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                             FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS
                           American Folklife Center
                           The Library of Congress  
                                   Fall 1995
                             Volume XVII, Number 4
                  ISSN 0149-6840  Catalog Card No. 77-649628
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The American Folklife Center was created in 1976 by the U.S.
Congress to "preserve and present American folklife" through
programs of research, documentation, archival preservation,
reference service, live performance, exhibition, publication, and
training. The Center incorporates the Archive of Folk Culture,
which was established in the Music Division of 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.

Administration

Alan Jabbour, Director
Doris Craig, Administrative Assistant
Mary Gainey, Clerk
Camila Bryce-Laporte, Program Coordinator

Acquisitions

Joseph C. Hickerson, Head

Processing

Stephanie A. Hall, Archivist Coordinator 
Catherine Hiebert Kerst, Archivist

Programs

Peter T. Bartis, Folklife Specialist
Mary Hufford, Folklife Specialist
David A. Taylor, Folklife Specialist

Publications

James Hardin, Editor

Public Events

Theadocia Austen, Coordinator

Reference

Judith A. Gray, Folklife Specialist
Jennifer A. Cutting, Reference Specialist

Administrative Office

Tel: 202 707-6590
Fax: 202 707-2076

Reference Service

Tel: 202 707-5510  

Federal Cylinder Project

Tel: 202 707-1740
 
Board of Trustees

Juris Ubans, Chair, Maine
Robert Malir Jr., Vice-chair, Kansas
Nina Archabal, Minnesota
Lindy Boggs, Louisiana; Washington, D.C.
Carolyn Hecker, Maine
William L. Kinney Jr., South Carolina
Judith McCulloh, Illinois

Ada E. Deer, Wisconsin, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs,
Department of Interior
Joseph D. Duffey, West Virginia, Director of the United States
Information Agency
Madeleine M. Kunin, Vermont, Deputy Secretary of Education
Shirley S. Sagawa, Virginia, a Managing Director of the Corporation
for National and Community Service
 
Ex Officio Members  

James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress
I. Michael Heyman, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
Jane Alexander, Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts
Sheldon Hackney, Chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities
Alan Jabbour, Director, American Folklife Center

FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS

James Hardin, Editor
David A. Taylor, Editorial Advisor
John Biggs, Library of Congress Graphics Unit, Designer
Folklife Center News publishes articles on the programs and
activities of the American Folklife Center, as well as other
articles on traditional expressive culture. It is available free of
charge from the Library of Congress, American Folklife Center,
Washington, D.C. 20540-8100. _Folklife Center News_ does not
publish announcements from other institutions or reviews of books
from publishers other than the Library of Congress. Readers who
would like to comment on Center activities or newsletter articles
may address their remarks to the editor.

Telephone and Online Information Resources

American Folklife Center publications (including _Folklife Center
News_), a calendar of events, collection guides, general
information, and connections to a selection of other Internet
services related to folklife are available on the Internet via the
LC MARVEL Gopher Server and the LC Web World Wide Web Server.  

LC MARVEL is available through your local Gopher server. Or use
your Gopher Client Software to connect to marvel.loc.gov. From the
main menu, choose "Research and Reference," then "Reading Rooms,"
then "American Folklife Center."

LC Web is available through your local World Wide Web service. The
Center's home page can be accessed from the Library's main menu.
The direct URL for the Center's home page is: 
http://lcweb.loc.gov/folklife

Folkline, an information service providing timely information on
the field of folklore and folklife, including training and
professional opportunities and news items of national interest, is
available through both the above Internet servers and by telephone.
For the telephone service (available around the clock, except
during the hours of 9 A.M. until noon each Monday, when it is
updated), dial:

202 707-2000.

EDITOR'S NOTES

Parsons Fund Committee Solicits Applications

The Fund Committee for the Gerald E. and Corrine L. Parsons Fund
for Ethnography at the Library of Congress invites applications for
a grant of up to one thousand dollars to be made from the fund in
1996. The Committee is composed of the professional staff of the
American Folklife Center.

