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Rheagan Martin of the Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled interviews Folklife Specialists Stephen Winick and Jennifer Cutting about the connections of the mumming tradition to the American Folklife Center. Mumming is a folk drama tradition in which groups of performers go house to house singing and performing a play. Jennifer describes the James Madison Carpenter Collection, which contains play scripts, recordings, photos, and drawings related to mumming. Stephen explains how the mumming tradition was brought the Library of Congress. Both talk about the connections of mumming to the solstice and to other wintertime traditions.

In the fourth episode of the Folklife Today subseries focusing on Community Collections Grantees, AFC Events Coordinator Thea Austen and Folklife Specialist Meg Nicholas chat with Queen Nur and AJ Rivers, about Queen’s CCG project “Community on the Line: The Culture of Urban Soul Line Dancing in the Philadelphia, New Jersey and Delaware Tri-State Area,” and the public program the team held at the Library in February 2025. The project was designed to “develop a better understanding of the R&B/Soul Line Dance community from the perspective of its culture keepers and initiate a new and original digitized cultural heritage collection at the American Folklife Center. Queen and AJ discuss the deep community connections documented during the project, potential for continuing the work, and reflect on the transformative joy that people felt during the public event at the Library.

This episode of Folklife Today explores an important collection of Gullah Geechee sound recordings in the archives of the American Folklife Center. The collection features over four hours of Gullah Geechee people singing sacred music, preaching to congregations, and giving testimonies in 1955 and 1956. Courtney Siceloff, then-director of Penn Community Services, recorded this collection at community centers and churches across St. Helena Island, South Carolina. Dr. Eric Crawford, Interim Chair of the Music Department at Claflin University and the author of Gullah Spirituals: The Sound of Freedom and Protest in the South Carolina Sea Islands (University of South Carolina Press), joins this episode to contextualize these recordings and to inform listeners about the people who made them.

In the third episode of the Folklife Today subseries focusing on Community Collections Grantees, AFC Folklife Specialist Meg Nicholas interviews Laura Grant, the project leader for the CCG project “Returning to Our Roots: Documenting Traditional Nuwä Harvests.” Bringing together members of the diasporic Kawaiisu community in California, the project documented traditional gathering practices alongside the community’s efforts to develop language revitalization resources centered around plants used for food and traditional medicines.

In the second episode of the Folklife Today subseries focusing on Community Collections Grantees, AFC Folklife Specialists Nancy Groce and Meg Nicholas interview Neil Mellon, the Executive Director of the Habele Outer Island Education Fund and CCG project team leader Modesta Yangmog about their CCG project, “Warp and Weft of Yap’s Outer Islands: Backstrap Weaving in Micronesia.” The project documents the unique weaving traditions of 20 master lavalava weavers, and the cloth’s essential role in the region’s cultural traditions and community relations.

The first episode in a new subseries of Folklife Today, interviewing project teams about their Community Collections Grants projects. In this episode, AFC Folklife Specialists Michelle Stefano and Meg Nicholas chat with Tameshia Rudd-Ridge and Jourdan Brunson, from their CCG project “If Tenth Street Could Talk.” The project follows descendants and residents as they work to preserve the historic freedom colony’s history. Rudd-Ridge and Brunson share how they met, how their own family histories led them to begin work on the project, and give other aspiring community documentarians advice on getting started.

This episode features singer-songwriter Thea Hopkins, a member of the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe of Martha’s Vineyard, in discussion with staff members of the American Folklife Center. Hopkins adapted songs from the American Folklife Center archive several times. On the first occasion she sang a lullaby recorded by ethnomusicologist Willard Rhodes from a young girl named Margaret at the Haskell Residential School in 1943; the song is known as “Margaret’s Song” or “Creek Lullaby,” and according to Creek elders it was created during the Trail of Tears. For her second challenge, Hopkins wrote new lyrics for the song “Red Wing,” which originally contained damaging stereotypes of Native Americans. The new lyrics paid homage to pioneering Native film actress Lilian St. Cyr, who was known as “Red Wing.” Hopkins discussed her process and the meanings of the songs with AFC staff members Stephen Winick, Jennifer Cutting, and Meg Nicholas; Nicholas is one of the American Folklife Center’s specialists in Native song, and affiliated with the Munsee-Delaware Nation in southwest Ontario. The episode features the field recordings of both songs, as well as Thea’s new versions, and a fiddle tune by Chippewa fiddler Mary Trotchie. More information on the songs as well as photos of some of the singers and links to all the archival sources, can be found at https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife

This episode looks at scary stories in the American Folklife Center archives, including ghost stories, witch tales, and other terrifying tales. Hosts Stephen Winick and John Fenn talk with AFC intern Hanna Salmon about scary stories in the new guide “Folktales and Oral Storytelling: Resources in the American Folklife Center Collections.” We then listen to and discuss a “Vanishing Hitchhiker” tale from Marty Weathers and Bill Henry of Georgia; the witch story “Skin, Don’t You Know Me?” from J. D. Suggs; a ghostly experience related by humanitarian Eartha M. M. White; and “The Two White Horses,” a classic spooky tale from Connie Regan-Blake. More information on the stories as well as photos of some the tellers and links to all the archival sources, can be found at https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife.

