Public folklore
Encyclopedia
Public folklore is the term for the work done by folklorists
in public settings in the United States
and Canada
outside of universities and colleges, such as arts councils, museums, folklife festivals, radio stations, etc. The term is actually short for "public sector folklore" and was first used by members of the American Folklore Society
in the early 1970s. Archie Green
is generally credited as the founder of the public folklore movement, although his work builds on that of Ben Botkin and Alan Lomax
, going back as far as the 1930s. (They called their work "applied folklore
," a related but distinct paradigm.)
The birth of public folklore can be traced back to the creation of the American Folklife Center
at the Library of Congress
in 1970, by an act of Congress, sponsored by Sen. Ralph Yarborough
(D-TX) and written by Green and then-Senate aide Jim Hightower
. Other national programs were later established at the Smithsonian Institution
and the National Endowment for the Arts
(NEA), where prominent folklorists such as Ralph Rinzler
, Alan Jabbour
, and Bess Lomax Hawes
worked. Funding programs were also established in the 1970s and 1980s in over 40 state arts councils, and these facilitated the eventual creation or funding of major non-profit centers for folklife
documentation and presentation, such as City Lore
and the Center for Traditional Music and Dance
in New York, Texas Folklife Resources, Northwest Folklife, the Western Folklife Center, and the Philadelphia Folklore Project.
Public folklorists are engaged with the documentation, preservation, and presentation of traditional forms of folk art
s, craft
, folk music
, and other genres of traditional folklife
. In later years, public folklorists have also become involved in economic and community development projects.
Each year, some 15 outstanding American folk artists and performers are awarded National Heritage Fellowship
s from the NEA for their lifetime achievement. Some more widely known awardees over the years have included John Lee Hooker
, B.B. King, Clifton Chenier
, Earl Scruggs
, Michael Flatley
, Shirley Caesar
, Albertina Walker
, Janette Carter
, Koko Taylor
, Brownie McGhee
, Sonny Terry
, Jean Ritchie
, Sunnyland Slim
, Lydia Mendoza
, Boozoo Chavis
, Zakir Hussain
, Helen Cordero
, Margaret Tafoya
, Santiago Jiménez, Jr.
, John Cephas, Bois Sec Ardoin, Mick Moloney
, Clarence Fountain & the Blind Boys, Esther Martinez
, and the Dixie Hummingbirds.
The Smithsonian Institution features the Smithsonian Folklife Festival
every June and July which attracts upwards of two million people to hear live performances and view demonstrations of traditional crafts.
Public folklorists also work in "folk arts in the schools" programs, presenting master traditional artists to primary and secondary schools in demonstrations and residencies. They develop apprenticeship programs to foster the teaching of traditional arts by recognized masters. They also present traditional music on radio programs such as American Routes
on Public Radio International
. Occasionally they produce documentary film
s on aspects of traditional arts; Smithsonian folklorist Marjorie Hunt won an Academy Award
for her 1984 short documentary
film The Stone Carvers
about the carvers at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
Folkloristics
Folkloristics is the formal academic study of folklore. The term derives from a nineteenth century German designation of folkloristik to distinguish between folklore as the content and folkloristics as its study, much as language is distinguished from linguistics...
in public settings in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
outside of universities and colleges, such as arts councils, museums, folklife festivals, radio stations, etc. The term is actually short for "public sector folklore" and was first used by members of the American Folklore Society
American Folklore Society
The American Folklore Society is the US-based professional association for folklorists, with members from the US, Canada, and around the world. It was founded in 1888 by William Wells Newell, who stood at the center of a diverse group of university-based scholars, museum anthropologists, and men...
in the early 1970s. Archie Green
Archie Green
Archie Green was a folklorist specializing in laborlore and American folk music. Devoted to understanding vernacular culture, he gathered and commented upon the speech, stories, songs, emblems, rituals, art, artifacts, memorials, and landmarks which constitute laborlore...
is generally credited as the founder of the public folklore movement, although his work builds on that of Ben Botkin and Alan Lomax
Alan Lomax
Alan Lomax was an American folklorist and ethnomusicologist. He was one of the great field collectors of folk music of the 20th century, recording thousands of songs in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, the Caribbean, Italy, and Spain.In his later career, Lomax advanced his theories of...
