Mayor George Booth of Georgetown carrying the ceremonial hatchet for the Return Day celebration, a gathering on the Thursday after Election Day that dates back to 1791 when voters gathered in the county seat to learn the election results. Part of the documentation in Delaware's Local Legacies projects.

Delaware

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

The collections of the American Folklife Center include rich and varied material from Delaware that document the state's diverse folk traditions. Included among its unique recordings are folksongs and interviews with Delaware traditional musicians; African American banjo, guitar, and vocal music; and documentary interviews with duck hunters.

• Delaware Collections in the Archive of Folk Culture [full text]

Delaware 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.

• View Delaware's Local Legacies projects