sena­ ofJames Madison on March 24 to what America is about. If we un­ tor Eugene McCarthy, Clare open officially The American Cowboy derstand this part of our history Boothe Luce, and former Secre­ exhibition. The President, who and our continuing fascination tary of State Alexander Haig. toured the exhibit before address­ with it, we will better understand Other guests included Francis S. ing guests assembled for the open­ how our people see themselves, M. Hodsoll, Jr., Chairman of the ing reception, quipped that he kept and the hopes they have for Ameri­ National Endowment for the Arts, looking for a display highlighting ca." The Reagans were then pre­ the Arts Endowment's former his role in the film Cattle Queen of sented with a specially-bound chairman Livingston L. Biddle,Jr.,

4 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS William Bennett, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Richard Helms, former director ofthe C. I .A. The dinner guests were ad­ dressed by Harry J. Gray, Chair­ man and President of United Technologies, who remarked, "United Technologies has spon­ sored several shows recently that will reveal aspects of American life to European audiences. Next month, for instance, we are taking a major exhibition of American folk art to Paris and then to Munich, Hamburg, and London. And next year we will underwrite a show of 19th-century American painting at the Louvre, after it has been seen in Boston and here in Washington. But we probably never will be associated with an exhibition so emphatically Ameri­ can as this cowboy show, and we are very proud of that association." Popular western writer Louis L'Amour, whose books have sold .-. nearly one hundred and thirty mil­ : ~ ... lion copies, said a few words about ./1 • cowboys. Patsy Montana spoke ••• briefly and sang a verse of "I Wanna Be A Cowboy's Sweet­ heart," which is included on the jukebox playing in the American Cowboy Cafe display. The Librarian of Congress then presented a "toast to the cowboy" to which Secretary ofCommerce Mal­ colm Baldrige had been invited to respond. Secretary Baldrige is a rodeo-qualified cowboy who has been on the Board of Directors of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. His remarks, re­ printed here, included observa­ tions about American cowboy cul­ ture made over a number of years from many vantage points. The American Cowboy will be on display in the Library's Madison Building between 8:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. Mondays through Fri­ days, between 8:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on Saturdays and holidays, and from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Sundays. The free exhibition will remain at the Library through the summer months, closing on Oc­ tober2. A portion of Luis Jimenez's fiberglass sculpture "Progress II" looms over guests at the cowboy exhibit's opening reception. (Photo byJohn T. Gibbs)

APRIL-JUNE 1983 5 MALCOLM BALDRIGE'S ANSWER TO THE "TOAST TO THE COWBOY"

From The American Cowboy exhibit: sterling belt buckle awarded to world's champion bull rider Jim Shoulders in 1957. (Courtesy ofJim Shoulders, Henryetta, Okla.)

The cowboy "mystique," the cowboy "image." Any who could have been led to the altar on a pretty short real cowboy would reject those words outright. He lead-rope, but never made it simply because of the would use "reputation." "Reputation," ah, there's a ~ economic hardships of their lot. A very sad thing, but fine word and an honorable word. You create an that was life and they accepted it. image, but you have to earn a reputation. And I remember also, within the last five years, But, however the description runs, a central part of catching a ride from the Amarillo rodeo to the Denver his life revolves around self-reliance and independence. rodeo with a cowboy who was supporting a wife and Self-reliance comes first with him; he learns that two kids on his winnings. He had left his last year's before he is knee high. Once that is earned, it's never winnings at home and taken expense money to get lost and, in and of itself, breeds the independence him through the first two months of the new season. that we associate with him for his lifetime. A wise man He hadn't made a dime. He asked me to fix supper once said: "Good judgment comes from experience; for us in the back of the camper. I found a jar of but experience comes from bad judgment." Whatever peanut butter, a jar ofjelly, and half a loaf of bread. good judgment a cowboy has, he's learned that the That's what we ate. He was damned if he was going to hard way. send home for what he had worked so hard to save. If you think that the Cabinet of the United States is Luckily, he won some in Denver. made up of independent individuals, you should see the Board of Directors of the Professional Rodeo Those kinds of experiences have put into real per­ Cowboys Association in action. I have been honored spective for me some of the problems I've seen in to be a member of both groups and, as far as shared business and in the government. You know, the vice independence goes, the latter wins hands down. We president who wanted his office closest to the boss's or had one director for the bronc riders who always cast the bureaucrat who squawked that the square footage his vote last, just in case the other eleven had happened of his domain was slightly less than that of his equal in to vote unanimously. If they had, even if he favored another department. Short shrift was what they got, the decision, he would vote against it. It might look and what they deserved. like collusion to his constituency if he didn't. There are more fences now in the ranch country, I can well remember first working as a dollar-a-day maybe a couple of pickups near the horse corral, and cowhand and riding off into the sunrise to find that the lights in town may be neon instead of kerosene. no one was looking at me. In short, "Goodbye glamor, But the life is still not easy. The self-reliance is still hello hard work." Cowboys don't know anything about taught at an early age. The independence is still there glamor, but they certainly know about hard work. as strong as ever, and the reputation still has to be I can also remember being surprised at how many earned. It's our heritage and this sometime-cowboy bachelor cowboys I knew in those days in the '30s. At never wants to see it denigrated. a dollar a day, a young man simply could not get Dan Boorstin, we appreciate this party. Harry Gray, married unless his wife could get a job as a cook on we thank you for making this exhibition possible for the ranch, and there was only one of those jobs. As a the thousands that will see and learn something of result, there was more than one generation of men that heritage.

