Board of Trustees

American Folklife Center Board of Trustees meeting. Hotel Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM. October 2, 2004. Pictured (left to right): Daniel Botkin, Jane Beck, Norma Cantu, Marlene Meyerson, Wilsonia Cherry, AFC Director Peggy Bulger, Judith McCulloh, Tom Rankin, Fran Mainella, William L. Kinney, Jr.

The American Folklife Center was created by the U.S. Congress in 1976 through Public Law 94-201, the "American Folklife Preservation Act." According to the law, the Center receives policy direction from a Board of Trustees that is made up of representatives from departments and agencies of the federal government concerned with some aspect of American folklife traditions and the arts; the heads of four of the major federal institutions concerned with culture and the arts (see below); persons from private life who are able to provide regional balance; and the director of the Center. Included in the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 1999, are provisions for the board to be expanded to include four new members appointed by the Librarian of Congress, and, ex officio, the president of the American Folklore Society and the president of the Society for Ethnomusicology. The board meets several times a year, in Washington, D.C., or in other locations around the country, to review the operations of the Center, engage in long-range planning and policy formulation, and share information on matters of cultural programming.

Included below are links to some Web sites of the board members or their organizations. These pages are provided by organizations other than the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress bears no responsibility for the accuracy, legality, or content of external sites.

Congressional Appointees

Dr. Daniel Botkin, California
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara
Biographical information from UCSB

Dr. C. Kurt Dewhurst, Chair, Michigan
Office of the Director, Michigan State University Museum

Mickey Hart, California
Musician, Record Producer
http://www.mickeyhart.net/

Dennis Holub, South Dakota
Executive Director, South Dakota Arts Council

William L. Kinney Jr., South Carolina
Publisher, Marlboro Herald-Advocate

Marlene Meyerson, New Mexico

Charles Seemann, Nevada
Executive Director, Western Folklife Center

Dr. Kay Kaufman Shelemay, Massachusetts
Department of Music, Harvard University

 

Presidential Appointees

Hon. Mary Bomar
Director, National Park Service

Hon. Lisette McSoud Mondello
Assistant Secretary for Public and Governmental Affairs,
Department of Veterans Affairs

Librarian Appointees

Dr. Jane Beck, Vice-Chair, Vermont
Director, Vermont Folklife Center

Dr. Tom Rankin, North Carolina
Executive Director, Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University

Brigadier General Donald L. Scott (Ret.), Nevada

Ex Officio Members

Dr. James H. Billington
Librarian of Congress

Dr. Deanna B. Marcum
Associate Librarian for Library Services, Library of Congress

Dr. G. Wayne Clough
Acting Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

Dana Gioia
Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts

Dr. Bruce Cole
Chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities

Dr. Elaine Lawless
President, American Folklore Society

Dr. Deborah Wong
President, Society for Ethnomusicology

Dr. Peggy A. Bulger
Director, American Folklife Center

Dr. Judith McCulloh, (Emerita), Illinois,
Executive Editor, University of Illinois Press