      The purpose of the fund is to make the collections of primary
ethnographic materials housed anywhere at the Library of Congress
available to the needs and uses of those in the private sector
(employees of public educational institutions are eligible but not
employees of agencies of federal, state, and local governments).
Grants may be made either to individuals or to organizations in
support of specific projects. 

      Projects may lead to publication in media of all types, both
commercial and non-commercial; underwrite new works of art, music,
or fiction; involve academic research; contribute to the
theoretical development of archival science; explore practical
possibilities for processing the Library's ethnographic
collections; develop new means of providing reference service;
support student work; experiment with conservation techniques; and
support ethnographic field research leading to new library
acquisitions.

      For its first grant, the committee would especially like to
hear of projects on subjects that were of particular interest to
former reference librarian Gerald E. Parsons Jr., the creator of
the fund: waterfowling, railbirding, and other outdoor traditions;
folklife of the Mid-Atlantic region; and organizing and using
multi-format ethnographic materials.

      Applicants should submit a two-to-three-page narrative
describing their proposed project and its potential products or
audiences, and should provide a budget and time-frame. Applications
should include a resume or statement of previous experience and the
names, addresses, and phone numbers of three references who are
qualified to speak about the applicant's professional work. Send
applications to Parsons Fund Committee, American Folklife Center,
Library of Congress, Washington D.C. 20540-8100, by February 1,
1996. For questions, call or write Judith Gray at the American
Folklife Center (202) 707-1740; FAX (202) 707-2076.

Paradise Valley, Nevada

A new book by former American Folklife Center staffer Howard Wright
Marshall, _Paradise Valley, Nevada: The People and Buildings of an
American Place_ (The University of Arizona Press, 1995) derives
from a 1978 Folklife Center field project. The project resulted in
an exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution (and accompanying
publication) entitled Buckaroos in Paradise (1980) and led to a
major exhibition at the Library of Congress on the American cowboy
(1983). Interviews with Italian ranchers in Nevada prompted the
Center to undertake a further study of Italian settlement in the
West as part of the Library's commemoration of the Columbian
Quincentennary, and yet another exhibition and book were produced,
Old Ties, New Attachments: Italian-American Folklife in the West
(1992).

      Marshall's new book looks at "traditional buildings and
landscapes, their builders and users, and material folk culture in
context and in the framework of the dynamics of distinctive
aesthetic systems and shared visions within the local community and
the region." There are 129 photographs and 38 line drawings.
_Paradise Valley, Nevada_ (ISBN 0-8165-1310-4) is available from
The University of Arizona Press, 1230 N. Park Avenue, Suite 102,
Tucson, AZ 85719, (800) 426-3797. The cloth edition is $55, plus $2
shipping for the first book, $1 for each additional book.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Village to Stage to Archive: A Cornucopia of Romanian Folk
Dance Documentation

By Michelle Forner
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the late 1940s, Gheorghe Popescu-Judetz was ready to pursue his
dream. As an experienced folk dancer and ensemble leader, he had
always been fascinated by the abundance of folk dances in his
native Romania. So when he became director and choreographer of the
government-sponsored Ciocirlia Ensemble in 1949, he was finally
able to begin the work that remained his passion until his death in
1972: the compilation of a catalog and ethnographic description of
all Romanian dances and variants. This research, which would result
in a collection of several thousand notated folk dance variants,
more than 3,200 tape-recorded melodies, and approximately 4,000
notated dance melodies, became the basis of the Gheorghe and
Eugenia Popescu-Judetz Collection, now housed in the Archive of
Folk Culture at the American Folklife Center.