6 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS ARCHIVE CONCERT During the concert she spoke sev­ eral times about the materials that she has added to her repertory through researching the collec­ tions and listening to the Archive's recordings of folk music. Michael Cooney also performs tunes and songs from the Archive's collec­ tions and has been generous in crediting and supporting its work through the years. The program was hosted by Mary Cliff, President of the Folklore Society of Greater Washington and a folk music pro­ grammer for WETA-FM in Washington, D.C. Folklife Center director Alan Jabbour introduced Michael Cooney's portion of the concert with three fiddle tunes, and Archive head Joseph C. Hickerson sang three unaccom­ panied songs before Odetta came on. The Friends of the Folk Archive Fund, the beneficiary of all of this activity, was established in 1978 as Odella Michael Cooney a source of funds for special Ar­ chive projects. The first substantial contribution to the fund was made by Michael Cooney, who has do­ nated amounts equivalent to songwriter's royalties for public­ domain folksongs on his LP's pub­ lished by Front Hall Records (See Folklife Center News, Vol. II, No.2, April 1979). Other special fund contributors have included Carl Gottlieb, Time-Life Books, Toshi and Pete Seeger, and friends and relations of the late C. Robert Kep­ pel. The Folklore Society of Great­ er Washington contributed $2,900 to the Archive fund from the con­ cert. A number of direct contribu­ tions were made to the fund by others unable to attend the event. As a follow-up, the Soceity will be communicating with folk arts or­ ganizations around the country, Joseph C. Hickerson (L), Michael Cooney, Odella, andAlanJabbour(R) urging them to plan similar events. The American Folklife Center and On Friday, March 4, the Folklore Friends ofthe Folk Archive Fund. the Archive of Folk Culture are Society of Greater Washington Odetta, who had expressed in­ grateful to Odetta, Michael (FSGW) presented a concert by terest in doing a concert for the Cooney, and the members and offi­ Odetta and Michael Cooney at Archive for some time, provided cers of the Folklore Society of Lisner Auditorium "to benefit the the m~or impetus for the event. Greater Washington for their Archive of Folk Culture at the Li­ Her appreciation and utilization of generosity in arranging the con­ brary of Congress." The concert the Archive's collections extends cert. proceeds are to be donated to the over a good part of her career.

APRIL-JUNE 1983 7 ONE SPACE, MANY PLACES The Pinelands National Reserve

PI~ Ey POW ~~

Orlando Torres, a farm hand at the Trailing a canine symphony, jack Davis, Sr. ofBrowns Mills, N J. casts his Maryland hounds Birches Cranberry Bog, pictured on the on the track ofa gray fox. front cover. The Pine Barrens of New Jer­ this hiddenness have been illumi­ There are those who would have sey-a million acres of sand be­ nated through the efforts of outsid­ the Pine Barrens factored out as a neath a stubble of short pine trees ers over the years, however. In the future home for Turkey Beard and scrubby oaks, broken occasion­ 1960s writer John McPhee shared Grass and Pine Barrens tree frogs, ally by the dark, wet green ofcedar his astonishment with the nation for restored iron furnaces and swamps-are unremarkable to that a wilderness could be found at glass works, and would eschew those whose penchant for natural the heart of Eastern Megalopolis-a further disturbance of the land­ beauty leads them to the Great concealed wilderness that in turn scape by human beings. Others see Smoky Mountains, the Grand conceals a breath-taking array of in the Pinelands a solution to cities' Canyon, or Niagara Falls. Words rare and endangered plants and housing shortages and as a source like "majestic" or "humbling" do animals, and a folk culture that is for depleted resources, such as not spring to the mind of one con­ equally endemic. The astonishment clean water, fresh air, and recrea­ fronted with the monotony of a set in motion by McPhee continues tional space. Pine Barrens landscape, a to spread, even in North Jersey, There is, ofcourse, a third group monotony that overshadows its where perhaps once every twelve in all ofthis, less visible than Picker­ most spectacular features. Minus­ hours someone is surprised to learn ing's Morning Glory and more cule treasures like curly grass ferns about the Pine Barrens. silent than the Pinelands' whip­ and pine snakes are not viewable poorwills-the traditional guar­ from highway overlooks. It has been the part of outsiders dians of the landscape. Their In fact, if the Pine Barrens are to the Pine Barrens to be fascinated patterns of land-use produced the most remarkable for anything, it is with them and to lobby for federal favorable habitats for the distinc­ their hiddenness. Certain facets of protection of their resources. tive species so prized by outsiders.

