American Folklife Center The Library of Congress

Fall 1991

Volume XIII, Number 4

Following the "Acadian Mass" held at St. David Church in St. David, Maine, June 27, 1991, parishioners carrying commemorative family banners lead clergy and congregation down to the place on the banks of the St. John River thought to be the site where Acadians first landed in the region (see photo on page 7). The history and cultural traditions of Acadians in northern Maine are described in an article that begins on page 4, part of a report from the American Folklife Center's Maine Acadian Cultural Survey. (MAP­ LO-B002-4) Photo by Lisa Ornstein AMERICAN FOLKLIFE CENTER THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS EDITOR'S NOTES

Alan Jabbour, Director Ray Dockstader, Deputy Director T imothy Lloyd, Assistant to the Director Doris Craig, Administrative Assistant Maine Acadians 1940-1954 (Mosaic Records) (photo Hillary Glatt, Clerk courtesy Michael Ochs collection). Camila Bryce-Laporte, Program Coordinator For those who think that Acadian­ T he advent of electric guitars clearly Jennifer A. Cutting, Program Coordinator American culture exists only in Loui­ made playing with your teeth some­ Acquisitions siana, this issue of Folklije Center News what risky: electric shock from spittle? J oseph C . Hickerson, Head offers a catalog of expressive traditions But electrification also permits the from northern Maine documented for hundred-foot extension cord favored Processing the Center's Maine Acadian Cultural by Albert Collins, among other show Marsha Maguire, Archivist Stephanie A. Hall, Archivist Survey. French settlement in Loui­ persons. Thus, without any loss of am­ Elaine Bradtke, American Memory Project siana and Maine was deeply affected plification, the guitarist can walk Catherine Hiebert Kerst, American Memory by seventeenth-century events that among the crowd, can even be carried Project lead to the Acadian diaspora or La on the broad shoulders ofloyal retain­ Grande Derangement, and the words ers, playing all the while. Programs Peter Bartis, Folklife Specialist Cajun and Acadian both derive from At the risk of adding fuel to the fire Mary Hufford, Folklife Specialist Arcadie, the original name for the of the Joe Wilson-Gary Serkin debate David A. Taylor, Folklife Specialist region that is now New Brunswick and over whether Hendrix was a guitar­ Nova Scotia. destroyer, may I express my own feel­ Publications James Hardin, Editor ing that he rarely destroyed guitars, but in any event was less likely to Public Events Hendrix Redux smash them a la Townsend than to Thea Caemmerer, Coordinator (Wasn't this in a movie?) spray lighter One more letter on]imi Hendrix, for all the fluid on the guitar, set it on fire, and Reference Gerald E. Parsons, Reference Librarian scholars of the performer's style, but no more, make a quasi-religious burnt offering Judith A. Gray, Folklife Specialist please. (See Joe Wilson, "Instrument of to the Blues-Rock Muse. Blind Men and Kings, '' Folklife Center Administrative Office News, spring 1990) There are marry other Anton J . Mikofsky Tel: 202 707-6590 guitarists, after all-and a number of them New York, New York Reference Service are pictured in this issue of the newsletter, T el: 202 707-5510 part of a report on significant acquisitions for the Archive of Folk Culture. Federal Cylinder Project Cultural Resources Management Tel: 202 707-1740 Re: "More on Jimi Hendrix" Directory from NPS (Folklife Center News, summer 1991 ). Board of Trustees I'm a fan of Hendrix. I even think his While it is not the policy of this news­ best work is right up there with letter to advertise the publications of Judith McCulloh, Chair, Illinois William L. Kinney, Jr., Vice Chair, Stravinsky, but it's not true, as claimed publishers other than the Library of South Carolina by letter-writer Gary Serkin, that he Congress, a new sixty-page booklet Nina Archabal, Minnesota "introduced a new form of creative from the National Park Service (NPS), Lindy Boggs, Louisiana,· Washington, D. C. showmanship ... playing with his A Directory of Training Opportunities in John Penn Fix III, Washington teeth, behind his head and back . . . ' ' Cultural Resources Management, is so Robert Malir, J r., Kansas Juris Ubans, Maine Such showmanship was a longtime much in accord with the Center's in­ staple of the blues world from the leg­ terest in cultural conservation as to endary days of Charley Patton and warrant notice here. The directory Ex q[ficio Members Robert Johnson up through the late T­ identifies workshops, courses, semi­ James H . Billington, Librarian of Congress Bone Walker and J .B. Hutto to the nars, and other short classes in cultural Robert McCormick Adams, surviving Albert Collins, Luther Alli­ resources management sponsored in Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution son, and others, none of whom copied the United States by various institu­ John Frohnmayer, Chairman, Hendrix. tions from October 1991 through De­ National Endowment for the Arts There's a beautiful old photo of cember 1992. Copies may be obtained Lynne V. Cheney, Chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities T-Bone playing a large guitar behind from Emogene Bevitt, National Park Alan Jabbour, Director, American Folklife Center his head while doing splits! It is repro­ Service (424/413), P.O. Box 37127, duced at page 16 of the booklet with Washington, D .C. 20013-7127. Tele­ The Complete Recordings of T-Bone Walker phone (202) 343-9561.

2 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS Recognition for Folklife Specialists FOLKLINE FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS While hundreds of professional spe­ James Hardin, Editor For timely information on the cialties-including historians, anthro­ David A. Taylor, Editorial Advisor pologists, and archaeologists-are field of folklore and folklife, includ­ Don Shomette, Design Consultant recognized in the job classifications of ing training and professional oppor­ Folklife Center News publishes articles on the Office of Personnel Management tunities and news items of national the programs and activities of the Ameri­ (OPM), which is the employment interest, a taped announcement is can Folklife Center, as well as other arti­ office for the federal government, available around the clock, except cles on traditional expressive culture. It OPM has no classification for "folk­ during the hours of 9 A.M. until is available free of charge from the lorist.'' noon (eastern time) each Monday, Library of Congress, American Folk.life When the American Folklife Center when it is updated. Folk.line is a Center, Washington, D.C. 20540. Folk­ lije Center News does not publish announce­ was created at the Library of Congress joint project of the American Folk­ in 1976, the folklorists hired for the ments from other institutions or reviews life Center and the American Folk­ new office were placed in the catch-all of books from publishers other than the lore Society. Dial: Library of Congress. Readers who would classification of ''arts and information like to comment on Center activities or specialist.' ' Today the Center has four 202 707-2000 newsletter articles may address their re­ staff members with Ph.D. degrees­ marks to the editor. and several others with M.A. 's-in folklore and related fields, and recently the Library's personnel office has agreed to give official sanction to the title "folklife specialist" we have been using informally. During the past two decades the number of public-sector folklorists has grown significantly. Many government and private agencies have found occa­ sion to hire folklorists for work on temporary or permanent programs. Folklorists in these agencies have ex­ pressed the need for a federal-wide job classification for folklorists as a stan­ dard to which they can refer, or at least for information about the specific job descriptions actually used now by individual federal agencies. Unfortunately, the number of folk­ lorists employed by the federal govern­ ment, and the number of federal agencies in which folklorists work, have been too small to justify a federal­ wide job classification. Although the Center has been told that an argument to the contrary will be difficult and time-consuming to make, it is taking up this matter with the OPM to see where it leads. In the meantime, we have sent the job descriptions we have recently used for folklife specialists, along with a statement of our policies and procedures regarding the employ­ ment of contract fieldworkers, to aca­ demic and public folklore programs throughout the country. To receive Zeb and Winfred Hannah performing for Joseph S. Hall in Cove Creek, North copies of these documents, contact Carolina, ca. 1941. This photograph by Hall is one of eighty-three he donated Timothy Lloyd, American Folklife to the Folklife Center to accompany the field recordings he made in the Great Center, Library of Congress , Smoky Mountains from the 1930s through the 1960s. Other recent acquisi­ Washington, D.C . 20540. D tions are listed on page 14.

