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Illinois
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 contain rich and varied
materials from Illinois that document the diversity of the state's folk
traditions. Among its unique recordings are blues, dance, and Lithuanian
music from Southern Illinois. In 1977, the Center conducted the Chicago
Ethnic Arts Project, a field survey of ethnic artistic expression in the
Chicago area. The material created from this project, including recorded
music and interviews, transcriptions, and still photographs, has been incorporated
into the collections of the Folklife Center.
Illinois 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.
Concert
April 21, 2005: Liz
Caroll with John Doyle -- Irish American fiddling from
Illinois. [event flyer]
Field Research Projects
Exhibitions
- 1979 "Inside Our Homes, Outside Our Windows," Illinois Historical
Society Museum and Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.
- 1977 "Ethnic Recordings in America," Library of Congress.
Publications
- A Report on the Chicago Ethnic Arts Project [unpublished report; available in the Folklife Reading Room]
- "The Sajewski Story: Eighty Years of Polish Music in Chicago," Ethnic
Recordings in America: A Neglected Heritage. [catalog record]
- A
Brief List of Works Dealing with Illinois Folk Music (bibliography from ca.
1970). [full text]
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