8 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS In the case of the Pine Barrens, It is a desolate and dreary land­ skills such as hunting for deer and Congress resolved the archetypal scape. In many places one can rabbits, trapping for furs, and conflicts between developers, en­ travel for miles on the through tonging for clams and oysters, vironmentalists, and landowners highways with no relief from along with skills more exclusive to by a compromise-it created a new the uniform bleakness save 'for the Pinelands: charcoal making, category of public land, a National infrequent gas stations or nar­ cranberrying, mossing, pinebal­ Reserve. In other categories of row sandy roads leading off to ling, and the gathering of a host of public land, such as national parks someone's bog. Houses are few plants used in the florist industry. and forests, private landowners re­ and far between, gray and Indigenous tools such as moss siding within their circumference weatherbeaten, in marked con­ presses, pine-cone poppers, rocky become inholders who are usually trast to the well-painted struc­ dump huckleberry knockers, and excluded from the interpretive tures of the surrounding farm cranberry scoops were familiar ob­ programming and management country. The house usually rests jects to him. He was a woodsman. process for the area. The National on what seems to be pure sand, While any number of people Reserve concept eliminates inhol­ and the scrub pine comes up who live and work within the Pine­ ders and involves local residents in almost to the doorstep. Rarely lands may be recognized as Pineys the management of the land. Pro­ does one see a garden plot or by both visitors and natives, the grams developed by the Pinelands flowers near a house. The ab­ epithet "woodsman" is only con­ National Reserve may someday sence of barns is striking. I ferred admiringly upon one native serve as a model for national parks by another. Woodsmanship, the and forests seeking to tap the living vernacular management and inter­ cultural resources within and Consider, by way ofcontrast, an ex­ pretation of the woods, is not a around their boundaries. cerpt from "The Pine Barrens phenomenon readily observable by The perspectives and values of Song," composed by Merce Ridg­ outsiders. Its imprint on the envi­ the two groups for whom the Pine­ way, Sr., who could have lived in ronment is subtle, and whatever lands are important-the visitors one of the houses to which Halpert might be construed as evidence of and the natives-are often at var­ alludes: woodsmanship-a sign posted on a iance. The Pinelands Commission, tree, a deer stand, a man-made fox a body of federal, state, and local I left the place where I was den-is not made to withstand fires representatives charged with man­ born, many years ago, and vandalism. These are the aging the Pinelands, is faced with a For times were tough products of ephemeral acts-nam­ task that is partly ethnographic­ and work was scarce, I had ing the environment, chasing that of bridging a communicative no choice but go. foxes, or searching for "events" in gap between land-users with dispa­ But I've been back there the manner ofone Piney described rate visions. many times, in my memory- by McPhee: Of all the places that I've When he is not working in the The National Reserve was estab­ been, it's there I'd rather be. bogs, he goes roaming, as he lished with some awareness of the puts it, ... hiking about thirty interplay of cultural and natural Where the scrub pine, ground miles in a typical day, in search resources, and ofthe need to foster oak, berry, bush, and sand, of what he calls "events"-sur­ that interplay. Most of what is They never changed-they prising a buck, or a gray fox, known, however, has been solicited never will- Pine Barrens or perhaps a poacher or a man from biologists, geologists, and ar­ land. with a still. Almost no one who chaeologists, rather than from The sweet May Pink and the is not native to the pines could those who now live there, who may curly fern, leaves all turning do this, for the woods have an possess information essential for green, undulating sameness, and the conserving the resources. One vital And the water running red understory ... is often so dense task, then, is to identify a range of in the cedar swamp stream. that a wanderer can walk in a living cultural resources, and to fairly tight circle and think that discover their links with the natural Given Halpert'S description, the he is moving in a straight line. 2 setting that visitors will encounter. name "Pine Barrens" is richly de­ Visitors and natives can experi­ served. In light ofRidgway's song it Woodsmanship is a cultural ence the Pinelands as dramatically bristles with hidden irony. The resource, just as a restored man­ different places. The casual song is a good starting point for the sion is, or an Indian shell mound. A motorist, passing through the Pine translation of the native viewpoint definition is offered by one oc­ Barrens en route to the shore from to visitors. togenarian woodsman: Philadelphia, might encounter Like most of his contemporaries, You know what I call a good what folklorist Herbert Halpert de­ Ridgway possessed the skills that woodsman? Ed Jenkins. Good scribed in the 1940s: enabled him to "work the cycle"­ Continued on overleaf

APRIL-JUNE 1983 9 ONE SPACE, MANY PLACES Continuedfrom previous page

Positions Available

The American Folklife Cen­ woodsman. I'll tell you why. not only as a place to go canoeing or ter is seeking three field workers He can be on a gravel road, specimen hunting, but as the cul­ and one administrative coordi­ foxhuntin', and ifhe knew there tural statement that it is: the mag­ nator for a field project in the was another gravel road-now num opus of Piney life and values. Pinelands National Reserve of this was at night-he'd say, "I'll Ultimately, as human ecologist New Jersey. The project's goals meet you over on the other John Sinton reminds us, the Pine are to identify, document, and road." I'll drive the truck and Barrens are not wilderness but present the folk cultural re­ get over there, and here come landscape: sources in and around this pub­ Eddie walkin' out. When you lic landscape. The initial phase can get through them places in Pine Barrens landscapes do of fieldwork is scheduled for the night, then's when you're a not exist apart from Pineys. September and October 1983. good woodsman.3 Cedar stands which look ancient All candidates should possess have actually been cut five times advanced degrees in folklore or In order to grasp the dynamics in the past 200 years; Pine related disciplines, extensive of the Pinelands as a natural envi­ forests were burned or har­ fieldwork experience, and ronment we need to understand vested every 15 to 20 years. strong writing skills. Two of the the perceptions that enable one to These are not wildlands, but fieldworkers should be capable search for events there, or to com­ landscapes, which humans have ofidentifying and interpreting a pose "The Pine Barrens Song." We husbanded and exploited these broad range of expressive cul- need to appreciate the Pinelands past 2,000 years"

