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Vol. 28, #1-2 Winter/Spring

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Vol. 28, #1-2 Winter/Spring ONLINE INFORMATION STAFF RESOURCES Administration The American Folklife Center’ s Peggy A. Bulger, Director Website provides full texts of Gene Berry, Assistant to the Director many AFC publications, informa­ Doris Craig, Administrative Assistant tion about AFC projects, multi­ Michael Taft, Head, Archive of Folk Culture media presentations of selected David A. Taylor, Head, co lle cti ons, li nks t o Web re s o u rc e s Research and Programs on ethnography, and announce­ Debra Murphy, Special Assistant ments of upcoming events. The Research and Programs The American Folklife Center a d d ress for the hom e page is Ilana Harlow, Folklife Specialist was created in 1976 by the U.S. h t t p : / / w w w. l o c . g o v / f o l k l i f e / A n Congress to “preserve and present Guha Shankar, Folklife Specialist index of the site’s contents is American folklife” through pro­ Processing and Cataloging available at h t t p : / / w w w. l o c . g o v/ grams of research, documentation, Sarah Bradley-Leighton, archival preservation, reference ser­ f o l k l i f e/a z - i n d e x . h t m l Processing Technician vice, live performance, exhibition, publication, and training. The The Website for T h e Ve t e r a n s Catherine Hiebert Kerst, Archivist Center incorporates the Archive of History Project p ro v i de s a n Maggie Kruesi, Cataloger Folk Culture, which was established o v e rview of the project, an online Judy Ng, Processing Technician in the Music Division of the Library “kit” for participants re c o rding oral Valda Morris, Processing Technician of Congress in 1928 and is now one histories of veterans, and a brief Marcia Segal, Archivist of the largest collections of ethno­ p resentation of some examples of Nora Yeh, Archivist, Coordinator g r a p h i c material from the United States and around the world. v i d e o - and aud io- re c o rdings of vet­ Publications erans’ stories. The address is Stephen D. Winick, Editor h t t p : / / w w w. l o c . g o v / v e t s Public Events Theadocia Austen, Coordinator BOARD OF TRUSTEES The Folkline Information Ser- Reference vice is a cooperative announce­ Jennifer A. Cutting, Folklife Specialist Librarian Appointees m e n t p ro g r am o f t h e A m e r i c a n Judith A. Gray, Folklife Specialist, Tom Rankin, Chair, North Carolina F o l k l o re Soc ie ty and the Ameri­ Coordinator can Folklife Center. It is available Jane Beck, Vice-chair, Vermont Stephanie A. Hall, Automation Specialist only on the American Folklore Norma Cantú, Texas Todd Harvey, Folklife Specialist Society’s server: w w w. a f s n e t . o r g Kojo Nnamdi, District of Columbia Ann Hoog, Folklife Specialist The service provides timely infor­ Congressional Appointees Audio Engineering mation on the field of folklore and Daniel Botkin, California Matthew Barton, Audio Engineer folklife, including training and Mickey Hart, California Jonathan Gold, Audio Technician p rofessional opportunities, and Dennis Holub, South Dakota Digital Conversion news items of national intere s t . William L. Kinney Jr., South Carolina John Barton, Specialist Marlene Meyerson, New Mexico Reference Service Presidential Appointees Tel: 202 707–5510 Fran Mainella Fax: 202 707–2076 Director, National Park Service FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS E-mail: [email protected] Sonya E. Medina, Assistant Director of Stephen D. Winick, Editor and cover design Veterans History Project Projects, Office of the First Lady, David A. Taylor, Editorial Advisor Bob Patrick, Director The White House Sheryle Shears, Designer Peter T. Bartis, Senior Program Officer Lisette M. Mondello Peggy Pixley, Production Anneliesa Clump Behrend, Assistant Secretary for Public and Public Affairs Specialist Governmental Affairs, Folklife Center News publishes ar­ Jeffrey Lofton, Public Affairs Specialist Department of Veterans Affairs ticles on the programs and activ­ Sarah Rouse, Senior Program Officer Ex Officio Members ities of the American Folklife Cen­ Timothy Schurtter, Program Officer James H. Billington, Librarian of t e r, as well as other articles on Eileen Simon, Archivist Congress traditional expressive culture. It is Lawrence M. Small, Secretary of the available free of charge from the Smithsonian Institution L ib ra r y o f Co n g re s s , A m e r i c a n Dana Gioia, Chairman, Folklife Center, 101 Independence