FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS FALL 2001 • VOLUME XXIII, NUMBER 4 American Folklife Center • The Library of Congress STAFF ONLINE INFORMATION RESOURCES Administration Peggy A. Bulger, Director American Folklife Center pub­ lications (including Folklife Center Doris Craig, Administrative Assistant News), a calendar of events, col­ Acquisitions lection guides, general informa­ David A. Taylor, Acting Coordinator tion, and connections to a selec­ Processing and Cataloging tion of other Internet services Catherine Hiebert Kerst, Archivist related to folklife are available on Nora Yeh, Archivist the Internet. Todd Harvey, Folklife Specialist The Library of Congress Web Programs site is available through the World Folklife Specialist Mary Hufford, Wide Web service (http://www. Michael Taft, Folklife Specialist loc.gov/). The Center’s home page The American Folklife Center David A. Taylor, Folklife Specialist can be accessed from the Library’s was created in 1976 by the U.S. Publications home page. Select “Using the Li­ Congress to “preserve and present James Hardin, Editor brary,” then select “Reading American folklife” through pro­ Public Events Rooms and Centers,” and then grams of research, documentation, Theadocia Austen, Coordinator select “American Folklife Center.” archival preservation, reference ser­ Reference The direct URL for the Center’s vice, live performance, exhibition, Jennifer A. Cutting, Folklife Specialist home page is: http://www.loc. publication, and training. The Judith A. Gray, Folklife Specialist, gov/folklife/ Center incorporates the Archive of Coordinator The Folkline Information Ser­ Folk Culture, which was established Stephanie A. Hall, Automation Specialist vice is now a cooperative an­ in the Music Division of the Library Ann Hoog, Folklife Specialist nouncement program of the of Congress in 1928 and is now one National Digital Library Program American Folklore Society and the of the largest collections of ethno­ Robin Fanslow, Digital Conversion American Folklife Center. It is graphic material from the United Specialist, Team Coordinator available only on the American States and around the world. Rachel Howard, Folklife Specialist Folklore Society’s server: www. Christa Maher, Digital Conversion Specialist afsnet.org. The service provides timely information on the field of Veterans History Project folklore and folklife, including Ellen McCulloch-Lovell, Director training and professional oppor­ Peter T. Bartis, Project Manager tunities, and news items of nation­ Sarah Rouse, Program Officer BOARD OF TRUSTEES al interest. Janice Ruth, Program Officer Virginia Sorkin, Program Officer Congressional Appointees Maegan Wood, James F. Hoy, Chair, Kansas Administrative Officer Kay Kaufman Shelemay, Vice-chair, Administrative Office Massachusetts Fax: 202 707–2076 EDITOR’S NOTES Janet Brown, South Dakota Reference Service John Penn Fix III, Washington Tel: 202 707–5510 September 11, 2001 Mickey Hart, California E-mail: [email protected] William L. Kinney Jr., South Carolina This time, instead of yellow Judith McCulloh, Illinois FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS ribbons, there was a prolif­ Nebraska Charles E. Trimble, James Hardin, Editor eration of flags. In my neigh­ Librarian Appointees David A. Taylor, Editorial Advisor borhood, on Capitol Hill, they Jane Beck, Vermont Sheryle Shears, Designer unfurled from second-story Norma Cantú, Texas Peggy Pixley, Production windows and fluttered from car Tom Rankin, North Carolina radio antennas. At a candlelight William H. Wiggins Jr., Indiana Folklife Center News publishes ar­ vigil around the Capitol Reflect­ Ex Officio Members ticles on the programs and activ­ ing Pool, as senators and con­ James H. Billington, Librarian of ities of the American Folklife Cen­ gressmen held a prayer service ter, as well as other articles on Congress traditional expressive culture. It is inside the Capitol, Washington- Lawrence M. Small, Secretary of the available free of charge from the area residents gathered in silent Smithsonian Institution Library of Congress, American tribute to those who lost their Michael Hammond, Chairman, National Folklife Center, 101 Independence lives in the September 11 Endowment for the Arts Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C. attacks. Along with their can­ Bruce Cole, Chairman, National 20540–4610. Folklife Center News dles, many brought flags, which Endowment for the Humanities does not publish announcements (Continued on page 15) Jack Santino, President-Elect, from other institutions or reviews American Folklore Society of books from publishers other than the Library of Congress. Cover: Megan Ogulnick, Centre­ Ellen Koskoff, President, Readers who would like to com­ ville, Virginia, lights a candle at a Society for Ethnomusicology ment on Center activities or memorial tribute on a grassy slope Peggy A. Bulger, Director, newsletter articles may address overlooking the Pentagon. Photo by American Folklife Center their remarks to the editor. Mary Hufford, September 22, 200l 2 Folklife Center News American Folklife Center Collects Reactions to the