10 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS Herbert Payne, woodsman and charcoaler, teaches chemistry studentsat Central Regional High School in Bayville, N.J. the craft ofincomplete combustion. Charcoalzng entads the conslrucllOn ofa kiln oul ofpine logs, turf, and sand. Once ignited, the kiln smolders for nearly two weeks. The resulting charcoal was mostly used by industrial refineries.

ture, verbal as well as material, in multi-cultural settings. The third fieldworker's strength should be in the area of Because of their ambiguity, their fixed pattern of established ethnobiology. The administra­ hiddenness, the Pinelands are mul­ human meaning; it is like a tive coordinator, whose position tivalent. They can be seen as wil­ blank sheet on which meaning may run for a full year, should derness by outsiders because it is may be imposed. Enclosed and also possess experience with possible to view their natural re­ humanized, space is place. Com­ data processing, archiving, and sources as having a reality apart pared to space, place is a calm project coordination. from the culture- a view that is im­ center of established values. The positions will be filled on plicit in the creation of categories Human beings require both the basis of a resume, two refer­ such as "inholders." Much of their space and place.5 ences (one from an employer, if national appeal resides in a perva­ possible), and writing samples. sive desire for wilderness-for It is possible, then, in certain in­ If interested in applying, send a space that is not place, that is freed stances, for one man's space to be letter and resume to: Mary Huf­ from the familiarity and con­ another man's place. This duality is ford, Folklife Specialist, Ameri­ straints of everyday life. "Space," dramatically illustrated in the ef­ can Folklife Center, Library of Yi Fu Tuan tells us, "is a common forts of natives to post places with Congress, Washington, D.C. symbol of freedom in the Western names, in the hope that others will 20540, tel. 202/287-6590. Ap­ world. recognize and accept that imposi­ plications should be mailed by tion of order onto their unnamed July 10,1983. Open space has no trodden paths and signposts. It has no Continued on overleaf

APRIL-JUNE 1983 11 ONE SPACE, MANY AT HOME ON THE RANGE PLACES Working Cowboy Symposium Continued from previous page The cowboy occupation did not space. Sometimes others do not, as ready to quit the whole cowboy exactly get rave reviews from men the experience of another oc­ scen.e as they carry out the endless who work as cowboys during the togenarian woodsman reveals: round of winter feeding in the Center's March 29 symposium freezing cold. Parker understands "From Open-Range Cowboys to The main corner up here by completely. In late winter Erickson Rodeo Clowns: The Story of the the Fire Tower, I named that is convinced they arejust not going Working Cowboy." It was charac­ Star Tree Corner-it's like a to make it and will have to find star. I always keep paintin' signs terized at various times as dirty, something else to do. Parker has to smelly, hard physical labor that and nailin' 'em up there, and agree. But by spring roundup time does not pay very well and is Erickson is truly thankful that guys steals 'em! . . . I put it there dangerous. someone will actually pay him to do so it'd keep that name, you know-the younger ones don't Rancher Leslie Stewart from the work he does, and Parker is in Paradise Valley, Nevada said that follow things up like that. Now complete accord. he would not recommend that any The symposium had a broader they tell me that sign is down young fellow go into the ranching purpose than simply to investigate by a little camp on the hil1. 6 business (his son Fred, incidentally, why men and women work as cow­ is going to take over the family Perhaps the spaces in the Pine­ boys. Folklorist Beverly Stoeltje ranch someday). He feels that old­ structured the day's presentation lands should continue to provide a time cowboys are a vanishing breed to investigate what it means to be a forum for the pitting of chaos and asked, "Why should a fella go cowboy, what his pattern of life is, against order, but it seems neces­ into it?" Why indeed? The cow­ and what regional variations exist. sary, somehow, to allow people like boys, folklorists, historians, and an­ The symposium format called for woodsmen their voices-even to thropologists who presented the presentation of scholarly papers in seek their assistance in managing symposium wrestled with that the morning, followed by discus­ and interpreting the landscape for question several times during the sions and demonstrations by work­ visitors as well as for themselves. day, but it proved to be hard to tie ing cowboys in the afternoon; but -Mary Hufford down. as Jim Griffith, moderator for the "Personally, I do it because it's afternoon portion, pointed out, my way of life-it's what I chose to both groups are scholars of the oc­ I Herbert Halpert, Folktales and Legends from do," said Leon Coffee, a cowboy cupation, with general or special­ the New J ersey Pines: A Collection and Study (Dissertation, Bloomington, Indiana: In­ and rodeo clown from Austin, ized knowledge of the cowboy diana University, 1947),p.18-19. Texas, in answer to why he does it. trade. A fluid interplay between 2 John McPhee, The Pine Barrens (New York: "High-water herder" Thomas Edi­ their practical and theoretical per­ Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 1968),p. 9. son "Brownie" Ford from the flood spectives developed as the day , Interview, Browns Mills, New Jersey, De­ plains of Louisiana said that he progressed. cember IS, 1980. sticks with the occupation because The morning's presentations fo­ 4 John Sinton, Natural and Cultural Resources he is too nervous to steal and too cused on the origins ofthe cowboy of the New Jersey Pine Barrens (Pomona, New proud to beg. Stewart explained, occupation and its current Jersey: Stockton State College, 1979), p. 2. "My grandfather came into Ne­ economic and social structure in 5 Yi Fu Tuan, Space and Place: The Perspective vada in 1864 with an ox team, and this country. Scholars think that of Experience (Minneapolis: University of the occupation may have de­ Minnesota Press, 1977), p. 54. started a ranch known as 96, and veloped originally in North Africa 6 Interview, Waretown, New Jersey, August we've been there ever since. 22,1983. [There's] a lot of tradition behind and the Middle East, according to it," adding, "That's a hundred and anthropologist John Bennett from how many years, well over a the University ofWashington in St. hundred and twenty years, I guess, Louis. But ranching and cowboy­ and we're not millionaires yet." ing are broadly based phenomena John Erickson responded by that have travelled literally around paraphrasing the introductory the world along diverse cultural paragraphs of his book The Modern routes. Cowboy, which record a series of in­ Hispanic settlers in Florida, terchanges between him and cow­ Mexico, Texas, and California, boy Jake Parker during the course adapting skills learned on the of a year working ranches in Spanish plains, had a profound in­ Beaver County, Oklahoma. In fluence on the developing cowboy mid-winter Erickson is fed up and culture of North America. Histo-