FALL 1991 3 THE LONG HARD ROAD TO MADAWASKA: ACADIAN CULTURAL RETENTION IN MAINE'S UPPER ST. JOHN VALLEY

Spring potato planting on the farm of Leonard Gagnon in Frenchville, Maine, May 1943. (LC-USW-3-30705-C) Fann Security Administration photo by John Collier, Jr.

By C. Ray Brassieur PART I: SETTLEMENT IN THE ritory now known as New Brunswick with the editorial assistance of ST. JOHN VALLEY and Nova Scotia. David A. Taylor The date of the first European con­ The naming of the North American tact with Acadia is unknown, but con­ During June andjuly of 1991, the Ameri­ region known as Acadie or Acadia has temporary historians seem to agree can Folklife Center conducted a survey of been variously attributed. According that French fishermen and fur traders Acadian culture in Maine 's Upper St. John to one account, it was named by were among the first to land on its Valley, located in the state's northernmost Giovanni Verrazano, who explored shores. Undoubtedly, commercial in­ county ofAroostook. The project was directed the Atlantic Coast for France during terest in the region was stimulated by Centerfolklife specialist David A . Taylor the early sixteenth century. When he when the French monarchy began to and conducted in cooperation with the North visited what is now the Middle Atlan­ grant American fur monopolies in Atlantic Regional Office of the National tic states one April, "he found the 1588. In 1604, the merchant Pierre du Park Service, under a mandate of the Maine vegetation so luxuriant that he named Gua sieur de Monts, along with 120 Acadian Culture Preservation Act, which the country 'Arcadie' in remembrance men, including Samuel de Champlain was passed by the U.S. Congress in Novem­ of the region of ancient Greece whose and Jean de Poutrincourt, landed at ber 1990 (see Folk.life Center News, innocence and joie de vivre were St. Croix Island near the mouth of the volume XIII, no. 3, summer 1991, p. 5). celebrated by the poets." 1 But what­ St. Croix River (between Maine and C. Ray Brassieur was the project's field ever the provenance of the name, dur­ New Brunswick) and initiated the first coordinator. The following is an exerptfrom ing the early years of the seventeenth French attempt to settle North a report submitted to the Park Service at the century, "Arcadie" was changed to America. completion of the survey. ''Acadie'' and came to refer to the ter­ Eighty members of the party re-

4 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS mained on the island after the ship in the mother country and in settle­ Europe between Great Britain and returned to France. During the first ments in Quebec. Because their terri­ France and sparked the renewal of winter, the harsh climate claimed tory "was subjected to divergent hostilities in North America. Warfare thirty-five lives, and the colony was policies that turned it into a pawn on ceased in 1748, and the English then moved to a more favorable site at Port­ the great chessboard of imperialistic instituted a policy that would have Royal (now Annapolis Royal) in politics,'' the settlers concluded that, tremendous repercussions for the Aca­ present-day Nova Scotia. Eventually in order to survive, "neutrality was dians. Previously concerned with com­ it was abandoned, and the settlers the wisest course until one of the com­ mercial enterprises in the region, the returned to France. batants finally won the struggle." 2 English adopted the new goals of ter­ A second group of colonists re­ The developing Acadian identity re­ ritorial acquisition and colonization. turned to Port-Royal in 1610, more mained intact throughout the Anglo­ In the view of British officials and of joined the group the following year, French struggle for domination in the immigrants who came to Acadia and in 1613 another colony was estab­ North America. from New England after the founding lished at St. Sauveur on Mount Desert In 1713, Acadia became a perma­ of Halifax in 1749, the Acadians, who Island, Maine. Later that year, the nent English possession as a result of had ties with the French and the In­ colonies at Port-Royal and St. Sau­ the Treaty of Utrecht. The English dians, were obstacles to English set­ veur were both destroyed by English wished to make the Acadians into Brit­ tlement. 3 colonists from Virginia. While most of ish subjects and tried to persuade them the French colonists returned to to swear an unconditional oath of al­ France after the disaster, a few stayed liance. But the Acadians refused, in­ Acadian Diaspora behind and maintained a French sisting that they would not swear presence. alliance to the English Crown unless Following the resumption of hostilities their Catholic faith would be respect­ between the English and the French in ed and they could remain neutral in 1754, Governor Charles Lawrence of Territorial Conflict any conflict between the English and Nova Scotia again demanded that local Indians. The English agreed and Acadians swear an unconditional oath This conflict between the English and allowed the Acadians to pursue farm­ of allegiance to the English Crown. the French was merely one of the first Despite the growing strength of the in a long series of encounters that ing, fishing, and fur trading as before. English, the Acadians rejected the de­ would unfold over the next 150 years English tolerance of the Acadians' mand, and on July 31, 1755, Law­ in the area around the Bay of Fundy. neutrality ended in the 1740s, however, when warfare resumed in rence ordered the forcible removal of Port-Royal was occupied by the Brit­ ish throughout the 1620s. In 1621, the King of England gave the concession of Acadia (now named Nova Scotia) to Sir William Alexander. Alexander began a small colony in 1629, but it was disbanded in 1632 when the Acadia Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye returned Acadia to France. By 1636, other small settlements had been es­ tablished elsewhere in Acadia, and by 1650 Acadia had over four hundred French inhabitants, including forty­ five to fifty families in the Port-Royal and La Heve areas. These families are generally considered to be the found­ ers of the Acadian population. English forces seized Port Royal in 1654 and held Acadia for the next thir­ teen years. By the time France regained the territory in 1667 under the terms of the Treaty of Breda, the oC French settlers who remained had de­ E~·- veloped a capacity to think and act in ~~~ their own interests, independent of MICHEL J-C CYR European authorities. They adapted their French agrarian customs to the Acadia during the French regime, territory which today includes Maine, New local environment, and they began to Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. From The Acadians of think of themselves as a people the Maritimes: Thematic Studies, edited byJean Daigle (Moncton, New Bruns­ separate from their fellow Frenchmen wick: Centre d'etudes acadiennes, 1982), p. 127.