      Gheorghe's wife Eugenia Popescu-Judetz, whose early career was
also in dance, donated the collection to the Center in 1990 and
1995. It is considered the largest collection of primary
documentation of Romanian folk dance and music in the United
States. The materials span the years 1938 to 1974, with the largest
portion from the period 1950 to 1972. The bulk of the collection
consists of manuscripts, audio recordings, graphic materials, and
moving images. Oral history interviews conducted with Eugenia at
the Folklife Center in 1995 complement the original materials. Alan
Jabbour, director of the American Folklife Center, calls the
Popescu-Judetz Collection "a major ethnographic acquisition for the
Library, which strengthens our holdings in both Romanian culture
and the subject of dance. As a multi-format ethnographic
collection, it exemplifies the central concern of the Center's
Archive of Folk Culture for acquiring, preserving, and servicing
such collections as unified wholes."

      The Popescu-Judetz Collection contains the accumulation of
decades of Gheorghe's notes, research, and choreographic work, as
well as examples of Eugenia's dance work and research. Although
most of the collection materials focus on traditional Romanian folk
dance and song, they also include musical arrangements,
choreographic diagrams, photographs, and show programs documenting
the activities of the Ciocirlia and Perinitza Ensembles. In
addition, the collection includes theoretical research;
ethnographic descriptions of costumes, rituals, and customs; and
the unique dance notation system that the Popescu-Judetzes
developed themselves. The vast majority of the materials in the
collection are in Romanian.

Gheorghe Popescu-Judetz was born in 1911 in the village of Beleti-
Negreti, Muscel district, in the Muntenia region of Romania. He
became interested in folk dancing as a teenager and began
performing as principal dancer with amateur ensembles in Bucharest.
After obtaining degrees from several universities, Gheorghe entered
the teaching profession. In the 1930s and 1940s he was leader of
and dancer with a number of organizations and toured with some of
them nationally and abroad. In 1948 Gheorghe married Eugenia
Marisescu, who became his dance partner and research associate.
They won first prize in the International Folk Dance Competition in
Prague in 1950 for excellence in character dance performance. From
1949 to 1966 he was the choreographer and director of the Ciocirlia
Ensemble. Throughout the years, the affable and energetic dance
master also served as guest choreographer for other dance groups,
professor of folk dance at various schools and seminars, and jury
member at national folk arts competitions. 

      With no formal ethnographic training but armed with enthusiasm
and endless curiosity, Gheorghe conducted extensive fieldwork
throughout Romania between 1949 and 1972, often accompanied by a
fieldwork team that sometimes included Eugenia. He published some
of his research in ten books on folk dance, as well as in many
journal and magazine articles. As a leader in Romanian folk dance,
Gheorghe received numerous artistic awards throughout his life; and
in 1957 the Romanian government honored him with the title Artist
Emeritus of Romania. 

      Eugenia Popescu-Judetz was born in 1925 in Giurgiu, a town on
the Danube River in the Muntenia region of Romania. Although she
trained in classical ballet as a child, Eugenia developed an
interest in folk dance that increased after she married. In her
early career she was a professional dancer and folk-dance teacher
with the National Theater Ballet of Bucharest, performed with the
Opera Theater, and taught dance in the High School of the Arts and
in the Folk Ensemble of Bucharest. For a time she conducted
research with the Romanian Folk Lore Institute, an experience that
gave her valuable training for future fieldwork. From 1954 to 1970
she was ballet master and choreographer of the Perinitza Folk
Ensemble and toured internationally with them. Throughout these
years, Judetzika ("Little Judetz," as she was affectionately
called) taught workshops for folk-dance instructors and amateur
choreographers, created many choreographies for film and
television, conducted field research, and lectured in Europe.

      As part of a cultural exchange program, Eugenia traveled to
the United States in the late 1960s to teach Romanian folk dance
workshops. In 1973, she returned to the United States on an
invitation from the Duquesne University Tamburitzans in Pittsburgh.
She became an adjunct professor at Duquesne and continued to teach
and choreograph for the Tamburitzans. Eager to extend her knowledge
and interests, Eugenia received a master of arts degree in theology
from Duquesne University and a doctorate in theater criticism from
the University of Pittsburgh. She is the author of numerous
articles and books and continues to pursue intellectual interests.