12 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS rians Joe Frantz of the University of Texas at Austin and Sandra Myres from the University of Texas at Arlington both invoked something of the influence in transmission. Frantz described EI Tule, a 600,OOO-acre ranch in northern Mexico, four hours south of the Texas border. It is a place that recaptures the "amplitude and timelessness" of a bygone era in work patterns that include the em­ ployment of a range cook and chuckwagon, and the ritual roping of mounts each morning from the remuda. Except for the transistor radios, which have become a vital component of vaquero equipment, life is lived at El Tule much as it was on 19th-century ranches in the western United States before fenc­ ing and upgrading transformed the open-range cowboy's existence. Sandra Myres discussed the his­ tory of ranching in the Hispanic Southwest in some detail, describ­ ing hacienda siteplans, tools used by Spanish vaqueros, styles of dress, and forms of relaxation. Many of the occupational tools em­ ployed by vaqueros are hallmarks ofthe cowboy as well; their occupa­ tional terminology also influenced cowboy usage. One significant ex­ ample is la reata, transposed in English to lariat, wielded by the vaquero and cowboy alike with con­ summate skill. Certain cultural characteristics that emerged in ranching com­ munities on the plains of Canada and the United States are distinc­ tively North American, however, said John Bennett. One such char­ acteristic is the degree of sharing between the rancher/owner and cowboy/laborer classes that takes place at many levels-sharing of cultural values, technical expertise on the job, and recreational ac­ tivities. Both groups also pay a high "opportunity cost"-the difference between what Qne actually earns and what one could earn at another occupation-to continue doing what they do. Leslie Stewart had to agree: "Ranching and cowboying is a way oflife, but it's a hell ofa poor Leslie Stewart explains some features ofcowboy gear asJim Griffith stands at his side and Leon business." Coffee (L) and Brownie Ford look on from a distance. Continued on overleaf

APRIL-JUNE 1983 13 AT HOME ON THE RANGE variation that stimulated heated Continuedfrom previous page discussion was the "great dally de­ bate," transcribed here. Songs, demonstrations, and stories enlivened the afternoon's proceedings. Brownie Ford sang a few songs like "The Trail to Texas," Leon Coffee showed how to throw a "Butterfly" and "Ocean Wave" loop, and all of the cowboys had stories about pranks they had played. Cowboying is clearly a job that generates intense pride, a sense of humor, and a feeling of tradition. The symposium did not ultimately answer why people choose to be cowboys, nor was it intended to. It did, however, open a small window on a complex and fascinating occu­ pation. The Center will continue the symposium series with one on the development and perpetuation of the cowboy image on May 17, and a symposium and concert featuring cowboy music on Jl!ly 21. For further information contact Mary Hufford, Folklife Specialist, Amer­ ican Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540.

John Bennett (L), Sandra Myres,Joe Frantz, and Beverly Stoeltje (R)

Once the origins and characteris­ The subject of regional varia­ tics of the cowboy occupation had tions in ranching elicited descrip­ been discussed, the cowboys them­ tions of differences in terrain selves had a lot to say about how between northern Nevada, Leslie they get the job done. Cowboy, au­ Stewart's home, and the flood thor, and roping enthusiast John plains of Louisiana. The Nevada Erickson discussed ranching on the landscape is dry, with four to eight Texas and Oklahoma panhandles. inches of rain a year, and virtually He talked about how to combine treeless. Brownie Ford's area of the traditional tools of the trade­ Louisiana, on the other hand, may the horse and rope-with get forty-eight inches ofrain; there mechanized transportation to is no dearth of vegetation, and cover greater distances more effec­ most of it sports thorns. Ford says tively. He also demonstrated sev­ you can be sure that anything you eral roping loops-the "header" run across in his part of the coun­ used to rope the head, the "heeler" try, be it animal or vegetable, will for the legs, and the "Hoolihan," an either "stick you, stain you, kick overhand loop used for horses. you, or bite you." Another regional Brownie Ford

