Four Folklife Center staff and two former staff contributed to American Folklore: An Encyclopedia, edited by Jan Harold Brunvand, a massive new volume with entries ranging from "Academic Programs in Folklore" to "zydeco."
Peter Bartis contributed the entry on the "holler"; Mary Hufford on "cultural conservation" and "hunting"; Alan Jabbour on the "American Folklife Center," the "Archive of Folk Culture" and "fiddle music"; and David Taylor on "boatbuilding." Former staff Paula Johnson and Howard W. Marshall wrote on "maritime folklore," "vernacular architecture" and "cultural landscape."
The subject of folklore is greatly misunderstood. Definitions have varied over time and from place to place. Some have even questioned the existence of an American folklore. This 992-page volume is a comprehensive general reference work intended for scholars, students, writers and the general public that demonstrates the wide range of topics that may be considered folkloric: custom, games, myth, proverbs, chants, and tales; cowboys, loggers, and water-men; basketmaking and boatbuilding; blues and bluegrass, and innumerable others. Other entries describe the history and practice of folklore research and theoretical concepts associated with the study of it.
Photographic research for American Folklore was conducted at the Library of Congress, and most of the book's 200 illustrations come from the collections of the American Folklife Center and the Prints and Photographs Division. The price is $95 from Garland Publishing, telephone: (800) 627-6273.