home >> about
the center >> folklife in your state >> west virginia
West Virginia
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 rich and varied folk traditions of West Virginia are well represented
in the collections of the American Folklife Center. Among its recordings
are: interviews with the Hammons family, documenting the family's musical
and story-telling traditions; Pentecostal religious services; folk music
and folklore of bituminous coal miners; and hundreds of hours of other
folk music, including fiddle tunes, hammered dulcimer, banjo, and guitar.
From 1991 to 1993, in cooperation with the National Park Service, the Center
conducted the New River Gorge Folklife Survey, documenting the folk traditions
of the area in and near the New River Gorge National River. The survey
led to recommendations to the National Park Service on the creation of
a cultural heritage center in the park.
In 1994 the Center began the Coal River Folklife Project, an ethnographic
study of cultural heritage and environment, particularly focusing on traditional
and innovative practices connected with the forest, land, and other natural
resources in and around the Big Coal River of southern West Virginia. This
project forms the basis of the American Memory online presentation Tending
the Commons: Folklife and Landscape in Southern West Virginia.
- West Virginia Collections in
the Archive of Folk Culture [full text]
West Virginia 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
December 12, 2007:
Gandydancer presented traditional string band music.
[webcast and flyer]
Field Research Projects
Published Recordings
|