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Pennsylvania
The American Folklife Center was created in 1976 by the U.S. Congress through Public Law 94-201 and charged to "preserve and present American folklife." The Center incorporates the Archive
of Folk Culture, which was established at the Library of Congress in 1928, and is now one of the largest collections of ethnographic material from the United States and around the world.
Collections
Pennsylvania's folk traditions are both historically and culturally rich.
As noted in its 1991 legislation by the Pennsylvania General Assembly, "the
Commonwealth has historically served as a homeland for people from nations
of the world seeking a new life in freedom and dignity" (1991: House Bill
1103). The American Folklife Center's collections include material that
documents a diversity of folk traditions, including recordings of occupational
folklore of anthracite and bituminous miners and river boat raftsmen; Irish
music; fiddle and string band music; and ethnic, religious, and musical
traditions of Pennsylvania German, Lithuanian, Yiddish/Jewish, Slavonic,
and Bulgarian communities.
- Pennsylvania Field Recordings
in the Archive of Folk Culture [full text]
Pennsylvania participated in the Library's Bicentennial Local Legacies
project, which includes documentation of local traditions and celebrations
for the American Folklife Center's Archive of Folk Culture.
Lecure Webcast
July 29, 2006: "Waking up the People" Presented by Linda Goss. African-American Storytelling. [webcast and event flyer]
Publications
- Pennsylvania Folk Music (bibliography from 1981). [full text]
- Pennsylvania German Fraktur and Printed Broadsides. [catalog record]
- "A Fraktur Primer," Folklife Annual 88-89. [catalog record]
- "Plastic Strap Baskets: Containers for a Changing Context," Folklife
Annual 88-89. [catalog record]
- "Aids to Adaptation: Southeast European Mural Paintings in Pittsburgh," Folklife
Annual 90. [catalog record]
- "The Satisfaction of Reproduction: A Baroque Painter in Italian Philadelphia," Folklife
Annual 90. [catalog record]
- "Monsters and Clowns: A Deaf American Halloween," Folklife Annual
90. [catalog record]
Published Recordings
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