FALL 1991 5 the colony's large Acadian popula­ who left the New England colonies ten in 1920 by a local priest, Father tion. Thus began the Acadian dias­ headed mainly for Quebec and Thomas Albert. In his book Histoire du pora, otherwise known as La Grande Acadia." 6 Madawaska, Albert claims that the first Derangement. Although one might assume that Acadian landing on the southern side During the next few years, thou­ repatriated Acadians who wished to of the valley occurred in 1785 at St. sands of Acadians were loaded onto return to Acadia would return to their David, about five miles east of the British merchant vessels and dispersed original settlements, this was not present-day town of Madawaska, throughout the English colonies from generally the case: Maine. 9 Although contemporary Massachusetts to Georgia. For many historians and other scholars have not Acadians, the disruption continued for unanimously accepted this interpreta­ thirty years or more. Some were im­ tion, it is the one generally accepted prisoned in England, some were re­ In general, Acadians who returned to the by members of the region's commu­ moved to France, and others made Maritimes avoided resettling their former nities. their way to the West Indies, Quebec, land because it was now occupied by En­ and Louisiana. Many died of disease glish colonists and because the British and hardships suffered during the ex­ authorities preferred to have them scattered Acadian Settlement Patterns pulsion. Of Nova Scotia's twelve thou­ in small groups. For these reasons, they set­ sand to eighteen thousand resident tled around Baie-Sainte-Marie in western Acadians, six thousand to seven thou­ Nova Scotia and around Cheticamp on £le­ Canadians from Quebec joined the sand were removed from their Madame in Cape Breton. On Prince Ed­ Acadians in the Upper St. John Val­ homeland. ward Island, they chose the area around ley, and by 1831 there were over two It is estimated that as many as one Malpeque while in New Brunswick, they thousand settlers in villages along a thousand Acadians escaped deporta­ settled in the north, the east and the St. john forty-five-mile stretch of the valley, tion by hiding in the woods and liv­ River Valley. Those who returned to the from Fort Kent to Van Buren. Dur­ ing among the Indians as fugitives. 4 Fredericton area were forced to move to the ing the first fifty years of settlement, Some made for Cap Sable and northwest and northeast between 1784 and a thriving, Catholic, French-speaking, Pobomcoup (Pubnico) in Nova Scotia 1786 after the Loyalists arrived. Today, the and virtually self-sufficient farming and some went to the Lower St. John majority of Francophones in the Maritimes community with many Acadian cul­ River region in New Brunswick. are still scattered over these diverse regions tural features developed. Others headed north to the shores of as their colonization movements of the 19th Settlement spread up and down the Chaleur Bay in New Brunswick and and 20th centuries merely developed the hin­ St. John River, eventually occupying 7 Quebec, and the Gulfof St. Lawrence, terlands behind these areas. eighty miles or so along both banks the Gaspe Peninsula, and the St. (roughly from Grand Falls to St. Fran­ Lawrence Valley in Quebec. cis). The banks of larger tributaries, In 1763, the Treaty of Paris ended Within seven or eight years of the like the Madawaska, the Green, the hostilities between the English and the arrival of the Loyalists, Acadians Grand, and the Fish, were settled ear­ French and also halted the deporta­ moved out of the Lower St. John ly, especially near their confluences tions. It has been estimated that there River Valley, mainly to acquire more with the St. John. Smaller brooks were thirty-seven hundred Acadians in land and to secure the services of a flowing into the St. John also attract­ American colonies and between nine priest. Those on the east bank of the ed early settlement. The "flats" along thousand and ten thousand in other valley near Keswick (a few miles north the banks of the river were soon de­ North American locations and in Eu­ of Fredericton) generally moved to the veloped into productive farms, and rope by that time. 5 After the Treaty North Shore of New Brunswick or to clearing for new farmlands pushed of Paris, the victorious English permit­ Madawaska, an inland region encom­ progressively farther from the river ted Acadians to return to the Maritime passing the Upper St. John River Val­ banks. When the valley's French vil­ provinces, but stipulated that they ley in the northwestern part of New lages were created, a line-settlement must swear an oath of alliance and set­ Brunswick. The majority of the Aca­ pattern was established which remains tle in small groups. Concluding that dians on the west side of the valley also intact today. Virtually all public and there was no longer any possibility of went to Madawaska. 8 private buildings, including houses, receiving support from France, the Within the Madawaska region, churches, and mills, were dispersed in Acadians agreed to these terms. While Saint-Basile received its first settlers in a linear fashion along the courses of some who had been deported elected 1786, and it became Madawaska's waterways. to remain where they were, many founding parish. Other settlements After the establishment of the inter­ returned from Quebec, France, the developed along the Upper St. John national boundary in 1842, more peo­ American colonies, and the forests of Valley, to the east and west of Saint­ ple moved into the valley and the area New Brunswick. According to Muriel Basile. The establishment of settle­ of settlement was extended. The grow­ Roy, "refugees in the more southerly ments on both sides of the valley has ing sense of Acadian identity was rein­ [AmericanJ colonies headed for Loui­ not been the subject of rigorous schol­ forced by the publication of Henry siana, hoping for a more fraternal arly investigation. Indeed, the best Wadsworth Longfellow's poem reception in French territory. Those known history of the area was writ­ Evangeline in 184 7. In it, the couple

6 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS Gabriel and Evangeline symbolized the St. John Valley and southern New Notes the history of a people, both in their England continue today. Some who dispersal and their eventual reunion. left return to the valley for brief visits. 1. Jean Daigle, "Acadia, 1604­ During the late nineteenth and Others return when they encounter 1763: An Historical Synthesis," in The twentieth centuries, Acadians migrat­ difficulty adjusting to urban and Acadians of the Maritimes: Thematic Stud­ ed from their settlements in the St. suburban life in southern New En­ ies, ed. Jean Daigle (Moncton, New John Valley to other communities in gland and elsewhere. Still others have Brunswick: Centre d'etudes aca­ New England. Considerable out­ worked in distant places for decades diennes, U niversite de Moncton, migration of Acadian workers and and return for their retirement. 1982). their families first occurred in response Each summer large family reunions 2. Daigle, p. 17. to a shortage of millworkers in New occur in the valley as Acadians from 3. Wade Mason, "The Loyalists England during the Civil War. Avail­ throughout New England and beyond and the Acadians,'' in The French in ability of new clearable farmland return home. Weddings and anniver­ New England, Acadia and Quebec, ed. Ed­ diminished during the nineteenth cen­ saries are scheduled to coincide with ward Shriver (Orono, Maine: New tury just as the population in the val­ summer vacations. While the annual England-Atlantic Provinces-Quebec ley increased. Acadian Festival Family Reunion, Center, 1973), p. 11. cosponsored by the Madawaska His­ 4. Muriel K. Roy, "Settlement and torical Society and the City of Mada­ Population Growth in Acadia,'' in The The Valley Today waska, is very successful and garners Acadians of the Maritimes, pp. 125-96. considerable local publicity, it is only 5. Roy, p. 155. one element in a larger system of sum­ 6. Roy, p. 157. During the twentieth century, mecha­ mer family reunions throughout the 7. Leon Theriault, "Acadia, 1763­ nization increased the yield of farm­ valley. During the first week of July 1978: An Historical Synthesis," in The land but reduced the number of 1991, automobiles with Connecticut Acadians of the Maritimes, pp. 47-86. laborers required. Facing a decline in and Massachusetts license plates 8. Mason, pp. 7- 22. employment opportunities in their threatened to displace those with 9. Thomas Albert, The History home territory, many residents head­ Maine tags, demonstating that the of Madawaska, translated by Sister ed south in search of jobs created by Upper St. John Valley continues to be Therese Doucette and Dr. Francis the industrial growth of southern New the cultural hearth and home to many Doucette (Madawaska, Maine: North­ England. The connections between Acadians. ern Graphics, 1985), p. 42.

From the vicinity of Madawaska, Maine (Aroostook County), looking across the St. John River at the long-lot farms in New Brunswick, Canada, October 1940. The settlement pattern established by Acadian settlers remains intact today. (LC-USF-34-42151-D) Farm Security Administration photo by Jack Delano

