Looking for Daddy by Anacostia. Photo: Dion Johnson Part of the documentation in District of Columbia's Local Legacies projects.

District of Columbia

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 District of Columbia has a richly diverse community including immigrant populations from many parts of the world. Because the American Folklife Center is located in Washington, DC, a number of its collections document the District's folklife and are readily available to District residents in the Folklife Reading Room. Lectures and concerts held at the Library have included presentations by members of Washington's diverse cultural communities, such as African American hand dancers, hair braiders, Hungarian dancers, Chinese opera performers, Indonesian Gamelan performers, Flamenco dancers, and musical performances by African-American, Andean, Anglo-American, Armenian, Bengali, Carribbean, Cuban, Ghanaian, Japanese, Puerto Rican, Senegalese, and Vietnamese groups. These presentations have been documented and added to the Archive. Also among the Archives recordings are documentation of Washington, DC street songs; church services, songs, and sermons; songs and a sermon by Flora Molton; and African-American children's game songs, jump rope rhymes, clapping songs, and "cheers."

• Washington, DC, Collections in the Archive of Folk Culture [draft available upon request]

The District of Columbia 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 District of Columbia's Local Legacies project

Concert Webcast

February 7, 2007: Reverb. African American gospel. [webcast and flyer]

Public Services

District of Columbia residents, along with others in the greater Washington, D.C., area, are fortunately situated to take advantage of the many services offered by the American Folklife Center. These include reference assistance in its Folklife Reading Room, use of its Archive of Folk Culture, and the lectures, concerts, conferences, and other public events offered at the Library of Congress. Area students enrolled in American studies and other folklore-related programs have easy access to both the collections of the Folk Archive and the staff of the Center. Most center-sponsored programs are open to the public.