14 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS THE GREAT DALLY DEBATE

This debate took place about half way into the afternoon of the work­ ing cowboy symposium. After a calf, steer, or cow has been lassoed, what should a cowboy do with the other end of the rope, the end he is holding as he sits in the saddle? There are two schools of thought on the subject, and both were vig­ orously upheld at the symposium. Leslie Stewart and John Erickson favored "dallying," wrapping the rope around the saddle horn, while Brownie Ford and Leon Coffee fa­ vored tying the rope "hard and fast." During the course of the de­ bate the men demonstrated some ties on the stock saddle that Stewart donated to the Smithsonian In­ stitution, which was cinched onto a model horse. Many of the points they made have been reiterated ever since the two methods of rop­ ing emerged over a century ago. The long-standing debate has even Leslie Stewart branding calves on his ranch in Paradise Valley, Nevada. been put to music in cowboy songs like "Windy Bill," which comes man can drop his rope any time lies," and I assume that all of you down on the side of- well, readers he wants to and get out of a wreck. have probably figured out what will have to find out for themselves. The hard and fast boys will tell we're talking about, if you- you that if it's worth catching, it's Erickson: I come from the dally worth keeping, and that anyone Audience member: That is not a tradition. You're going to meet a who dallies is probably chicken correct assumption. couple of old hard-headed cow­ hearted, and that's OK with me- I boys in a minute that are in the still dally. Griffith: Is that not a correct as­ other school. And the hard and But one of the disadvantages sumption? OK, well we're going fast boys and the dally boys have of the dally method is that, every to be shown. . been hissing at each other for about once in awhile, you miss that dally, a hundred years. There was a time and when you miss the dally you Coffee: [To Erickson] You get when it was almost a felony to get your rope taken away from over there and show them your dally in the state of Texas, and it you, and that's very humiliating. dally roping. was a criminal offense to tie hard I've had that happen to me where and fast in California and Nevada. I had to chase a couple of heifers Erickson: I might point out that It's not quite that serious anymore, around a neighbor'S pasture for most of the people who tie hard but each roping school has its own about six hours before I could and fast tend to be sissies. advantages and disadvantages. get my rope back, before somebody I think, for myself, the dally called the sheriff or saw me out Coffee: [Laughs] Oh, no! method is more versatile- you there. So I vowed that I would can do more with a horse and a never let that happen to me again. Coffee: On this horse right here, roped animal with the dally So I carry a second rope, so that I've got what we call a "quick re­ method-and I also think it's safer. if I ever lost my first rope, I could lease." You got a bull at the end I've known of several cowboys load up and get my first rope back, of your line and you want to keep who were dragged to death on and at least get home with my up with him, he can't go nowhere, their own ropes, or who were killed pride intact. . .. but you can also get away from when their horse and the critter him by just turning it loose like ran between a tree and they got Griffith: We've been using these that, and you got your dally on wrapped around a tree. A dally terms "tie hard and fast" and "dal­ Continued on overleaf

APRIL-JUNE 1983 15 Dally Debate who've only got one thumb, and to sixty feet long. Now, when I Continuedfrom previous page that's the reason why, they got a say you have a fifty-five or sixty­ little careless with their dallies.... foot rope, this don't mean you can throw out there sixty feet and there too. But we really don't like And John [Erickson] and I just had a little disagreement here. catch anything. This means you doing that cause you can just hit You throw rope out there, you can throw about as far as these that panic button at any time, when hold your rope end in the same fellows do, but you've got all this you just think you're in trouble, hand that you hold your rein. You extra rope to take your dallies and you're going to lose your bull, on. Then when you're branding, or lose your cattle, and there's no if you throw way out there and way that you can get it back, cause catch something, drag it up to we usually don't carry two ropes­ the fire, you can take your dallies we don't miss too often [looking off, get your horse right up close, at Erickson]. and take your dallies. You can change the distance if you're rop­ Griffith: Before the shootin' starts, ing. I think probably I'd better interject with a tiny little bit of professor Griffith: Brownie, let's hear from talk and explain that this word you, if you have something to say, "dally" that everyone is using is a and then I'm going to exercise nice example of the fact that a lot my license to change the subject. of the cowboy language comes from the old vaqueros, the Ford: I don't have anything to Spanish-speaking cowboys. Dally say, they've explained it. The only is an Englishization of the phrase thing, Leon, he did the "panic dale vueIta, "give it a turn," and if button" [Coffee called it the "quick you're "taking your dallies" you're release"], and this is the "die hard." giving the rope a turn around We used to call it the "tie hard," the saddle horn. And so what we're until we read in the paper where really talking about is a system some fellas didn't get back, we with a loose rope that you can called it the die hard now. But give a quick turn around the saddle you can imagine, if you can, a big horn, or a system where the end animal, weighing eleven, twelve­ of the rope is tied hard and fast hundred pounds, and you're rid­ to the saddle horn. As one old ing a horse that don't weigh that Texan says, "That means that much. whatever you catch is yours, and you're its." And the other system Coffee: A lot of times you want is a system worked out in California to get away from the eleven, twelve­ where you throw your rope or hundred pounds, and with that reata and you give it a tuck Leon Goffee one you cannot, and dally, well around. you're just going to chicken out throw your rope out and you put anyway. Coffee: Dallying is good for one on as many turns, as many dallies thing, losing your thumbs! as you need- a small calf, maybe Stewart: With the dally, now if I only one .... One thing John get in trouble, John'll ride up, Stewart: Well, now he said they're and I was just talking about, in and I'll just hand him my rope good for losing your thumbs, and our country, up there they teach and take the dallies off. And I that's played right into my hands. us, when you're dallying, don't can get off, fix my saddle, do what­ [To Coffee] Can I see your rope, ever look at your horn, because ever I have to do, and we've got just the end of it? See that knot it's going to be there. Don't look him. he has in the end of his rope? See, at it, you just look out there where this is a dally rope, you don't want you're throwing your rope, and Griffith: Now obviously, it should anything in the end of it. Because put your dallies on. The horn's be obvious to all of you by now if you have a knot like that, you're not going anywhere. John tells that if I only were generous pretty apt to lose your thumb when me the horn will go somewhere, enough to continue this discussion you come to the end of the rope. and he always looks at it. for four more minutes, the prob­ With one of these ropes, you can The dally rope is always a lot lem would be resolved. But I'm lose your thumb too, I'm sure you longer. Now this rope is twenty­ not going to do that. I'm going to can. There's a lot ofguys in Nevada eight feet. The dally rope is fifty change the subject-