FALL 1991 7 PART II: THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE

The Upper St. John Valley is not quite a part of mainstream America. The French language is in everyday use. Local foodways are conspicuous in both homes and restaurants. Catholic churches and religious shrines punctu­ ate the line-settlement villages of the region. Local farmsteads include dis­ tinctive houses, barns, and outbuild­ ings. Well-kept residential landscapes are decorated with religious statues, flowers, and an array of yard ornamen­ tation. The colors of many painted sur­ faces reflect an appreciation for contrast and brightness. Neither litter nor crime is a problem. Residents generally re­ fuse to lock houses and cars. On the Maine side of the Upper St. John Val­ ley, the one McDonald's hamburger stand is located in Madawaska (one in Van Buren closed for lack of business), and Madawaska has the only Chinese restaurant. There are no restaurants that serve only pizza, or only fried chicken. The downtowns of Fort Kent, Madawaska, and Van Buren remain vital centers for shopping. Although Acadians can be found in other parts of the state, there is general agreement that more Acadians make their home in the Upper St. John Val­ ley than anywhere else-that it is the "hearth" for Acadian culture in Maine. The Upper St. John Valley is known within Aroostook County (and, to a certain extent, throughout the rest of Maine) simply as ''the Valley.'' And there is a generally held sense that the region is distinct-marked by its French heritage and also by its natural resources, economy, and location along the international border, and also by Two men roast a pig in a homemade cooker at the 1991 Lavertu family a cultural milieu that is the product of reunion. (MAP-DW-B031-35) Photo by David A. Whitman the interaction of people of diverse cul­ tural backgrnumfa. mocher, and offspring) tended to be developed farms instead of dividing large throughout the nineteenth and them among offspring. When younger most of the twentieth centuries. When sons reached marriageable age, addi­ At Home on the Farm he married, the oldest son would often tional land was cleared to create new bring his bride into his father's house, farms for them. These farms were de­ Farming has been the principal occu­ and a new generation ofAcadian chil­ veloped on the higher slopes and roll­ pation of the Upper St. John Valley dren would make grandparents of par­ ing plains that stretched back from the since its early settlement. Until quite ents and aunts and uncles of sisters river and came to be known as Les con­ recently, the work force was provided and brothers. cessions. Local farm produce during the by the immediate family, though a Oldest sons usually retained the nineteenth century supplied most of tight-knit extended-family network house and farm when their fathers re­ the needs of the valley's population­ could be called upon during times of tired, and there was a tendency to vegetables, potatoes, buckwheat, oats, need. Immediate families (father, maintain the integrity of well- hay, sheep, hogs, and dairy products.

8 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS The arrival of the Bangor and consolidated into relatively few large After crops were put away in the fall, Aroostook Railroad at the turn of the operations. The expense of operating many men moved to les chantiers (lum­ twentieth century greatly altered farm­ large farms has become so great that ber camps), where they worked until ing. The improved transportation there are few new potato farmers, and it was time to prepare for planting. opened national markets, and the ex­ some previously farmed land is now This seasonal pattern continued far pansion of the market encouraged reverting to forest. into the twentieth century. Mark Jal­ farmers to put more land into potato bert of Frenchville remembers that his production. The early twentieth­ grandfather, Sam Jalbert, a famous century expansion of potato farming At Home in the Woods wilderness guide of the Allagash also contributed to the development of Waterway, often worked as a foreman a distinctive feature of Upper St. John The first order of business for Acadi­ on log drives. During the spring flood, Valley material culture-the Mada­ ans who settled in the Upper St. John Sam Jalbert's crew floated logs from waska twin barn, a pair of rectangu­ Valley was to carve farms from the vir­ the Allagash area down the St. John lar barns placed one next to the other gin stands of pine and other species. to the mill in Keegan . Mark remem­ with their ridges parallel and a roof As veteran pioneers, they were fully bers seeing log drives as a young boy that encloses the intervening space. prepared to make use of the forest during the early 1960s. Traditional farming in the St. John resources of the northern Maine Today, the lumber industry oper­ Valley was labor-intensive, although woods, and the great number ofwell­ ates year-round and provides work for mechanization has altered older pat­ built log houses testifies to their many valley residents. There are jobs terns. The old practice of harvesting success. in the woods, in the lumber mills, and potatoes by hand, employing school­ Commercial interest in the great in pulpwood factories. And indepen­ age children to do much of the work, pine forests of the North Woods be­ dent truckers are hired to transport continues at only a few farms. Valley gan during the eighteenth century, wood products. A reduction in the schools continue to recess for a two­ with Acadian farmers already on the work force caused by mechanization week period during the September scene to supply the food needed to sup­ has affected the lumber industry, potato harvest, though there are port the developing forest industry. however, and there is some concern claims that relatively few children par­ With the extremes of climate in this for the health of the industry itself: ticipate in the harvest. Those who do northern region, a pattern developed some observers believe that while tree­ are paid according to the number of of farming during the warmer months cutting continues to increase, the rate barrels of potatoes they pick. This and working in the forests in winter. of reforestation is decreasing. piece-work involves the hand-loading of split-ash baskets that are emptied into fifteen-peck (165 pound) cedar barrels. The local French term for the potato barrel is quart. The barrels are still built on a part-time basis by pota­ to farmer and cooper Adrien Morin and his sons, who live at Long Lake. Both potato barrels and baskets are sturdily constructed so as to stand up to the rigors of the potato harvest. Traditionally, the split-ash baskets have been made for potato farmers by local Micmac basketmakers. Today, potato farms in the valley are highly mechanized and require fewer workers. The transportation of potatoes is done by truck instead of train. The traditional potato houses on the farms are being replaced by large Quonset-type buildings used for both potato and equipment storage. Large eighteen-wheel tractor-trailer combi­ nations have become part of the typi­ cal farmscape, and the trucking of produce is currently one of the most common farm-related occupations. Though the farms continue to be owned and operated as family enter­ At Tardiff's sawmill in Fort Kent, Maine, Raoul Tardiff operates the saw. prises, many smaller farms have been (MAP-DW-B050-29) Photo fry David A . Whitman

FALL 1991 9 Self-Employment and Independence

Self-employment and family-operated businesses are characteristic features of the valley's economy. Many farming and forest-related occupations are owner-operated or self- contracted. T he contract lumbering of pulpwood, fire ­ wood, and saw logs, and the contract hauling of forestry and farm products are popular wage-earning strategies for independent-minded valley residents. Small, individually owned and operat­ ed saw mills continue to be part of the valley's economy. The Tardiff Mill in Fort Kent Mills, for example, produces custom sawn and rough-cut lumber from logs brought in by local farmers and woodlot owners. The smaller mills provide some local employment and encourage farmers and independent Plourde's Grocery on Route 11, south of Fort Kent, Maine. Businesses oper­ contractors to embark upon projects ated out of homes, like this one, illustrate a common economic strategy em­ that would otherwise be too costly. The ployed by independent-minded valley residents. (MAP-HM-B019-36) Photo do-it-yourself approach encouraged by by Howard W . Marshall the smaller saw mills exemplifi es the independent, self-sufficient ethic preva­ in restaurants and in private homes. In local homes, the potato is pre­ lent in the valley. Indeed, with so few ethnic, specialty, pared in many ways: baked, creamed, Large and small-scale fam il y and fast-food chain restaurants in the mashed, hash-browned, fried, stuffed, gardening of table potatoes, eshalo ts valley, the difference between the and boiled. It is prepared in au gratin (shallots), and other vegetables is com­ foods eaten at home and eaten at res­ and soujfle dishes, and used in stews, mon. Trade occupations like carpen­ taurants is not great. soups, and many types of casseroles try, woodworking, specialized and "Family-style" restaurants are com­ and salads. Potato doughnuts, potato custom sawing, roofing, small mon and offer full menus at both lunch cookies and muffins, potato custard machine mechanics, plumbing, elec­ and dinner. Lunch specials often in­ pie, several varieties of potato cake, trical contracting, tin work, and clude soup, a generous main dish, and and a few kinds of potato candy are general contracting are generally prac­ a dessert. One regional lunch favorite also made by Acadians in the valley. ticed by home-based, self-employed is met chinois (shepherd's pie), a cas­ Buckwheat is also an important craftsmen . Small family grocers and serole of mashed potatoes, ground component of the Acadian diet, and family-operated restaurants are the meat, and corn. A wide variety of fl our mills were established at Saint­ rule. The many cottage industries in­ sandwiches is also offered, including Basile, St. David, Grande Isle, clude knitting, sewing, weaving, the "hot hamburg," a hamburger Violette Brook (Van Buren), St. Fran­ basketmaking, axe-handle carving, steak on sliced white bread covered c;:ois , and Chautaqua (Frenchville) by hair-cutting and styling, candy­ with a thick brown gravy. Dinner selec­ the year 1800. Locally grown and making, catering, cake-decorating, tions include a variety ofchicken, beef, milled buckwheat is the main ingre­ maple syrup-making, and the making pork, and seafood dishes. In addition dient in ployes, a variety of thin pan­ of bric-a-brac crafts. Other enter­ to their "American" menus, several cake or crepe that is a local Acadian prises, such as trapping, guiding, restaurants also offer pizza, spaghetti, food specialty. Once the staple of every hunting, fishing, and gathering local lasagna, and other Italian foods. farm family, ployes apparently dimin­ wild resources like fi ddlehead ferns, It should not be surprising that ished somewhat in popularity as a new strawberries, and blueberries, supple­ potatoes-french fried, mashed, or generation of consumers was enticed ment family economies. baked-figure prominently in almost by nationally advertised products. To­ every meal. Restaurants in Frenchville day, ployes are on the rebound. They and Madawaska serve "Jojo pota­ can be ordered for lunch at Dolly's Foodways toes,'' large potato slices cut length­ R estaurant in Madawaska. Bou­ wise and batter-fried. Potato helpings chard's Acadian Ploye Mix, manufac­ The foodways of the Upper St. John are large, and they are the standard tured by Alban and Rita Bouchard of River Valley reflect both a distinctive­ side order with every entree; rarely is Fort Kent, is being marketed through­ ly Acadian tradition and a more there a substitute. One Fort Kent out the valley and beyond. general regional tradition. Both tradi­ restaurant serves french fries with Chicken stew is a favorite meal in tions are apparent in the food served spaghetti. the region, with small, rolled poutines

