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Arizona
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
Arizona's wealth of folk culture is well represented in the American Folklife
Center. Among the Center's recordings are cylinders of Hopi music dating
from the early 1890s, collected by Jesse Walter Fewkes, and now part of
the Center's collections. Also included are recordings of the Blessingway,
Enemyway, and other rites of the Navajo, as well as traditional songs of
the Hopi, Quechuan, Tohono O'odham, and Yaqui people. The Center's Arizona collections
also include unique recordings
of miners' songs, fiddle tunes, cowboy music and stories, and Mormon music
and narrative.
Arizona 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 Webcast
Public Programs
- 1982 "Generation to Generation: Sharing the Intangible" (exhibit),
Salt River Project, Silva House, Phoenix.
- 2003 The Arizona Heritage Project in
cooperation with Arizona arts organizations, Sharlot Hall Museum Prescott,
Arizona. The Arizona Heritage Project connects schools to communities
by helping students research, interpret, and share their region’s
rich cultural heritage. See related article: "Arizona Heritage Project Investigates Community Folklife, History, and Culture," in Folklife Center News, Fall 2004 (pg. 8-10). [PDF: 1.9 MB / 16 p.]
Publications
- "Accommodation and Renewal: Catholic Architecture of Tohono
O'odham Nation," Folklife Annual 90 [catalog record]
- The Federal Cylinder Project: A Guide to Field Recordings in Federal
Agencies, Volume 5: California, Middle and South American and Southwestern
Catalog [catalog record]
- Arizona Folklife Survey [catalog record]
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