Preserving Intangible Culture

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Smithsonian Folkways Recordings preserves music from every part of the world. Click below to hear a handful of samples.

Table of contents

Many actors in the United States celebrate and preserve the country’s diverse cultural heritage

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Intangible Cultural Heritage: A New Horizon for Cultural Democracy
James Counts Early and Ryan F. Manion
© 2010 Smithsonian Institution
Cultural preservation encompasses not only monuments, buildings and artifacts, but also music, dance and language.
U.S. Preservation Laws: A Legal Framework for Preserving Cultural Heritage
Patty Gerstenblith
The United States has laws that protect concrete works, such as sculpture, as well as intangible forms of cultural expression, such as language.

Saving Endangered Languages in the United States
Juliette Blevins
Many individuals and institutions are working to revitalize endangered languages and to preserve U.S. linguistic diversity.
Native American Storytelling: Keeping Dakotah Culture Alive Through Spoken Word
Interview
Mary Louise Defender Wilson describes her work as a Dakotah storyteller and the importance of sustaining oral traditions.
Preserving Alaska’s Native Languages—One Word at a Time
Kyle Hopkins
A young Frenchman, Guillaume Leduey, traveled to Alaska to help save Eyak, an extinct Alaska Native language.
Being Multilingual
Quotes from various writers, academics and public figures exploring the challenges and benefits of linguistic diversity in the United States.

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings: “A Museum of Sound"
D.A. Sonneborn and Megan Banner Sutherland
© 2010 Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings makes recordings of music, spoken word, drama and more—from every part of the world—available to the public.
Couple Beats the Drum for Traditional Ghanaian Music
Interview
Yacub Addy, a Ghanaian drummer, and Amina Addy, manager of the performance group, Odadaa!, discuss how they foster an appreciation for Ghanaian music.

Local Festival Sustains World Dance
Michael Gallant
The annual San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival highlights rare and unique forms of dance from within the United States and from many other countries.
Classical Cambodian Dance Thrives in California
Michael Gallant
Dancer Charya Burt performs and teaches Cambodian dance in Northern California.

Americans Preserving Cultural Heritage
Images of Americans preserving music, dance and other forms of cultural expression in communities both large and small.

Repatriation of Cultural Property
Two experts, Malcolm Bell, III of the University of Virginia and James Cuno of the Art Institute of Chicago, debate the pros and cons of returning artworks and artifacts to the lands where they were created.