Collections & Research Services: The Archive of Folk Culture

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The Archive of Folk Culture mainly consists of the collections of the American Folklife Center. It was originally founded as the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library in 1928. In 1978 it became part of the American Folklife Center and was subsequently renamed the Archive of Folk Culture. Today the Archive includes over three million photographs, manuscripts, audio recordings, and moving images. It consists of documentation of traditional culture from all around the world including the earliest field recordings made in the 1890s on wax cylinder through recordings made using digital technology. It is America's first national archive of traditional life, and one of the oldest and largest of such repositories in the world. To read more about the history of the Archive read "The Archive of Folk Culture at 75: A National Project with Many Workers," [PDF: 1.52MB / 16 p.], by James Hardin.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is folklife?
• What is an ethnographic collection?
• Are Archive of Folk Culture recordings commercially available?
• What internship possibilities are available?
• What research awards are available?
• Where can I see a list of publications about Archive collections?
• What does the Archive of Folk Culture collect?
• How do I donate a collection?
• Where do I find information on the Veterans History Project?
• Where else can I find ethnographic resources on the Web?
• How can I contribute to the work of the Archive of Folk Culture?
• Where can I find out about other folklife archives, organizations, record dealers, and publishers?