10 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS (dumplings) added to the boiling stock. In Louisiana today, a similar repast would be called ''chicken and dumplings,'' but the term poutines was ACADIAN WEAVING TRADITION in common usage among some Cajun families into the twentieth century. Spices used to season chicken stew and other dishes are important ele­ ments of local cuisine. Summer savory, for example, is commonly used. Bunches of the fresh herb hang from the kitchen wall at Doris' Cafe in Fort Kent Mills. Les herbes sales, the chopped tops of echalots (shallots) cured in salt, are also commonly used. Jars of this salty condiment are put up dur­ ing the summer and used throughout the year to season many dishes. Some traditional Acadian foods are normally prepared only for special oc­ casions. The 1991 Lavertu family re­ union, for example, featured roasted pig. The young pig was butchered and prepared by Jesse Michaud, owner of a small general grocery store built onto the side of his home in Frenchville. It was roasted whole on a grill made from a large heating-fuel tank of the sort in common domestic use. The pig was roasted by men outside of a large Quonset-type potato house in which dining tables were set up. In addition to the roasted pig, the meal included baked beans, several types of potato salad, and other salads. Different kinds of meat pies are also prepared for special occasions, includ­ ing Christmas and New Year's festivi­ ties. These pies are called tourtieres, and their ingredients may include chicken, pork, beef, veal, or a combination of these, and sometimes potatoes. For special large holiday gatherings, pot­ en-pot is prepared. It is a very large, layered, meat pie baked in a roasting pan. Layers of sliced potatoes, four or more different meats, strips of dough or dumplings, and seasonings are co­ vered with a pie crust and baked for C. Ray Brassieur interviews weaver Anita Albert at her home in St. Jacques, hours. A hole is left in the dough New Brunswick. Mrs. Albert learned to weave from her mother-in-law, and covering so water can be added dur­ her husband, Gilbert, has designed and built a machine that allows her to ing cooking. The traditional pot-en­ cut rag strips quickly. She has woven hundreds of catalognes (rag-woven cover­ pot usually has venison, wild birds, lets) and continues to produce them in the attic of her home. rabbit, or other game, as well as pork Traditional weaving and spinning, passed down from one generation to and beef. Allspice, cloves, and cinna­ the next, is rare in the United States. Almost all hand-weaving and spinning mon are commonly added. During the one sees today are the result of the revival or historical reconstruction of older 1991 Acadian Festival, pot-en-pot was techniques. Today's weavers are generally hobbyists who may have great en­ served at the Sirois-Duplessis Family thusiasm for the tradition but no direct community ties to it. But a weaving Banquet. tradition still exists in the Upper St. John Valley. (MAP-DW-B053-7) Photo Today the fall and early winter by David A. Whitman

FALL 1991 11 boucheries des cochons (hog butcherings) this holy water is often established by during the seventeenth century. Some are not as important social events for tradition and custom. Because many beliefs and oral forms from this period Acadian families as they were in the believe in its power to protect the have passed from one generation to past. However, a number of special home, holy water is kept there and the next and survive today, both in the products of the boucherie remain part of often displayed prominently. At the Upper St. John River Valley and in the food ways of the valley. Locally first ray of light on Easter Sunday, Louisiana. Since the two populations made cretons, a pork pate, is served in Acadians collect water from a spring have been separated for nearly two restaurants and is available at most and bring it to a priest to be blessed. hundred and fifty years, it is reasona­ grocery stores. Boudin, a blood sau­ L 'Eau Pacque (Easter Water) is consi­ ble to assume that traditions they share sage, is also sold at grocery stores. St. dered a powerful holy water that will derive from similar Old World John Valley boudin is similar to the never go stale. sources. boudin made by the French Creoles of Another religious object prominent­ For example, valley Acadians and Missouri and Illinois, but it differs ly displayed in houses and barns is Louisiana Cajuns share some stories from Louisiana boudin rouge, which blessed palm (les rameaux). The palm about mythical creatures. The lutins often has rice as an important ingre­ is distributed annually during Catholic who ride a farmer's horses at night dient. Nothing analogous to the boudin ceremonies on Palm Sunday. Some­ and plait the horses ' tails exist among blanc (white boudin) of the Louisiana times it is braided into a decorative both populations. Lutins live in caves Cajuns appears in the valley. Cartons, pyramidal form. Blessed palm is be­ and come out only at night . They are pork cracklings, are still made by Aca­ lieved to protect a building from fire so small that a locked door can not dians. The Creoles of Missouri also caused by lightning. It is used in a keep them out; they can pass through use the word gortons to refer to crack­ similar manner by Cajuns of Loui­ a key hole. Along with tales about lu­ lings, though the Louisiana Cajuns siana and French Creoles of Missouri. tins, tales about the feuxjollets (spirits) call them gratons. and loups-garous (werewolves) occur in The pastries and breads prepared both Louisiana and in the valley. by valley Acadians are similar to those Oral Traditions The persistence of elements of oral of Louisiana Cajuns. Crepes (thin pan­ tradition within a group may provide cakes), for instance, are still popular Along with other forms of traditional clues about the self-perceptions of its in the valley. Croxingnols (twisted pas­ knowledge, Acadians brought oral tra­ members. Consider, for instance, the try) are similar to those served in Loui­ ditions to the New World from France legend ofMalobiana that derives from siana. Beignets are fo und in Louisiana and in the valley. However, the Loui­ siana version is fried in deep fat, while the valley version is cooked in maple syrup .

Religion and Identity

Public and private images and expres­ sions of religion abound among the Acadians. The strength of Catholicism is clearly demonstrated by the many beautiful churches and associated buildings, statuary, wayside crosses, and shrines. The cult of the Virgin is everywhere visible. Some elaborate privately owned shrines to the Blessed Virgin are brilliantly lighted each night. The Acadian flag, with its prominent star (a symbol of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin) located on the French tricolor, is prominently displayed. It reaffirms Catholicism and links it with Acadi­ an identity. Private expressions of fo lk Catholi­ cism are also prevalent. The blessing and distribution of holy water has long Notre Dame du Mont Carmel Roman Catholic School in Lille, Maine, August been an important function of local 1942. (LC-USF-34-83641-C) Farm Security Administration Photo byJohn Col­ parish priests . But the actual use of lier, Jr.