, going back as far as the 1930s. (They called their work "applied folklore
Applied folklore
Applied folklore is the branch of folkloristics concerned with the study and use of folklore and traditional cultural materials to address or solve real social problems. The term was coined in 1939 in a talk by folklorist Benjamin A. Botkin who, along with Alan Lomax, became the foremost proponent...
," a related but distinct paradigm.)
The birth of public folklore can be traced back to the creation of the American Folklife Center
American Folklife Center
The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC was created by Congress in 1976 "to preserve and present American Folklife" . The center includes the Archive of Folk Culture, established at the Library in 1928 as a repository for American folk music...
at the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
in 1970, by an act of Congress, sponsored by Sen. Ralph Yarborough
Ralph Yarborough
Ralph Webster Yarborough was a Texas Democratic politician who served in the United States Senate and was a leader of the progressive or liberal wing of his party in his many races for statewide office...
(D-TX) and written by Green and then-Senate aide Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower
James Allen "Jim" Hightower is an American syndicated columnist, activist and author.-Life and career:Born in Denison, Texas, Hightower came from a working class background. He worked his way through college as assistant general manager of the Denton Chamber of Commerce and later landed a spot as...
. Other national programs were later established at the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
and the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
(NEA), where prominent folklorists such as Ralph Rinzler
Ralph Rinzler
Ralph Rinzler was the co-founder of the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the Mall every summer in Washington, D.C., where he worked as a curator for American art, music, and folk culture at the Smithsonian....
, Alan Jabbour
Alan Jabbour
-Biography:Jabbour was born in Jacksonville, Florida. His grandfather had immigrated to the United States from Syria, and his father later joined him. He was educated in the Jacksonville public schools and at the Bolles School, where he graduated from high school in 1959. He graduated magna cum...
, and Bess Lomax Hawes
Bess Lomax Hawes
Bess Lomax Hawes was an American folk musician, folklorist, and researcher. She was the daughter of John Avery Lomax and Bess Bauman-Brown Lomax, and the sister of Alan Lomax.-Early life and education:...
worked. Funding programs were also established in the 1970s and 1980s in over 40 state arts councils, and these facilitated the eventual creation or funding of major non-profit centers for folklife
Folklife
Folklife is an extension of, and often an alternate term for the subject of, folklore. The term gained usage in the United States in the 1960s from its use by such folklore scholars as Don Yoder and Warren Roberts, who wished to recognize that the study of folklore goes beyond oral genres to...
documentation and presentation, such as City Lore
City Lore
City Lore: the New York Center for Urban Culture was founded in 1986 - the first organization in the United States devoted expressly to the "documentation, preservation, and presentation of urban folk culture." Their mission is to produce programs and publications that convey the richness of New...
and the Center for Traditional Music and Dance
Center for Traditional Music and Dance
The Center for Traditional Music and Dance is a leading folk/traditional arts organization based in New York City. Originally established as the Balkan Arts Center in 1968, CTMD assists the city's ethnic and immigrant communities in maintaining their traditions and cultural heritage...
in New York, Texas Folklife Resources, Northwest Folklife, the Western Folklife Center, and the Philadelphia Folklore Project.
Public folklorists are engaged with the documentation, preservation, and presentation of traditional forms of folk art
Folk art
Folk art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople. In contrast to fine art, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic....
s, craft
Craft
A craft is a branch of a profession that requires some particular kind of skilled work. In historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Medieval history and earlier, the term is usually applied towards people occupied in small-scale production of goods.-Development from the past until...
, folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, and other genres of traditional folklife
Folklife
Folklife is an extension of, and often an alternate term for the subject of, folklore. The term gained usage in the United States in the 1960s from its use by such folklore scholars as Don Yoder and Warren Roberts, who wished to recognize that the study of folklore goes beyond oral genres to...