The Romanian folk dance that was the focus of the Popescu-Judetzes'
lives has its roots in custom and tradition and reflects daily life
and work. Dances differ from region to region, and many variants of
particular dances exist. Each village may have ten to fifty or more
in its repertoire. Dances may be named for their type or place of
origin, after girls' names or common occupations, or for elements
of nature. There are dances performed by men only, by women only,
or by men and women together, either in groups, couples, or solo.
Functions range from ceremonial and ritual to theatrical and
social. Form, structure, pattern, and rhythm determine the
principal dance types, such as the hora, a group dance performed in
a moving circle with joined hands; briul, a men's dance performed
in a semicircle or line with hands holding belts; and invirtita, a
couple dance performed with turning, syncopated steps. The dancers'
calls and shouts, the geometric patterning of body movements,
formations, and rhythms, and the unique regional repertoires define
the folk dances as distinctly Romanian.

      In this century, industrialization and the changing political
climate in Romania has threatened the continuation of dance and
other folk traditions. Yet folk dancing continues to be a national
pastime, enjoyed by most people at regular gatherings and performed
by amateur and professional folk dance groups at festivals and
competitions. It is also perpetuated outside Romania by folk dance
aficionados around the world. 

It was to capture these dances that Gheorghe took to the field. The
Popescu-Judetzes recognized that the traditional ways of life were
changing, and Gheorghe wanted to record the endangered dance
culture. In addition, the couple wanted to use the material to
develop curricula for dance workshops, to provide methods to teach
folk dance characteristics in ballet classes, and to publish dance
instruction books.

      For more than two decades, Gheorghe spent about one-third of
his time traveling to various provinces looking for folk dances and
new variants. Sometimes the government sponsored the trips so that
the choreographer could gather traditional material from which to
create performance suites for Ciocirlia. When local or regional
amateur groups hired Gheorghe to choreograph certain pieces, such
jobs allowed him to explore the dances of that area. On other
occasions he set out on his own, perhaps as part of a trip to judge
a national competition or to attend a folk festival. Wherever
Gheorghe went, he was watchful, constantly questioning dancers and
musicians, forever jotting observations in one of the forty-five
notebooks that contain his fieldnotes. Eugenia accompanied him part
of the time and did her share of notating, describing, and
interviewing.

      When funding permitted, research was conducted by a fieldwork
team that usually included a musician/composer who notated the
melody played with the dance under study, either on the spot or
later by listening to a field recording; a costume expert who
studied the traditional dancewear, often locked away in trunks in
the villagers' homes; and, sometimes, performers with Ciocirlia who
absorbed the authentic flavor of the dances. If the team went to a
village well-known for its dancing, the local authorities usually
organized a get-together for them in the evening after the workday.
Young and old, the villagers gathered, at first a bit wary of the
meeting. The Popescu-Judetzes supplied alcohol to help create a
sociable atmosphere, and in a short time the people relaxed and
began to dance and answer questions. Often, especially in the early
years of fieldwork, the older peasants were reluctant to share
their dances and songs for fear that their culture was being
stolen. However, the fieldworkers' expertise and Gheorghe's genuine
interest enabled them to develop a productive rapport with their
informants. Moreover, as Gheorghe's fame as a national dance leader
grew, musicians and dancers became eager to help with his research.

      Whether attending these constructed events or observing local
celebrations, the fieldwork trips were times of cautious treasure
hunting, particularly in the 1950s. During these early years, the
researchers traveled by car (if they were lucky) but more often by
train, cart, or on foot from village to village. At times they did
not know what delightful discovery awaited them at the next site.
Or what danger. Both local officials and peasants sometimes were
suspicious of this small band of artists, and did not always
understand or believe their purpose. Fortunately, Gheorghe's
reputation and diplomatic skills helped to protect their lives and
work.