12 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS the Malacite Indians of the valley. In 1920, the Abbe Thomas Albert, in his Histoire du Madawaska, recounted the tragic story of the Indian maiden, Malobiana. According to the legend, on the day of her wedding, a group of Mohawk raiders began to sack the Malacite villages along the St. John River. Malobiana's family and be­ trothed were killed and she was cap­ tured. Her captors forced her to guide them to other Malacite villages in order to continue their pillage. In­ stead, Malobiana guided the Mohawk canoes over the waterfall at Grand Falls. Though she sacrificed her life, the Mohawk invaders were killed, and her action saved the lives of many of her fellow Malacites. Today, Malobi­ ana's legendary deed is memorialized in the tourist center located at Grand Sault/Grand Falls, New Brunswick. Over the years, her story has been retold and recast in song, poetry, and dramatic performance. Another legend with the theme of self-sacrifice is the legend of Tante Blanche. According to oral tradition, the harvest of 1796 was ruined in the fields by an early snow. By the turn of the year 1797, famine hit the Aca­ dian communities along the St. John River. During this time of hardship, Marguerite-Blanche Thibodeau per­ formed many remarkable acts of char­ ity. Wearing snow shoes, she brought clothing and provisions to people Musicians Robert Cormier, Victor Albert, and Leo LeBlanc performing at suffering from hunger and cold. Tante a park in Madawaska, Maine, during the 1991 Acadian Festival. While the Blanche, as she was known, became three men now reside in Massachusetts, they all have roots in the Upper St. legendary for her selflessness. She is John Valley. (MAP-DW-B020-26) Photo by David Whitman memorialized at the Tante Blanche Museum in St. David, which was in the valley, and stories about This rich history of struggle, deter­ created by the Madawaska Historical pioneers who arrived without posses­ mination, endurance, and celebration Society. sions-not even tools-and proceed­ in the Upper St. John Valley has It is not surprising, given a history ed to establish villages and build created a body of cultural traditions of sacrifice and hardship, that Acadians houses. that is at once distinctly Acadian and should revere legendary characters who Although some of the stories cannot quintessentially American. The ' ' Aca­ sacrificed their own well-being in times be credited with historical accuracy, dian Saga'' is the valued heritage of of hardship. Longfellow's Evangeline, their function in creating a sense of the many long-time residents of the who endured tragedy and spent her last cultural identity runs deep. For exam­ region and of those who return again years caring for the sick, fits the cate­ ple, the ability to survive in the face and again to the Acadian "hearth." gory. of adversity is still highly valued, and It is their common possession and our The "Acadian Saga," as transmit­ the body of lore that pertains to the own. 0 ted by local Acadians, is very much " Acadian Saga" of deportation and alive. Because of its apparent impor­ eventual resettlement in the St. John tance to the identity of Acadians, it Valley is large and important. Such Folklorist C. Ray Brassieur is a program may be the most important body of legends, passed down orally through coordinator at the University of Missouri legend and myth in the area. There the generations, reflect values from the Cultural Heritage Center, Columbia, Mis­ are stories about Acadian pioneers past that continue to have meaning for souri. Of Acadian descent, he grew up in erecting a cross at the point of arrival Acadians today. Louisiana and East Texas.

FALL 1991 13 SIGNIFICANT ACQUISITIONS ADDED TO FOLK ARCHIVE IN 1991

By Joseph C . Hickerson

The following list describes many of the col­ lections acquiredfor the Archive ofFolk Cul­ ture during the 1991 fiscal year. Included are collections comprising especially large bodies of material, those of particular im­ portance to folklore, ethnomusicology, and related areas of study, and those that exem­ plify the wide variety of format categories represented in the collections.

A cassette copy of a wire recording of a 1951 concert and conversation by Woody Guthrie at St. John's College. The cassette, a gift of the recordist, James W. Mavor, Jr., represents one of the last public performances by Guthrie before his hospitalization. Fifty-three cassettes of Zuni storytel­ ling in the Zuni and English lan­ guages, accompanied by ten packages of transcriptions and translations and a final report, from Andrew Wiget, project director of " Telapna:we­ zuni Verbal Art in Performance." This project was undertaken by the Pueblo of Zuni and funded by the Folk Arts Program of the National Endow­ ment for the Arts. The first and second parts of the Burt Feintuch Northumberland collec­ tion. In 1986 Feintuch borrowed au­ dio recording equipment from the Folklife Center to assist in his documentation of the traditional music of Northumberland, England. The resulting tapes include both musical performances by and interviews with traditional and revival musicians and instrument makers at home and pub sessions, wedding dances, fes tivals, musical workshops, pipers' society gatherings, and radio programs. The collection emphasizes dance music played on Northumbrian smallpipes, fiddles, accordions, flutes, and mouth harps by such performers as Forster Charlton, Johnny Handle, Joe Hut­ ton, and Tommy Breckons, Alistair Anderson, Jack Armstrong, Billy Pigg, and Colin Ross. Mississippijohn Waters with his National steel guitar, Oakland, California, Eighteen tapes donated by Michael 1984. One of fifty-six black-and-white photographs of blues artists photo­ Seeger, containing the earliest record- graphed by Patricia Monaco and donated for the Archive.

