Folklife Center News, Volume 8 Number 2 (April-June 1985)

American Folklife Center Library oj Congress April-June 1985 Volume VIII, Number 2 Dialect Collection for Folk Archive Kalevala Symposium Publications "Cowboy Poetry Gathering" held in new film created by a folklorist or (as Elko, Nevada; and a feature in The FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS was often the case) by a folklorist Christian Science Monitor about folklorist filmmaker team was carefully weighed a quarterly publication of the Paula Johnson's work with maritime and scrutinized. That long period of American Folklife Center cultural traditions in Southern Mary debate and experimentation was, I land. would submit, a virtual prerequisite to at the The Stone Carvers, by Marjorie Hunt achieving the Academy Award. Library of Congress and Paul Wagner, has already been But films are expensive enterprises, celebrated in this column (Folklife Cen and having an idea will not get you ter News, Vol. VIII, No.1, January very far without the institutional capac AJan Jabbour, Director March 1985). Now that it has won the ity to carry it out. Many folklorists of Ray Dockstader, Deputy Director Academy Award, and the millions the past generation enthusiastically Carl Fleischhauer who watched the ceremony have heard launched film projects through alli Mary Hufford of it, it is sure to be scheduled on ances with people and organizations Folklife Specialists national television and to have a brisk that, as it turned out, had little interest Peter T. Bartis, Folklife Researcher run of local screenings. The first and in folklorists' ideas and only exploited second causes of its success are the their contacts with folk performers. Patricia M. Markland, Program Assistant artistry and spirit of community among The resultant films thus portrayed Brett Topping, Writer-Editor Magdalena Gilinsky, Contracts Specialist the stone carvers themselves, and the people and subjects of interest to us, Doris Craig, Administrative Secretary artistry and filmic sensibility ofthe two but not in the manner we might have Lisa Oshins, Staff Assistant filmmakers. But a third cause deserves employed ifwe ourselves were in con Tel: 202 287-6590 attention here: behind the film lies a trol. By contrast, the development of short but intense history of thinking, The Stone Carvers depended upon a Archive of Folk Culture debating, and experimenting by folk matrix of institutional support from lorists in a quest for standards and the Smithsonian Institution, which Joseph C. Hickerson, Head approaches regarding documentary had initially directed attention to the Gerald E. Parsons, Jr., Reference Librarian Sebastian LoCurto, Staff Assistant films. And behind the debating and carvers by featuring them in the Festi experimenting lies a fourth cause: the val of American Folklife, and which, Tel: 202 287-5510 patient assembling ofthe network itself through its Office of Folklife Programs, that conducted the debates and experi provided auspices for the professional Federal Cylinder Project ments, and the gradual strengthening efforts of Marjorie Hunt and Paul Dorothy Sara Lee, Director ofthat network's institutional capacity Wagner. Simultaneously, the Folk Judith A. Gray, Ethnomusicologist to accomplish what it debates about. Arts Program ofthe National Endow The debates about folklife and docu ment for the Arts, by providing grant Tel: 202 287-9022 mentary film are actually old and support for documentary films featur Washington, D.C. 20540 interdisciplinary; filmmakers and an ing folk arts, became a key institu thropologists have been engaged in it tional vehicle for funding the ideas for some time. Within the network of generated by the folk arts and folk Managing Editor: Brett Topping folklorists there have been desultory life network. The D.C. Community conversations for a couple of genera Humanities Council, which now boasts tions; but by the late 1960s there was two folklorists on the council, joined a crescendo, and by the early 1970s the Folk Arts Program in funding for the interest was even more intense. the project. If this is what being part One sign of that intensity was the of the establishment is all about, it cer DIRECTOR'S number of sessions at the American tainly has made a difference, enabling Folklore Society's annual meeting folklorists to carry out with maximum COLUMN devoted to showing and discussing control the ideas they have been dream films. What styles or approaches to ing about. film best suited our subject matter? The "Cowboy Poetry Gathering" The end of the year has not come Could films allow people to tell their in Elko, Nevada, which brought to yet, when one is supposed to stop to own stories, or were they extensions gether an astonishing array of cowboy reflect on how things are going. But of our own mental constructs? Did the poets (upwards of a hundred) from three recent moments when folklife usual editing techniques in film violate various western states, was a triumph activities popped up in the national our folkloristic respect for complete of