      This constant fieldwork yielded the materials that serve as
the foundation of the Popescu-Judetz Collection. In addition to the
record of dance and music, other aspects of the collection are also
significant, such as the documentation of the development of the
dance-notation system. Gheorghe created the unique notation out of
his need to record dances in the field accurately and quickly. From
1949 to 1955 he worked on a system that focused on footwork,
including the positions and movements of the passive (non-weight-
bearing) foot. Gheorghe continued to refine the system and used it
in choreography for the ensemble, published books, and teaching.
Eugenia employed the notation for the same purposes and drew on it
when teaching and choreographing Romanian folk dance in the United
States. 

      The collection contains other valuable gems. "Nunta la
Belei," a twenty-six-page, handwritten manuscript, describes a
wedding ritual in Belei village, Muscel district (Gheorghe's
birthplace), as it was performed between 1900 and 1940. Gheorghe
formally researched this event between 1960 and 1964. The
ethnographic document includes descriptions of the participants,
costuming, orations, dances, music lyrics, and explanations of the
rituals involved. "Mic Dictionar al Jocurilor Populare din Zonele
Folclorice Neamt si Bacau" (Small Dictionary of Folk Dances from
Neamt in Bacau District) is a four hundred and twenty-one-page
handwritten manuscript Gheorghe wrote as part of a larger,
unpublished ethnographic study on the folk arts of the Bicaz-Neamt
area, Moldavia, sponsored by the Romanian Academy for Science and
Letters. Based on research he conducted for seventeen years, it
contains an alphabetically arranged description of almost eight
hundred dance variants from the area, including types of dance,
postures, places, dance name synonyms, accompanying lyrics or
chants, and so forth. Detailed graphs, maps, and indexes accompany
the chapter. This information is especially significant because
part of the area was flooded in the late 1950s to make a dam,
dispersing twenty-two communities along with their cultural
heritage.

The processing of this remarkable collection was part of the Dance
Heritage Coalition Access Project currently underway at the Library
of Congress and six other institutions across the country. The
coalition, a consortium of performing arts libraries and
representatives of the dance community, is coordinating a wide-
ranging national effort to better preserve and make accessible the
historic record of dance in America. The two-year project is
primarily funded by a $663,000 grant from the National Endowment
for the Humanities, with matching funds provided by the Delmas and
Wilson Foundations. 

      Archivists at the participating institutions, which include
(among others) the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library
for the Performing Arts, and the San Francisco Performing Arts
Library and Museum, are arranging, describing, preserving, and
cataloging significant collections that together document a broad
spectrum of dance. The catalog records are being loaded onto the
national on-line catalogs, OCLC and RLIN. In addition, finding aids
for the collections are being made available on the internet
through the Library of Congress's gopher, LCMARVEL. 

      At the American Folklife Center, the Access Project has
enabled me to process and describe a number of collections that
document the dances of cultures and ethnic groups from around the
world and across the nation. Among them: the Fahnestock South Sea
Collection that contains sound recordings and film footage
documenting Balinese dance from 1941; The Blue Ridge Parkway
Folklife Project and Chicago Ethnic Arts Project collections, both
fieldwork projects undertaken by the Center in the late 1970s that
document dance in America ranging from square dancing to polka
parties. Other collections contain materials on the music and dance
of Alaskan Tlingits, Jamaican Maroons, and Moroccan Berbers. Of
particular note is the Discoteca Publica Municipal de So Paulo
Collection, a group of sound recordings, film footage, and
photographs made in 1938 that represents one of the first
ethnographic compilations of music, dance, and ritual from
northeast Brazil.  

      Vicky Wulff, project director at the Library, notes that
having a dance specialist work on these collections has proven
valuable. "In terms of the Popescu-Judetz Collection, we were able
to determine that it was much richer in dance materials than
originally thought. Michelle's processing of the original gift
provided an impetus to the donor to forward additional
documentation that focused on dance."

      Through the efforts of the Dance Heritage Coalition Access
Project in repositories that include the Archive of Folk Culture,
the work of collectors and dancers such as the Popescu-Judetzes is
preserved and made available to researchers in a field with a
history of limited access and resources.  Thus the results of
Gheorghe's life-long passion will benefit future dancers and
scholars, and help perpetuate the dance that he and Eugenia loved.