14 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS ings he made as a performer and field­ fifteen of these tapes contain field work ard, Tommy Jerrell, Lily May Led­ worker. Included in the collection are conducted by the late Laura Boulton, ford, and Mike Seeger. performances by his parents, Ruth primarily in Micronesia, Angola, Thirty-eight home disc recordings Crawford and Charles Seeger, by him­ Mozambique, and Turkey. The re­ of gospel and secular folksongs, reci­ self and sisters Barbara, Peggy, and maining tapes contain lectures deliv­ tat.ions, and sermons made by Kate Penny as children, and by Elizabeth ered by Ms. Boulton and others based Sturgill and her neighbors in the late Cotten in 1952 and 1953. The bulk of on her fieldwork, which covered a 1940s and early 1950s in southern Vir­ the tapes contain field recordings of span of over fifty years. This collection ginia, donated by George Reynolds of three-finger picking-style banjo play­ comprises a supplement to the Laura Foxfire, Inc. These discs contain up ers made in the 1950s, including]. C. Boulton cylinders, discs, and tapes to four hours ofAppalachian folk mus­ Sutphin, Hilary Dickens, Oren, that were donated to the Archive by ic and lore and feature an exceptional Snuffy, and Verl Jenkins, Junie Columbia University in 1973 . performer who has been heretofore Scruggs, Wade Ward, Larry Richard­ The "original yellow ribbon" and sketchily documented. son, Don Reno, Joe Stuart, Bob two photo-posters, donated by Mr. and Twenty-three cassettes of musical Baker, Pete Kuykendall, Kenny Mrs. Bruce Laingen of Bethesda, events and performances recorded in Miller, and Smiley Hobbs. Additional Maryland. Also added to the collection Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, In­ artists in the collection are Pete See­ of material on the custom of display­ dia, in 1982, 1983, and 1990, donat­ ger, Woody Guthrie, the Coon Creek ing yellow ribbons are three seven-inch ed by former Archive Fellow Frank Girls, GrandpaJones, Hazel Dickens, tapes and thirty-eight photographs Korom. Included are life histories, the Stoneman Family, and Tom from the interview conducted at the traditional stories, devotional songs, Dillon. Laingen home on April 15, 1991, by drumming, rural brass bands, street Gerald Parsons and Gregory Jenkins. theater, verbal duels, mystical songs, (For article on the evolution of the cus­ legends, heroic songs, and perfor­ Fifty-six black-and-white photo­ tom and the presentation ceremony at mances on the classical flute and sitar. graphs of blues artists and venues, the Library of Congress, see Folklife The 1990 recordings used blank cas­ mostly from Oakland, California, Center News, summer 1991). settes provided by the Folklife Center. Chicago, Illinois, and Leland and In­ A large collection of folk music of Twenty-three cassettes of Georgia dianola, Mississippi, donated by the the Rushville, Illinois, area, donated folk music from the Georgia Folklife photographer, Patricia Monaco. In by Chris V allillo . V allillo was direc­ Archive. These cassettes were made in addition, Monaco has donated a type­ tor of the 1987 Schuyler Arts Folk August and September 1988 on equip­ script, "Bob Geddins Oral History, " Music Project, which was funded by ment loaned by the Folklife Center as which she compiled in June 1990. the Illinois Arts Council and assisted part of the Georgia Folklife Program's Geddins, the "father of Oakland by the Folklife Center's equipment "Metropolitan Atlanta Folklife blues,'' was an independent record loan program. The collection consists Project.'' Included is music by Carib­ producer and songwriter who died in of thirty-two tapes, six cassettes, bean, Columbian, gospel, Hmong, February 1990. twenty-nine manuscripts, forty-seven Mexican, Middle Eastern, Venezue­ Twenty-two tapes of Hawaiian mu­ positive photographs, and ninety-two lan, and Vietnamese performers. sic, including paniolo music and the photographic negatives. Among the Forty-nine tapes containing various chant that accompanies traditional recorded subjects are interviews and types of folk music recorded primari­ hula, donated by Lynn Martin, folk performances of songs, hammered ly in the 1950s and early 1960s, from arts coordinator for the State Founda­ dulcimer playing, square dances, fid­ Ed Cray of the University of Southern tion of Culture and the Arts in dle tunes, fiddle making, string bands, California. A major portion of the col­ Hawaii. These recordings were made guitar playing, jam sessions, rug lection contains music performed by on equipment loaned in 1986 by the weaving, and oral histories. Scottish Pipe Major James MacColl Folklife Center. In addition, Martin and British Isles folksingers A. L. has donated three copies of the com­ Lloyd and Ewan MacColl. Also in­ mercial release Nii Meleo Paniolo: Songs Eighty-three photographs from cluded are black music of Los Angeles of Hawaiian Cowboys, each a two­ Joseph S. Hall of Oceanside, Califor­ from the Singleton family and a cassette set containing selections taken nia. These photographs provide addi­ church service, Australian songs, and from the field recordings plus accom­ tional documentation of the Archive's selections by the following folksingers: panying booklets. (These cassettes large collection of field recordings Shirley Collins, Jean Ritchie, Robin were included in the Center's Ameri­ made by Hall in the Great Smoky Roberts, Mike, Peggy, and Pete See­ can Folk Music and Folklore Recordings Mountains from the 1930s through the ger, and Rosalie Sorrells. 198 7: A Selected List.) Six photographs 1960s, primarily of local dialect and Four cassette tapes of fiddle tunes of musicians who appear on the tapes music. and interviews conducted during a are included in the collection. Five hours of film footage and relat­ five-month stay in Franklin, West Vir­ Two hundred thirty-nine tape ed material from Y asha Aginsky of ginia, in 1974, by Nick Royal, coor­ recordings made in 1969 or later, do­ San Francisco. Featured in the films dinator of the Merrill College Field nated by the Laura Boulton Founda­ are such folk musicians as the Balfa Program for Experimental Learning tion of New York City. Two hundred Brothers, Elizabeth Cotten, Alice Ger­ at the University of California, Santa

FALL 1991 15 Cruz. The tapes feature the fiddling collection inc/udes eighteen sheets of chive at a later date. and words of Hansel Smith and Rob musical trar,scriptions, forty-two Photocopy of a more than five­ Propst. sheets of mu~ical arrangements, and hundred-page typescript contammg Seven cassettes containing thirteen one hundred ~ hirteen notebooks con­ 2,515 song texts from Bill Martin of half-hour programs in the second taining musiial notations plus a two Birmingham, Alabama. This compi­ "Downhome Dairyland" series broad­ hundred sixt en-page listing thereof; lation, which includes an index, cast on Wisconsin Public Radio Sun­ eleven files c ntaining folk dance no­ represents Mr. Martin's personal day evenings from March 4 to May tations plus a thirteen-page listing repertory and other favorite songs dat­ 27, 1990, donated by Jim Leary. thereof; thirteen published books and ing from 1934 through 1991. Sources These programs of traditional and eth­ folios contai1ing tune notations; a and composers are included for many nic music of Wisconsin and the Up­ copy ofJudetz 'Folk Dance Notation (Pitts­ of the songs. per Midwest are hosted by Mr. Leary burgh: Duq~esne University Tam­ Twelve cassettes, five monographs, and fellow folklorist Richard March. buritzans, 19r9), which describes the thirty-three issues of Musique Breton, Two of the programs, "The Polish dance notation system used; and four­ and three other serials were received Fiddlers of Posen" and "Woodland teen seven-inj h tapes comprising cop­ from DASTUM, a cultural organi­ Indian Fiddlers and Jigs," draw on ies of the riginal tapes donated zationin Breton, France. Archive recordings from the 1940s and earlier. Eleven back issues of Zeitschrift fur follow-up work with descendants of Two boxes and four diskettes con­ Semiotik were received from the pub­ performers on the earlier recordings. taining trans9riptions and correspon­ lisher. Twenty-two back issues of A brochure from the Wisconsin Arts dence relatin~ to field work resulting WL W [Women Library Workers} Journal Board accompanies the tapes and pro­ in the award-yinning book, film, and have been received from its publish­ vides brief descriptions of each pro­ recording ent~tled Powerhouse of God, er, McFarland & Co. of Jefferson, gram as well as the series as a whole. donated by Je1f Todd Titon. Conduct­ North Carolina. The Folklore Socie­ ed between 1176 and 1986, the collec­ ty of Greater Washington has donat­ Additional materials to the collection tion includes rterviews, hymn sings, ed 104 serial publications that they of tapes received last year document­ and church se1vices held at or in con­ received on exchange from similar or­ ing Romanian folk dance and music nection with the Fellowship Baptist ganizations. The Lloyd Shaw Founda­ traditions recorded by Eugenia and Church in S anley, Virginia. The tions has donated twenty-four issues her late husband Georghe Popescu­ original recorl ings and film footage each of the dance magazines Foot & Judetz, from the late 1940s through reside in the uman Resources Film Fiddle (Austin, Texas) and Northern the early 1960s, contributed by Eu­ Archive at th Smithsonian; copies of Junket (Keene, New Hampshire). Over genia Popescu-Judetz. The present the tapes will be donated to the Ar­ thirty-five numbers of Banjo Newsletter were received from its publisher, H ub Nitchie. Fourteen issues of Gairm, a Scots Gaelic folklore magazine have been received from its publisher in Glasgow. Eight issues of the American Folklore Society's Public Programs Newsletter have been donated by its current editor, Steven Ohrn; three ad­ ditional issues were received from former editor Steve Siporin. Six issues of the folk dance magazine Viltis have been received from Morton Leeds. The National Council for the Tradi­ tional Arts has contributed 144 peri­ odicals, 50 books and pamphlets, and 1 manuscript. In all, the following statistics reflect materials acquired for the Archive of Folk Culture in Fiscal Year 1991: monographs 828; serials 2, 768; manu­ scripts 403; compact discs 183; LPs 263; 45s 8; discs (unpublished) 38; dictaphone belts 15 ; audiotapes 485; audiocassettes 508; films 17; video­ George Paul "Peppie" Cooke II (deceased) and Georg Paul "Gippy" Cooke tapes/ cassettes 12; diskettes 14; photos III, who were recorded by Ricardo Trimillos and Ly n Martin for the Folk 501; slides 264; contact sheets 29; Arts Program of Hawaii's State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, using posters 23; maps 1; sheet music 19 ; equipment loaned in 1986 by the Folklife Center. ephemera 3,575; miscellaneous 1. D

