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Maryland
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 and varied
materials from Maryland that document the diversity of the state's folk
traditions. Among its unique recordings are spirituals from labor camps
dating from the 1940s; narratives of migrant workers and former slaves;
folklore and folk music of the Eastern Shore; the Dorothy Howard Collection
about Western Maryland; and interviews with local crafts people, including
rug makers and decoy carvers. In 1982, the Center's Ethnic Heritage and
Language Schools Project documented a Korean school in Silver Spring, and
a Lithuanian school in Rockville. The material created during this project
has been incorporated into the collections of the Folklife Center.
- Maryland Collections in the
Archive of Folk Culture [full text]
Maryland 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.
Field School
Concert
Lecture
- "From Bridge to Boardwalk: an Audio Journey Across Maryland's Eastern Shore." An illustrated lecture by Douglas Manger, Tatiana Irvine, and Elaine Eff based on the CD and book titled From Bridge to Boardwalk [catalog record], about the history and contemporary cultural traditions of the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Recorded October 21, 2004. Part of the 2004 Benjamin A. Botkin Folklife Lecture Series. [catalog record]
Field Research Projects
- 1982 Ethnic Heritage and Language Schools Project (includes documentation of Lithuanian and Korean
Schools in Maryland). [catalog record]
Publications
- "The First Korean School of Silver Spring, Maryland," in Ethnic Heritage
and Language Schools in America. [catalog record]
- "To Keep Tradition Going: Conserving Baltimore Screen Painting," in Folklife
Annual 90. [catalog record]
- A
Brief Bibliography on Maryland Folksong and Dance (compiled June
1977). [full text]
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