References

Popescu-Judetz, Eugenia. _Sixty Folk Dances of Romania_.
Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Tamburitzans, Institute of Folk
Arts, 1979, pp. 1-9.

Popescu-Judetz, Eugenia and James Roncovic, ed. _Judetz Folk Dance
Notation_. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Tamburitzans, Institute
of Folk Arts, 1979.

Eugenia Popescu-Judetz, interview by Michelle Forner, Library of
Congress, Washington, D.C., March 28-30, 1995.

A more detailed description of the Popescu-Judetz Collection can be
found in the guide to the collection, available in the Folklife
Reading Room or on Internet through LCMARVEL. From the main menu,
select "Research and Reference," and then "Dance Heritage
Coalition."
.................................................................

Michelle Forner is a dance archivist for the Dance Heritage
Coalition Access Project. She has been processing dance collection
material at the American Folklife Center.
.................................................................

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Significant Acquisitions for the Archive of Folk Culture in Fiscal
Year 1995

By Joseph C. Hickerson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following describes collections acquired for the Archive of
Folk Culture from October 1994 to September 1995 that comprise
especially large bodies of material, are of particular interest to
folklore, ethnomusicology, and related areas of study, and
exemplify the wide variety of formats and subject matters
represented in the Archive. I hope readers will be inspired by
these diverse listings to consider the Archive of Folk Culture as
a repository for their past, current, and future collections and
publications. Potential donors may request a copy of _Ethnographic
Collections in the Archive of Folk Culture: A Contributor's Guide_
from the American Folklife Center.

      Vida Chenoweth, professor emerita of music at Wheaton College,
has donated the initial portion of her large collection of audio
and visual recordings, manuscripts, and photographs representing
musical traditions from a variety of cultures around the world. The
present portion comprises 56 audiotapes, 5 audiocassettes, 111
manuscript cards and sheets, and 3 photographs that document the
music of the Usarufa people of the Eastern Highlands Province of
Papua New Guinea. Also included is one diskette containing 80 pages
of tape logs and textual transcriptions. The field research was
done in 1966-72 under the auspices of the Summer Institute of
Linguistics; final research was carried out in 1973 with funding
from the University of Auckland Research Committee. The materials
formed the basis of Chenoweth's doctoral dissertation at the
University of Auckland, the first half of which was published as
_The Usarufas and Their Music_ (Dallas: SIL Museum of Anthropology,
1979), and wherein is stated that "special emphasis is laid on the
new approach to melodic analysis" (p. xix). Featured in the
collection are songs of daily life and rites of passage, dream
songs, kinship songs, male cult songs, and two events known as
"sing-sings."

      Henrietta Yurchenco, professor emerita at the City College of
New York, has donated a multi-format ethnographic collection that
she and her students made in John's Island, South Carolina, in
1970-71. Yurchenco intended the collection as both a musical and
social document of this African American Gullah-speaking community.
She states in an introduction to the collection: "Of particular
interest were the role of the church in community life and the
changes that had occurred since the early 1960's at the beginning
of the civil rights' struggle." Included are audio-recordings
containing church services, featuring hymns and sermons; children's
games and play-parties; spirituals; blues; and a round-table
discussion on current problems by a local minister, community
members, and the City College students who accompanied Yurchenco on
the project. Textual material includes an introduction to the
collection; a description of the Hunter family, which provided much
of the music and childrens' games; descriptions of the games, with
lyrics to the accompanying songs; and a transcript of the
discussion. In all, the collection comprises 18 audiotapes, 3 audio
cassettes, 20 pages of text, and 6 pages of notes.

      Eugenia Popescu-Judetz of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has
recently added a variety of materials to her and her husband's
multi-format collection of Romanian folk dance and music in the
Folk Archive. The latest contribution includes 5,325 manuscripts
(primarily dance notation and related field notes), 1,731 index
cards, 21 LPs, 6 45s, 71 photoprints, 22 show programs, 17
clippings, 3 maps, 13 books, and a bound manuscript of 142 pages
containing an index to approximately 4,000 folk dances. On March
29-31, Ms. Popescu-Judetz visited the Center, where she was
interviewed by Michelle Forner (see Forner's article on the
Popescu-Judetz collection in this issue of _Folklife Center News_).