. In later years, public folklorists have also become involved in economic and community development projects.
Each year, some 15 outstanding American folk artists and performers are awarded National Heritage Fellowship
National Heritage Fellowship
The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States' highest honor in the folk and traditional arts...
s from the NEA for their lifetime achievement. Some more widely known awardees over the years have included John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark...
, B.B. King, Clifton Chenier
Clifton Chenier
Clifton Chenier , a Creole French-speaking native of Opelousas, Louisiana, was an eminent performer and recording artist of Zydeco, which arose from Cajun and Creole music, with R&B, jazz, and blues influences. He played the accordion and won a Grammy Award in 1983...
, Earl Scruggs
Earl Scruggs
Earl Eugene Scruggs is an American musician noted for perfecting and popularizing a 3-finger banjo-picking style that is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music...
, Michael Flatley
Michael Flatley
Michael Ryan Flatley is an American Irish dancer, choreographer, actor, musician and occasional television presenter. He became internationally known for Irish dance shows Riverdance, Lord of the Dance, Feet of Flames, and Celtic Tiger...
, Shirley Caesar
Shirley Caesar
Shirley Ann Caesar is an American Gospel music singer, songwriter and recording artist whose career has spanned six decades...
, Albertina Walker
Albertina Walker
-Early years:Walker was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Ruben and Camille Coleman Walker. Her mother was born in Houston County, Georgia, and her father in Bibb County, Georgia. They moved to Chicago between 1917-1920 where they lived out their lives. Albertina had four siblings born in Bibb County...
, Janette Carter
Carter Family
The Carter Family was a traditional American folk music group that recorded between 1927 and 1956. Their music had a profound impact on bluegrass, country, Southern Gospel, pop and rock musicians as well as on the U.S. folk revival of the 1960s. They were the first vocal group to become country...
, Koko Taylor
Koko Taylor
Koko Taylor sometimes spelled KoKo Taylor was an American Chicago blues musician, popularly known as the "Queen of the Blues." She was known primarily for her rough, powerful vocals and traditional blues stylings....
, Brownie McGhee
Brownie McGhee
Walter Brown McGhee was a Piedmont blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaborations with the harmonica player Sonny Terry.-Life and career:...
, Sonny Terry
Sonny Terry
Saunders Terrell, better known as Sonny Terry was a blind American Piedmont blues musician. He was widely known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers, and imitations of trains and fox hunts.-Career:Terry was born in Greensboro, Georgia...
, Jean Ritchie
Jean Ritchie
Jean Ritchie is an American folk singer, songwriter, and Appalachian dulcimer player.- Out of Kentucky :Abigail and Balis Ritchie of Viper, Kentucky had 14 children, and Jean was the youngest...
, Sunnyland Slim
Sunnyland Slim
Albert "Sunnyland Slim" Luandrew was an American blues pianist, who was born in the Mississippi Delta, and later moved to Chicago, Illinois, to contribute to that city's post-war scene as a center for blues music...
, Lydia Mendoza
Lydia Mendoza
Lydia Mendoza was an American guitarist and singer of Tejano music. She is known as La Alondra de la Frontera ....
, Boozoo Chavis
Boozoo Chavis
Wilson Anthony "Boozoo" Chavis was a zydeco musician - music created by French speaking Creoles of South-West Louisiana. He was active from 1954 until his death during which time he largely sang and played the accordion. Chavis was also a prolific writer of zydeco songs...
, Zakir Hussain
Zakir Hussain (musician)
Zakir Hussain , , is an Indian tabla player, musical producer, film actor and composer.-Early life:Hussain was born in Mumbai, India to the legendary tabla player Alla Rakha. He attended St...
, Helen Cordero
Helen Cordero
Helen Cordero was a Cochiti Pueblo potter from Cochiti, New Mexico. She was renowned for her storyteller dolls, a genre she invented. In 1986 she was made a National Heritage Fellow.-External links:*...