16 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS STATE FOLK ARTS PROGRAMS An Arts Director's Views On February 4, 1983 Ellen Lovell, Executive Director of the Vermont Council on the Arts, pre­ sented the following prepared re­ marks before the National Council on the Arts, composed of the Chairman of the National Endow­ ment for the Arts and twenty-six private citizens recognized for their knowledge of and commit­ ment to the nation's cultural life. The Council helps the Arts Endow­ ment to formulate policy and to as­ sess and develop programming and reviews its budget and grant­ giving activities. Ellen Lovell, who serves on the panel for the Arts En­ dowment's Folk Arts Program, was invited to address the Council on the topic of folk arts programming at the state level. An expanded ver­ sion of these thoughts will appear in Journal of Arts Management and Law, Spring 1983, a special double issue on the arts and public policy developed by guest editor Anthony Keller.

John Erickson I am here to represent the thirty­ four states working together with the National Endowment for the Arts on folk arts programming. Since I am also here to celebrate the art that springs from "a sense Stewart: Now I concede this. If favors. of place," I would like to give you you're roping in the rodeo, calf a sense of my place and why the roping, you've got to go that way Griffith: I'm going to change the Vermont Council 0"0 the Arts [hard and fast], that's the only subject here- began this work. w·ay to go. Just over 500,000 people live in Stewart: Hey, Brownie! Vermont on 9,670 square miles. Ford: I've been around something It is not a large state, though the now over three-quarters of a cen­ Ford: Yeah? saying claims that if you ironed tury and I've heard about them out the mountains, Vermont would people who had to cut loose and Stewart: Lose these ropes, they're be bigger than Texas. Four hook 'em. Ain't never yet. I ain't a lot cheaper than going to the hundred and twenty l)amed peaks ever quit the cattle on a stormy hospital for six months. rise within its land area; the Green night. Yeah, I'm scarred up pretty Mountains are part of the Ap­ bad, person want to look me over, Coffee: Yeah, but if we're tough palachian chain which runs from I'm scarred up pretty bad. And enough we won't be going! the Gaspe Peninsula in Canada I've looked 'em right in the face all the way to north Alabama. and I've said, "Oh Lord, hope Griffith: I'm going to try once Parallel ridges dominate most of that rope don't break" when I was more, neighbors, to get us off the the state; only 15 percent of Ver­ down and the steer was coming subject of roping and onto the mont is described as flat and fer­ right at me. Well the rope didn't subject of bits and breaking tile. I Sixty-five percent of our break, thank the Lord for small horses. Continued on overleaf

APRIL-JUNE 1983 17 contra-dancers, and folk artists of all kinds. We tapped the still-strong STATE FOLK ARTS PROGRAMS flow of seasonal and agricultural Continued from previous page practices; we found occupational lore from Lake Champlain to the Barre granite sheds. This material is now recognized and valued and given back to the people in radio population lives in villages of2,500 in Vermont, we realized the tre­ and TV programs, concerts, people or less. mendous influence we have by dances, exhibitions, and festivals. I live in a place where it snowed recognizing some artists and or­ Just as the traditions we are hard on October 13, the day after ganizations and by neglecting celebrating spring from a particu­ the Canadian honkers passed over­ others. Of course, we nurtured lar landscape and people, so the head, over a cloud-cover so dense what we had, and we also "im­ structures to support the folk arts I could not see them, but only ported" a great deal of art from in the different states take differ­ hear their collective cry. other places. I do not want us to ent forms. Most of the thirty-four Think of Vermont as an exten­ be an isolated province culturally, folk arts programs began with sion of Appalachia and you will nor do I want us to be merely a the stimulus or interest of the Na­ remember not only its natural colony or market for art from tional Endowment for the Arts. beauty but also its loneliness, its somewhere else. I did begin to Some were located in state arts poverty. Vermont is third lowest feel that sometimes we were at agencies, others in state historical in the country in per capita income. the "end of the cultural pipeline." societies or universities. Similarly, Here an unusually homogeneous And, I wondered, whose culture? they have developed in different population is scattered widely All this suggested that our poli­ ways. Many folk arts programs across a difficult terrain. Less than cies need to grow from the cultural are now fully part of the state arts 1 percent of its people are desig­ history and heritage of the place. agencies or historical societies; nated as minorities, and 14 percent We need to present work that is some are jointly funded with the speak French.. born out of, reflective of, or rele­ state humanities councils. While "In Vermont, despite the influx vant to a real place and its people: some programs consist of state of newcomers and the booming "a new regionalism," where the folklorists personally doing tourist industry, a traditional way particular is so alive that it ex­ fieldwork, recording an area's of life still exists. This older way presses the transcendent. As John heritage, others are grants pro­ of life is rural and tied closely to Kouwenhoven, that Vermonter grams supporting existing local the seasons.... Sugar is still made from Yonkers, said, "Humanity is programming. A few are inde­ in the spring because that's when not an abstraction but a set of pendent state folklife centers, with the sap flows. 'When the wind's particulars. There is no way to be many sources of support. The in the west, the sap flows the best.' universal, as Huck Finn for in­ Arts Endowment and the states . . . Logs are still skidded out in stance is, without being idiosyn­ are wise in their approach to this . the snow."2 My friend Orrin Hunt cratic, or to be international We have used the very traditions who worked all his life in the woods without being untranslatably we study-the ways people work of Spruce Mountain where I now localized."3 together and celebrate together­ live told me about going to the To do this we needed a guide, to support the arts. We do not next farm on a Saturday night much as an orchestra needs a impose one structure on hundreds for "kitchen junkets." I've seen conductor. And we needed a pa­ of different expressions. It is ash baskets for gathering apples, tron- the National Endowment beautifully untidy. coverlets made from bleached for the Arts. Characteristically we Vermont's folk arts program­ grain bags, carved fish-jigs for found our folklorist-guide, Jane ming has reconnected our cultural ice-fishing, all made of materials Beck, on the other side of the heritage to our contemporary life. found readily at hand, and made Green Mountains from We are talking about the arts to with such liveliness that beyond Montpelier, in Ripton, equipped people who do not think of them­ their usefulness they tell about with that prerequisite for working selves as artists and who never their maker's need for beauty-a for the Arts Council- a 4-wheel­ ,went to museums. Now everyone need as persistent and urgent as drive vehicle. She has spent four has an entry-way to the aesthetic. the inventiveness of necessity. At years doing fieldwork, interview­ For a long time the control that the Vermont Council on the Arts ing, photographing, taping, and rural inhabitants, or ethnic or we saw this urge to go "beyond collecting. I hardly need to tell neighborhood groups for that mat­ necessity" all around us. you that we found a wealth of ter, once exercised over their cul­ . But there is more. After four­ quilters, carvers, basketmakers, tural identities has eroded. Strong teen years of supporting the arts storytellers, fiddlers, singers, alternatives are imposed from re-

