Folklife Today

It’s been a few years since I entertained my blog readers with scary songs at Halloween, so let’s revive that tradition with some supernatural sea songs, featuring ghostly ships, ghastly sailors, and grisly happenings at sea.

“No matter where we live, what we do for work, or how we spend our free time, we all have a relationship to food.

On Saturday, September 19, the Library’s Great Hall filled with kids (and kids at heart) coloring, crafting, learning, sharing, and guest DJ-ing.

This guest post was written by AFC Archivist, Valda Morris – a member of the Content Committee responsible for AFC’s 50th anniversary exhibit.

As part of the Folklife Today series on the AFC’s 50th anniversary exhibition, Alive in Many Hands, this post shares a selection of items on display from the AFC and Veterans History Project (VHP) archives in the section entitled, Folklife at Work.

As I wrote in my first post on Uncle Sam: “Ask any American to describe Uncle Sam and you’ll get a remarkably consistent description: tall and thin, with an abundant head of white hair and a white beard, dressed in an old-fashioned three-piece suit of red,

The American Folklife Center is delighted to announce the publication of our new book, “Sharing Food, Sharing Culture: Foodways Collections at the American Folklife Center.” which is now available from the Library of Congress shop and booksellers everywhe…

This guest post was written by AFC Archivist Michael Pahn, one of five curators responsible for the recently opened 50th Anniversary exhibit, “Alive in Many Hands.”

To cap off an event-filled week marking the public opening of the American Folklife Center’s new exhibit – Alive in Many Hands: The American Folklife Center at 50 – the Library’s Informal Learning Office (ILO) worked with staff members from the Center and…

What do a WWII-era chocolate ration, a photograph of a veteran playing golf in the middle of the Iraq desert and something called a “short snorter” have in common?

In my last post I introduced the name and character of “Uncle Sam,” a traditional personification of the United States.

For 50 years, the American Folklife Center (AFC) has helped preserve and share living traditions and cultural practices with the American people and the world.

The following is a guest post by Dr.

Ask any American to describe Uncle Sam and you’ll get a remarkably consistent description: tall and thin, with an abundant head of white hair and a white beard, dressed in an old-fashioned three-piece suit of red, white, and blue, appropriate to a symbol…

The following is a guest blog post by Brenda Asiko, Communications Director to Ambassador Theodore R.

For 25 years, the Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress has collected the firsthand stories of America’s veterans and preserved them for future generations.

This post is co-authored by Virginia Millington, Program Specialist, and Douglas D.

Although September is approaching, we are still in the thick of summertime temperatures and humidity here in Washington, DC.