September 11, 2001, Terrorist Attacks “They Were Heroes But Now They’re Angels.” Posters line the wall surrounding Arlington National Cemeter y, across the street from the west side of the Pentagon, where a hijacked plane crashed into the building on September 11. Photo by James Hardin, September 19, 2001 By James Hardin and Ann Hoog similar initiative from sixty years janitors, oilmen, cab drivers, ago, when Alan Lomax was serv­ housewives, students, soldiers, The American Folklife Center ing as the head of the Archive of and physicians. People of many has called upon folklorists and American Folk Song. On Decem­ ethnic groups and ages ex­ other cultural specialists across ber 8, 1941, Lomax sent an urgent pressed their opinions on the the nation to document on audio­ message to folklorists around the political, social, economic, and tape the thoughts and feelings United States to collect “man on military aspects of the attack. expressed by average citizens in the street” reactions to the bomb­ The recordings were sent to reaction to the tragic events of ing of Pearl Harbor and the dec­ the Library of Congress, where September 11, 200l. These record­ laration of war by the United they were used to create a radio ings and supporting documen­ States. Recordings were made in documentary program that was tary materials will become part all parts of the country in which broadcast on the Mutual Broad­ of the Center’s Archive of Folk people expressed their immedi­ casting System. The program Culture. ate reactions to this cataclysmic was part of a series that was The September 11, 2001, Docu­ event. Interviews were conduct­ then distributed to schools and mentary Project is modeled on a ed with salesmen, electricians, radio stations. Fall 2001 3 the memorial tributes that have sprung up near the Pentagon and at the site of the World Trade Center disaster. These tempo­ rary memorials include posters, photographs, flowers, flags, and other memorabilia through which those connected to the disaster victims and others express their grief and sym­ pathy. Audio field recordings are especially valuable elements of our historical record, Peggy Bul­ ger says. And storytelling and other forms of expression help people manage their feelings: “It is cathartic to tell stories [about] where you were when you heard about the attacks.” While the Folklife Center is also accepting some of the more poignant of the countless email “May Strength, Courage & For titude Help You Bear This Heavy Price for accounts in circulation, “noth­ Freedom.” A memorial tribute on a grassy slope opposite the Pentagon, with ing replaces the recorded a list of names and the inscription “University of Nor th Dakota School of voice,” says Ann Hoog. “When Medicine Students.” Photo by James Hardin, September 19, 2001 you listen to those voices from 1941, along with the street nois­ Sixty years later, in this time of The Center will collect and es in the background, you are national crisis and mourning, the preserve the audiotaped inter­ better able to imagine the whole Center has issued a similar call to views and supporting materials context of that particular time the folklore community to help that present the personal experi­ and place.” create the September 11, 2001, ence stories of average Ameri­ Documentary Project. The proj­ cans in the wake of the terrorist For further information, see ect was suggested by reference attack. What were they doing the Center’s Web site at specialist Ann Hoog, who noted when they heard? How have http://www.loc.gov/folklife/. the comparisons being made in their lives been changed? In Select “December 7, 1941, Inter­ media reports to the bombing of addition, the Center will collect views” and “September 11 Doc­ Pearl Harbor. Peggy Bulger, photographic documentation of umentary Project.” director of the Center, who is also serving this year as president of the American Folklore Society, has emailed folklorists around the country to “document the immediate reactions of average Americans in your own commu­ nities to yesterday’s terrorist attack and to what many have called an act of war.” In Baltimore, folklorist Rory Turner, program director for the Maryland State Arts Council, has already heeded the call (see “Just for the Record,” by Ste­ phanie Shapiro, The Baltimore Sun, September 21, 2001, pp. E–1 and E–5). At a Chinese food and barbecue stand in the city, for example, Turner spoke to Doug­ las H. Strachan, pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, who was happy to share his thoughts: “You can’t let your hatred for one nation and one people destroy “Remember the Lost.” Poster on the wall at Arlington National Cemetery. your belief in humanity.” Photo by James Hardin, September 19, 2001 4 Folklife Center News A Spontaneous Memorial Near the Pentagon In the weeks following the September 11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon, a collection of so-called makeshift memo­ rials were constructed on a grassy slope nearby. Photo by David A. Taylor, September 19, 2001 By Mary Hufford are calling a “makeshift memo­ There are two components to rial” is growing. On a plot of the memorial.