16 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS NEW PUBLICATIONS FROM THE AMERICAN FOLKLIFE CENTER

FOLKLIFE ANNUAL 90

"Is there a folk in the city?" asked the well-known folklorist Richard Dorson in questioning the notion that only the rural poor are "folk." With articles on church murals and tavern decoration in Pittsburgh and Buffalo, graffiti memorials in New York City, African­ American life in Houston, and com­ munity identity in Baltimore, Folklife Annual 90 demonstrates that tradition­ al expressive life and culture are to be found wherever people join together with common purposes and beliefs­ whether in the city or the country. Edited byJames Hardin of the Ameri­ can Folklife Center, the new collection ofeleven articles is the fifth in a series designed to present the richness of American folk culture to a wide au­ dience. Four folklorists describe the way mural paintings have been used as " aids to adaptation," to help im­ migrants embrace their new life in America without wholly giving up the Old World. In Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia, the decoration of ethnic churches with narrative reli­ gious murals-a tradition brought from Eastern Europe-provide fa­ miliar contexts for parishioners. The custom spills out the church door as self-trained painters hired to help the masters are enlisted by members of the community to decorate taverns and private homes. A fifth folklorist describes the way painted screens pro­ vide a sense of identity in a Baltimore neighborhood, just as church and home murals define and express for their respective communities who and what they are. Three articles on the uses of photog­ raphy develop a similar theme: one shows the way photograph albums de­ fine different views of family life; one on photographer Benny Joseph shows the way he created emblems ofdistinc­ tion and achievement for the African­ American community in Houston; and one on Deaf photographer Mag­ "Mary, Queen of Croatians," by Maxo Vanka, 1937. Altar painting for St. gie Lee Sayre shows the way she used Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church in Millvale, Pennsylvania

FALL 1991 17 her art to open a dialogue with other persons by documenting her life on a Tennessee River houseboat. By way of comparison, another article inves­ tigates personal relationships in a Deaf social club in Philadelphia. And finally an article on the church architecture of the Tohono O'odham Nation in Arizona demonstrates the resources of one group accommodating itself to the influences of another. The underlying theme of the volume is the search for identity, and the ways in which decoration, design, arrangement, and various forms of ar­ tistic expression aid in that search­ whether religious mural, tavern deco­ ration, or painted window screen. The 176-page clothbound volume includes 156 illustrations, with 45 in full color. Folklife Annual 90 is available by mail for $19 (including postage and han­ dling) from the Superintendent of Documents, New Orders, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954 (Cite title and stock number when or­ dering: SN 030-000-00230-0); and from U.S Government Bookstores. Alma Jo Springs, United Negro College Fund Queen, 1960. Photo by Benny Joseph from Folklife Annual 90.

A COMMONWEALTH OF tions can be forgotten, transformed, or $1 per copy (for example, 50 copies CULTURES strengthened and shared with others. would cost $75). The price includes Traditional culture is created from postage and handling. Make checks American Folklife: A Commonwealth of shared experience, and the process oc­ payable to the American Folklife Cultures provides a lively introduction curs within and among the many Center. to the subject of traditional American different groups that make up the na­ life and culture. Written by Center tion: familial, occupational, religious, FOLK RECORDINGS LIST folklorist Mary Hufford, the twenty­ and regional, as well as ethnic. The page, full-color booklet includes eigh­ ''art of associating together'' is itself American Folk Music and Folklore Record­ teen photographs, a history and a distinctly American tradition, and ings 1990: A Selected List, edited by Jen­ defi nition of folklife study, a perspec­ the myriad groups in America (all of nifer Cutting, 16 pages, illustrated. tive on the subject of American cultur­ them with the possibility of becoming The latest in the series presenting a list al diversity, and a section on the work folklife communities) enrich the nation of the best folk recordings of the year of folklorists. and make us ''a commonwealth of as judged by a panel of specialists. Folklorists were investigating and cultures." Free from the American Folklife celebrating cultural diversity long be­ American Folklife: A Commonwealth of Center. fore it became a fashionable topic, and Cultures was printed at Print '91, in Dr. Hufford addresses the question of Chicago, Illinois, by Heidelberg ONE SPACE, MANY PLACES whether America is (or ought to be) Eastern, Inc., on recycled paper a "melting pot" within which various provided by the S.D. Warren Compa­ One Space, Many Places: Folklife and Land ethnic groups are transformed into ny and the Gilbert Paper Company. Use in New jersey's Pinelands National homogenized Americans. She argues Publication was supported by the Reserve (1986), by Mary H ufford, 144 that cultural difference is not ''a Center's Elizabeth Hamer Kegan pages, illustrated. Reprint of the problem to be solved, but a tremen­ Fund. Examination copies are availa­ report on the Folklife Center's 1983­ dous opportunity, a rich resource for ble free of charge from the American 85 Pinelands Folklife Project, which all Americans, who constantly shape Folklife Center, Library of Congress, has become a standard text in the liter­ and transform their many cultures." Washington, D.C. 20540. Multiple ature on cultural conservation. Avail­ But America should not be thought copies may be ordered at the follow­ able from the American Folklife of as ' 'a fixed mosaic of ethnic en­ ing rates: for the first 25 copies, $2 per Center for $15, plus $3. 50 for postage claves ." Communities evolve; tradi- copy; for additional copies thereafter, and handling. D

18 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS HOUSE EXHIBITS PHOTOS FROM LOWELL FOLKLIFE PROJECT

Above: At an exhibit ofphotographs byJohn Lueders-Booth in the Can­ non House Office Building in Washington, D.C., "Lowell Folk­ life: Portraits of Culture in a New England Town," from left to right: Center folklife specialist David A. Taylor; Rep. Chester G. Atkins, Massachusetts Fifth District; Center director Alan Jabbour; Rep. John W. Oliver, Massachusetts First Dis­ trict; and Center folklife specialist Peter Bartis, who coordinated the exhibit. The two-week display of photographs, selected from the Center's Lowell Folklife Project collection was sponsored by Con­ gressman Atkins and mounted Sep­ Mme. Yvonne Lagasse, at her home in Lowell, Massachusetts, describing her tember 23 to October 4 through a memories of "Little Canada" to folklorist Doug DeNatale, field coordinator joint effort of the Center and the for the Lowell Folklife Project, August 11 , 1987. From American Folklife: A Library's Interpretive Programs Commonwealth of Cultures. Office. Photo by Reid Baker

FALL 1991 19 i' ' l t ,, P •

Bob Geddins holding the sheet music for "Haunted House," which he wrote for Johnny Fuller in the late 1940s. The 1987 photo by Patricia Monaco is one of fifty-six she donated to the Folklife Center. Other recent acquisitions are listed on page 14.

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS BU LK RATE AM ERI CAN FOLK LIFE CENTER POSTAGE & FEES PAID WASHINGTON, D.C. 20540 LI BRARY OF CONGRESS WASHINGTON, D.C. OFFIC IAL BUSINESS PERMIT No. G-103 PENALT Y FOR PR IVATE USE, $300

ISSN 0149-6840 Catalog Card No. 77-649628