18 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS mote perspectives. Rarely do they FOLK ART FOR FUTURE HOMEMAKERS OF accurately portray the local-they make the folks at home feel home­ AMERICA less. Through the folk arts program we fulfill another essential mission of a state arts agency: to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority. That means that we will produce images of our own origin, not a city TV producer's idea of backwoods culture. We present the untidy, exhilirating Franco-American traditional music as an alternative to the canned Country-Western sounds put out by the new computer-run radio stations. However, a living folk culture does not condemn us to the local. It is alive because it has links with the rest ofculture, and it maintains itself in the larger context because it has integrity. It is distinct but is not separatist. We can recognize it in part by its ability to absorb so many people who have come from somewhere else into its cyc­ lical patterns and language and practices. A beautiful cedar fan, carved in state selections have already been Will we save Vermont from the a single piece from an old fence made. influence of"flatlanders" and from post by Michigan folk artist Glen Future Homemakers ofAmerica CBS? Probably not and probably Van Antwerp, has arrived at the is a youth vocational education as­ we should not. new National Headquarters and sociation with over 400,000 mem­ The states and the National Leadership Center of Future bers from all fifty states and ter­ Endowment for the Arts have Homemakers of America in Res­ ritories. As a Board member for talked for years about creating a ton, Virginia. It is the first item to both the American Folklife Center "partnership." It is exciting to me be received through a national and Future Homemakers ofAmer­ to see that in this shared program selection process whereby Future ica, Raye Virginia Allen conceived we have been doing it. And we Homemakers will enliven their the project as a' way to honor folk have been doing nothing less than new center with examples of folk artists and crafts persons, stimulate feeding and renewing individual art from every state of the union. an awareness of and sensitivity to creativity and societal imagination Folklife Center Board member folk arts among the membership of in this country. Raye Virginia Allen, who is also a Future Homemakers, and encour­ -Ellen Lovell Future Homemakers Board mem­ age a process ofcontact and consul­ ber, is coordinating the project. I tis tation between folklorists and the designed to encourage the State national educational network rep­ Advisors and youth members for resented by Future Homemakers. I Charles Morrissey, Vermont: A History (New Future Homemakers, in coopera­ The project has already stimulated York: W. W. Norton &Co., 1981), pp. 3-4. tion with state folk culture coordi­ enthusiasm and useful cooperation 2 Jane C. Beck, ed. Always in Season: Folk Art and Traditional Culture in Vermont (Mont­ nators or other specialists in folk in a number of states. Participants pelier, Vermont: The Vermont Council on art, to select several representative can look forward to an official un­ the Arts, 1982), p. 18. examples of folk art from their veiling of the collection during the ' John A. Kouwenhoven, "The Trouble state. From these examples a final upcoming national leadership with Translation," Halfa Truth Is Better Than selection is made by a national meeting in July, when youth lead­ None (Chicago: The University of Chicago panel organized by Future Home­ ers from around the country will be Press, 1983), p. 49. makers. Although the cedar fan convening to dedicate the new fa­ from Michigan is the first object ac­ cility in Reston. tually to arrive, a number of other

APRIL- JUNE 1983 19 Too Slim (L), Doug Green, and Woody Paul (R) of Riders in the Sky performing at the opening reception for The American Cowboy exhibit. (Photo byJohn T. Gibbs)

Front Cover: A Pinelands cranberry bog in Tabernacle, N.J.

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