another sort. Project director Hal media provide an occasion for think performances? Does the presence of the Cannon, working under the auspices ing a bit about what it takes to get into filmmaker ineluctably alter the con of the Institute of the American West the public eye. My three "moments" text? What are the ethical dimensions in Sun Valley, Idaho, joined forces are the winning of the Academy Award of making films about the people we with the state folk arts coordinators for best documentary short film by a work with? Lively and earnest debates from most of the western states and folklife film, The Stone Carvers; The raged around such issues, and each other folklorists like Gary Stanton and 2 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS Meg Glazer to bring off the event. The over the past fifteen years about folk decade-and there has been a con public impact was little short of stun lore as performance, as well as increas comitant linking with the network of ning, including major features in The ing acceptance of poetic recitations as museums. The interview with Paula Wall StreetJoumal, The New York Times, a bona fide genre in folklore study. Johnson grew out of an encounter at the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, and As for the institutional backdrop to a national meeting sponsored by the People Weekry, as well as subsequent the "Cowboy Poetry Gathering," National Trust for Historic Preser appearances of cowboy poets in such an important ingredient was the ex vation, which bespeaks a growing col venues as The Tonight Show. perience our network has accrued in laboration between folklorists and Here again, it is worth reflecting on organizing festivals and other live preservationists around the country. the backdrop of ideas and institutional presentations. Beyond that, the key All these trends have been greatly networking that made the event possi development was the growth of the assisted by the increasing expertise of ble. The idea itself-that cowboy poe network of state folk arts coordinators, folklorists in material culture, inspired try and its tradition of composition which has been fostered over the past by the academic leadership of folk and recitation are worth paying atten decade by the Arts Endowment's Folk lorists like Warren Roberts and Henry tion to-might seem to the casual ob Arts Program. The coordinators in the Glassie. server simple enough, but in fact such western states began convening each The moral of my three examples is a radically new event requires a great summer during the Fife Conference on simple. Each example where our work deal of prior discussion. For years a Western American Folk Culture at reaches national public attention de handful of folklorists have been point Utah State University, and that annual pends upon a fabric ofprior thinking, ing out that cowboys of the American gathering strengthened their resolve to discussing, network-building, and West have a tradition ofpoetic compo collaborate on a project that spoke to institutionalizing. The thinking and sition and recitation parallel to their and for their entire region. Several of discussing has a strong academic base, already well-known singing tradition. the coordinators were interested in and without the academic dimension Knowing that the tradition exists was featuring the cowboy poetry tradition, of our network (despite occasional the first prerequisite. The second was and the idea received a final assist tensions between "academic" and agreeing that such a tradition was sig from the Arts Endowment. The rest, "public-sector" wings in our profes nificant, which for folklorists was facil as they say, is history. sion) it never would have happened. itated by fresh theoretical thinking My final example is a full-page The network-building and institution spread in The Christian Science Monitor alizing beyond the academic realm in on "Maryland's Maritime Folklorist." the past fifteen years have provided an It focuses on the work of folklorist additional critical ingredient, giving us PaulaJohnson at the Calvert Marine readier access to the public eye and BOARD OF TRUSTEES Museum in Solomons, Maryland. lending the resources required for Unlike the publicity regarding The major efforts in public education such Ronald C. Foreman, Jr., Florida, Stone Carvers or the "Cowboy Poetry as films, festivals, and exhibits. It takes Chairman Gathering," this journalistic essay nothing away from those who directly David E. Draper, Louisiana, Vice takes as its subject, not the folk or their created these splendid public products Chairman lore, but the work of folklorists. The to say that many others, in both the Edward Bridge Danson, Arizona interview explores what it is to be a academy and the public sector, have Jeanne Guillemin, Massachusetts folklorist and what a folklorist's rela helped prepare the way. Bruce Jackson, New York tionship is with the people being William L. Kinney, Jr., South Carolina studied. It also discusses the Calvert St.

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