This episode looks at storytelling and folktale traditions in the American Folklife Center archives, including “Jack Tales,” tall tales, animal tales, and other stories. Hosts Stephen Winick and John Fenn talk with AFC intern Hanna Salmon about the new guide “Folktales and Oral Storytelling: Resources in the American Folklife Center Collections.” We then listen to and discuss excerpts of tales from North Carolina storyteller Ray Hicks, professional tellers Connie Regan-Blake and Barbara Freeman (aka The Folktellers), Evelio and Evelia Andux (a father and daughter from Florida), Cuban-American storyteller and frequent AFC guest Carmen Agra Deedy, and Choctaw author and storyteller Tim Tingle. More information on the songs as well as photos of some the tellers and links to all the archival sources, can be found at https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife.

This episode looks at the work of Cormac Ó Haodha, who held the 2024 John B. Lovelace Fellowship for the study of the Alan Lomax collection, a position situated within the library’s Kluge Center. Cormac comes from Cúil Aodha in the Múscraí gaeltacht of County Cork, Ireland. He came the Library specifically to study recordings Alan Lomax made in January 1951, of singers local to the Múscraí Gaeltacht. The episode includes one song sung in Irish and one in English by Cormac Ó Haodha, along with three of Lomax’s field recordings from January 1951. More information on the songs as well as photos of some the singers and links to all the archival sources, can be found at http://blogs.loc.gov/folklife.

This episode looks back at the recent work of Joseph Z. Johnson and Deena Owens, interns who created research guides on African American Banjo Playing and on Sacred Harp singing for the American Folklife Center. The interns talked about their work and shared a few of their favorite field recordings from our collections. More information on the songs as well as photos of some the singers and links to all the archival sources, can be found at http://blogs.loc.gov/folklife.

This episode looks back and ahead at the 2023 Homegrown Concert series, which is currently in progress. Hosts Stephen Winick and Michelle Stefano interview the series producer Theadocia Austen and folklife specialist Doug Peach. The participants talk about the series as a whole, and each picks one or two songs for us to hear. The episode contains songs from Jake Blount, (African American folk music), Spaelimenninir (Scandinavian folk music), Christylez Bacon (Hip Hop and human beatbox), Ali Doğan Gönültaş (Kurdish music from Turkey), and Hudaki Village Band (Ukrainian music from the Carpathian mountains). It also features interview segments with Blount and Bacon. More information on the songs as well as photos of some the singers and links to all the archival sources, can be found at http://blogs.loc.gov/folklife.

In this episode for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, John Fenn and Steve Winick invite guests to talk about Asian collections in the American Folklife Center. Allina Migoni talks about the earliest known recordings of Korean music, playing segments of a lecture by Robert Provine and a song sung by Ahn Jeong-Sik. Sara Ludewig discusses the Linda LaMacchia collection, including recordings made of Tibetan singers in India. Steve discusses Asian and Pacific Island collections in the Homegrown concert series, and plays a song, a story, and a flute composition by Grammy-nominated Tibetan musician Tenzin Choegyal. More information on the performers and the selections can be found at https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife. For full audio of items excerpted in the podcast, and more great folklife content, visit the Folklife Today blog.

In this episode for Women’s History Month, Allina Migoni and Michelle Stefano take a look through the collections of the American Folklife Center to find insights into how women have shaped those around them and passed down their cultural traditions, and to listen to reflections about their identities and lives. The episode honors women in the American Folklife Center archive, including homemaker and cook Yoshiko Nagashima, craftsperson Iyo Nagashima, farmer Sarah Sohn, quilters Donna Choate and Zenna Todd, hooked rug artist Mary Sheppard Burton, and ethnographers Theadocia Austen, Geraldine Niva Johnson, Kay Turner, Miiko Toelken, and Christine Cartwright. More information on the performers and the selections can be found at https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife. For full audio of items excerpted in the podcast, and more great folklife content, visit the Folklife Today blog.

In this episode, John Fenn, Michelle Stefano, and Stephen Winick discuss Groundhog Day traditions. Drawing on the research of Don Yoder, they discuss the history and folklore of the holiday, including groundhog traditions among the Pennsylvania Dutch, groundhog songs, weather proverbs, and even cooking and eating groundhogs! Songs include two versions of “Groundhog,” one of “Fod,” and one of “Prowling Groundhog.” More information on the performers and the selections can be found at https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife. For full audio of items excerpted in the podcast, and more great folklife content, visit the Folklife Today blog.