Shirley R. Porter, president of The Laura Boulton Foundation, of
East Moriches, New York, has donated 70 seven-inch audiotapes
comprising portions of Boulton's Byzantine and "Rainess"
collections. Laura Boulton participated in over twenty expeditions
in her efforts to document the music of various cultures on five
continents, chiefly during the 1930s-60s. In 1973, Columbia
University donated her collection of 1,312 disc and 367 tape
recordings to the Folk Archive, and, in 1991, the Boulton
Foundation donated an additional 239 tapes. The new gift
supplements these two collections. The Byzantine portion consists
of 49 neo-Byzantine and Orthodox Christian liturgical music
recorded at cathedrals and monasteries in Greece, Macedonia,
Serbia, and Turkey in 1960-62. The "Rainess" collection (21 tapes)
was recorded in Japan in 1969.

      Stephen Lee Taller of Berkeley, California, has donated 7
audiotapes that were originally a part of the personal collection
of Ben Shahn, noted artist and photographer, and were given to
Taller by Shahn's widow, Bernarda Bryson. Much of the collection
focuses on the work of Tony Schwartz, a self-described "recorder of
sound" from New York City. Two of the tapes bearing his name are
part of a series "Adventures in Sound"; a third entitled "About New
York--A City of Sound" features recordings of a fire, street
sounds, interviews, music, and several "voice experiments." Also
among the tapes is a version of the song "Who Killed Davy Moore?"
which was composed in 1963 by Bob Dylan; it is performed by Pete
Seeger along with crowd noises and comments from a boxing match,
presumably edited in by Schwartz.

      Two audiocassettes of five interviews with Peggy Seeger,
produced for BBC Radio 2, have been presented by Josh Dunson of
Real People's Music. These interviews were conducted June-July 1994
by Jim Lloyd and contain two and a half hours of songs,
reminiscences, and performance philosophy which illuminate Seeger's
formative role in the American and British folk revivals.  Topics
include growing up in a musical household; memories of Elizabeth
Cotten; the McCarthy era; adolescent performing efforts; early days
in Europe; courtship and marriage with Ewan MacColl; the Moscow
Youth Festival and trip to China; collaborating on the BBC Radio
Ballads; the Critics Group; politics and the craft of song writing;
and The Singer's Club.

Ilze Akerbergs of Randallstown, Maryland, has donated an
audiocassette of Latvian folksongs entitled _Turku Pupa_, performed
by the group Vilcjas, along with lyrics in Latvian and explanatory
notes in English. The songs come from various regions of Latvia and
include songs for work and dance as well as lullabies and
children's songs.

      Jozef A. Topolski of Waldorf, Maryland, has donated an
audiocassette containing his 1989 interview with Polish-American
bandleader Frank Wojnarowski of Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Wojnarowski, who recorded for Dana Records and was elected to the
Polka Hall of Fame in 1970, discusses local performing and the
recording environment during the Depression and later, "Eastern"
and "Western" styles of polka music, and the introduction of polka
rhythms to ballroom dancing.

      Andriy Milavsky of New York City has donated an audiocassette
of the Cheres Ukrainian Instrumental Ensemble, which consists of
three graduates of the Kyiv Conservatory of Music. The aim of the
ensemble is to keep alive the music of the Ukrainian people,
especially troyista muzyka, the music prevalent in the Carpathian
Mountains. The cassette includes 7 instrumental selections and 3
songs.

      Itzac David of Tel Aviv, Israel, has donated a videotape of
performances by "Islamei," a Circassian (Adygei) dance ensemble
from the Republic of Georgia. This professional group presents
several song-and-dance compositions accompanied by poetry, as well
as traditional Cherkez dances and songs, including dances with
knives.