, Margaret Tafoya
Margaret Tafoya
Maria Margarita "Margaret" Tafoya was the matriarch of Santa Clara Pueblo potters. Margaret learned the art of making pottery from her parents Sara Fina Guiterrez Tafoya and Jose Geronimo Tafoya...
, Santiago Jiménez, Jr.
Santiago Jiménez, Jr.
Santiago Jiménez, Jr. is a folk musician who has won a National Heritage Fellowship in 2000 for lifetime achievement in traditional Tex-Mex/folk music. His father, Santiago Jiménez Sr. was a pioneer of conjunto music...
, John Cephas, Bois Sec Ardoin, Mick Moloney
Mick Moloney
Michael "Mick" Moloney is a traditional Irish musician and scholar. Born in Limerick, County Limerick, he was an important figure on the Dublin folk-song revival in the 1960s. In 1973, he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
, Clarence Fountain & the Blind Boys, Esther Martinez
Esther Martinez
Esther Martinez was a linguist and storyteller for the Tewa people of New Mexico. Martinez was given the Tewa name P'oe Tsawa and was also known by various affectionate names, including "Ko'oe Esther" and "Aunt Esther."Martinez grew up in the southwest...
, and the Dixie Hummingbirds.
The Smithsonian Institution features the Smithsonian Folklife Festival
Smithsonian Folklife Festival
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, launched in 1967, is an international exhibition of living cultural heritage presented annually in the summer in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is held for two weeks around the Fourth of July holiday...
every June and July which attracts upwards of two million people to hear live performances and view demonstrations of traditional crafts.
Public folklorists also work in "folk arts in the schools" programs, presenting master traditional artists to primary and secondary schools in demonstrations and residencies. They develop apprenticeship programs to foster the teaching of traditional arts by recognized masters. They also present traditional music on radio programs such as American Routes
American Routes
American Routes is a weekly two-hour public radio program that presents the breadth and depth of the American musical and cultural landscape. Hosted by Nick Spitzer, American Routes is syndicated by 225 stations, with over half a million listeners. It is produced out of New Orleans and distributed...
on Public Radio International
Public Radio International
Public Radio International is a Minneapolis-based American public radio organization, with locations in Boston, New York, London and Beijing. PRI's tagline is "Hear a different voice." PRI is a major public media content creator and also distributes programs from many sources...
. Occasionally they produce documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
s on aspects of traditional arts; Smithsonian folklorist Marjorie Hunt won an Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for her 1984 short documentary
Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject
This is a list of films by year that have received an Oscar together with the other nominations for best documentary short subject. Following the Academy's practice, the year listed for each film is the year of release: the awards are announced and presented early in the following year.-1940s:*1941...
film The Stone Carvers
The Stone Carvers
The Stone Carvers is a 2001 historical and World War I novel by the Canadian writer Jane Urquhart.-Plot introduction:The novel follows three generations of a Canadian family, starting with a wood carver who befriends an immigrant German priest as he founds a church in an isolated town in 19th...
about the carvers at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
External links
- American Folklife Center
- NEA Heritage Awards
- Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Institution
- Fund for Folk Culture
- CityLore
- Center for Traditional Music and Dance
- Philadelphia Folklore Project
- Institute for Cultural Partnerships, Harrisburg
- New Jersey Folklife Partners
- New York Folklore Society
- Texas Folklife Resources
- Northwest Folklife
- Nebraska Folklife Network
- Western Folklife Center
- The Danish Folklore Archives
Sources and further reading
- Baron, Robert, and Nicholas R. Spitzer, eds., Public Folklore. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992.
- Feintuch, Burt, ed., Conservation of Culture: Folklorists and the Public Sector. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1988.
- Green, ArchieArchie GreenArchie Green was a folklorist specializing in laborlore and American folk music. Devoted to understanding vernacular culture, he gathered and commented upon the speech, stories, songs, emblems, rituals, art, artifacts, memorials, and landmarks which constitute laborlore...
, Torching the Fink Books: And Other Essays on Vernacular Culture. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001. - Hufford, Mary, ed. Conserving Culture: A New Discourse on Heritage. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1994.