Participant in the frog jumping contest at the National Tom Sawyer Days celebration. Photo by Bob Greenlee. Part of the documentation in Missouri's Local Legacies projects.

Missouri

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 material from Missouri that documents the state's diverse folk traditions. Among its unique recordings are Anglo-American ballads; shape-note singing; jazz performances from Kansas City and St. Louis; fiddle music; Ozark songs and folklore; and Missouri-French songs recorded on cylinders in the 1920s and now preserved on tape.

• Missouri Field Recordings in the Archive of Folk Culture [full text]

Missouri 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 Missouri's Local Legacies projects

Concert Webcast

November 15, 2006: The Gannon Family. Irish music and dance from Missouri. [webcast and event flyer]

Publications

• "Debatable Land: Frontier Versus Wilderness in the Ozark National Scenic Waterways," Folklife Annual 88-89. [catalog record]

Published Recordings

• Anglo-American Songs and Ballads, Library of Congress AFS L12 and L20. [audiocassette] (L12) [audiocassette] (L20)
• Songs of the Mormons and Songs of the West, Library of Congress AFS L30. [audiocassette] [compact disc]