Cover: Pete Seeger displays his col- National Endowment for the Arts Avenue, S.E. , Washing ton, D.C. lection of recorders and flutes. Toshi Bruce Cole, Chairman, National 20540–4610. Folklife Center News Seeger is in the background. T h i s Endowment for the Humanities does not publish announcements photo was taken while AFC director Bill Ivey, President, f rom ot her i ns t it ut i on s or re v i e w s Peggy Bulger and AFC coordinator of American Folklore Society of books from publishers other acquisitions David Taylor were making Philip V. Bohlman, President, tha n t he Li brar y of Co ng re s s . arrangements to acquire the Seegers’ Society for Ethnomusicology Readers who would like to com­ collection of ethnographic films. See Peggy A. Bulger, Director, ment on Center activities or the full story on page 3. Photo: Peggy American Folklife Center newsletter articles may addre s s B u l g e r. S ou r c e : A m er i c an F o l kl i f e Judith McCulloh, Emerita, Illinois their remarks to the editor. Center 2 Folklife Center News The Incompleat Filmmakers: The Little-Known Career of Pete and Toshi Seeger Pete and Toshi Seeger at the Library of Congress in February 2006. Photo: Stephen Winick. Source: American Folklife Center By Todd Harvey and sixty years, are both excellent cine­ The Pete and Toshi Seeger Film Stephen Winick matographers. Throughout Pete’s Collection contains hundreds of c a re e r, Toshi has pre f e r red to reels of film footage shot by the The world knows Pete Seeger as a remain in the background, helping Seegers between 1955 and 1965. pioneer of the folksong revival, not Pete manage the many demands Since acquiring the films, the AFC as a filmmaker. He has always been on his time, so interviews with her has sought an opportunity to inter­ ready to share his musical experi­ are rarely published. It was with view Pete and Toshi about their ences with interviewers, and has great pleasure, there f o re, that work as filmmakers and about the even written a book about his members of the American Folklife context of the individual films. m u si ca l c ar e e r, The Incompleat Center staff were able to interview That prospect became reality in Folksinger. As a result, his time with both Pete and Toshi about their e a rl y F eb ru a r y, w h e n P e te wa s su c h g ro u ps a s T h e A l m a n a c brief but important career in ethno­ scheduled to perform in Washing­ Singers and The Weavers, his solo graphic filmmaking. On February ton. The Library’s Information career as a folk musician, and his 6, 2006, both Seegers visited the Technology Services agreed to film social activism are all very well Center to speak about their film the interview to broadcast stan­ documented. It is generally not collection, which the Center d a rds, with the Motion Picture, well known, however, that Pete acquired in 2004 (see FCN 26, no. 1, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound and Toshi, his wife of more than winter 2004, pp. 9–10). Division providing its studio. Winter/Spring 2006 3 his family; he played at singing in colleges, and we were small venues such as sum­ able to buy the camera and buy mer camps and college cam­ some film.” puses, which had less to fear “I was thinking, not to make from the blacklist. 1955 was money at this,” he continued, “but also the year Pete himself to do something which would be of was subpoenaed to testify importance to folklorists aro u n d before HUAC. Details of his the world. If they were curious testimony and the ensuing about American banjo-picking, seven years of litigation are they couldn’t learn about it from given in David Dunaway’s just listening to tape recordings.” biography How Can I Keep The September 1955 issue of the f rom Singing (1981). In Ethno-Musicology Newsletter c o n ­ e ss en c e, P e te ’s sc ru p u l o u s tains an open letter from the adherence to his ideals made Seegers, which provides insight the time even harder for him into their plans: than for most artists called to t e s t i f y. Wh i l e m os t ar ti st s We have embarked upon a study of brought before this commit­ American folk instrumental tech - tee either informed on others niques using a 16mm sound motion or cited th e Fifth A m e n d ­ picture camera, and would welcome ment to the Constitution, correspondence from others in the field Pete felt either course went concerning the form of such films as Pete Seeger in the 1950s, around the start of against his ideals.
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