      Harlan E. Bogie of Homewood, Illinois, has donated a wire
recording of music performed by his grandfather, Clare Alexander
Bogie, a bandleader, composer, award-winning fiddler, and pianist
from Pontiac, Michigan.  The recording, made in 1951, features
Clare Bogie and others performing instrumentals, as well as gospel,
Irish, and popular songs.

      John Moyer of Michigan City, Indiana, has contributed 6 78-rpm
pressings of Assam tribal music which were published by the
Department of Anthropology of the Indian Museum in Calcutta.

      Robert A. Black of the University of California at Berkeley
has donated 28 issues of _Promenade_, the magazine of the American
Square Dance Group of New York City. The issues span the years 1945
through 1953. Organized in 1939 by Margot Mayo, the group was the
first folk music revival organization in the United States; its
magazine, _Promenade_, was the earliest folk revival periodical
(the first number was issued in early 1940).

The author of this article is beholden to a number of individuals
who assist in a variety of acquisitions-related tasks as interns
and volunteers. I would like to acknowledge the following who have
done so in the past year:  Irene Barabasz, Seth Bruggeman, Sarah
Cuff, Diane Cummins, Jennifer Davis, Angie Delcambre, John
DeMetrick, Megan Dreger, Jennifer Eastman, Natalya Gasilina,
Christopher Hancock, Rachel Howard, Snjezana Ivanovi, Dale
Johnson, Zara Johnston, Hubert King, Mary Lister, Debby McClatchy,
Matthew McMillen, Charles McNamara, Jack Manischewitz, Karen
Morris, Daria Nebesh, Vivy Niotis, Elizabeth Null, Emily Parsons,
Patricia Rolston, Jeanne Roningen, Erin Roth, Elsa Sagasti, David
Schott, Kenneth Schweitzer, Kathy Shambaugh, Toni Smart, James
Spears, and Marie-Louise Walter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New Finding Aid Lists Tales of the Supernatural

By Angie C. Delcambre, Joseph C. Hickerson, and Emily A. Parsons
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The American Folklife Center has recently conjured up a frightening
new finding aid. This nineteen-page document is entitled _Tales of
the Supernatural: A Selected List of Recordings Made in the United
States and Placed in the Archive of Folk Culture_. The finding aid
was compiled by Folk Archive interns Angie Delcambre, Peter
Harrington, Kristin Kolb, Emily Parsons, Andrew Schmidt, and
Richard Weber, and was edited by Joseph C. Hickerson. While the
finding aid does not include every ghostly story located in the
Archive, it does describe over 225 supernatural items contained in
33 collections of recordings made between 1930 and 1982.

      The main characters in the tales range from devils, ghosts,
and witches to mischievous pranksters out to scare their friends
(or enemies). Some stories serve as lessons on how to ward off evil
spirits, or how to use voodoo to inflict suffering on an unknowing
victim. Story titles include "Black Cat Voodoo," "How Uncle Wilts
Was Churned up for the Devil," "The Woman Who Fed Her Husband a
Human Leg Which She Dug up from a Cemetery," "Seeing the Floating
Coffin," "The Legend of the Spook Light," "Gullah Ghost Story,"
"Hearing the Devil Groan," and "The Yankee and Marcum" (reproduced
here).

      The finding aid includes tales of Anglo- and African-American
origin from many regions of the United States. Most Southern states
are represented, especially those in Appalachia. Northern states
such as Vermont, New York, and Pennsylvania are also included. The
Work Projects Administration, Library of Congress, Linguistic Atlas
of New England, and other organizations sponsored many of the
recording projects. Collectors represented include John A. and Alan
Lomax, Herbert Halbert, Stetson Kennedy, Alta S. and Austin E.
Fife, Duncan Emrich, Frank C. Brown, Mary Celestia Parler, George
G. Carey, William Ferris, Alan Jabbour, Carl Fleischhauer, Frank
and Anne Warner, Kenneth S. Goldstein, Patrick B. Mullen, and
Richard M. Dorson. Also listed is a Center-sponsored lecture on
Halloween by Jack Santino.

      _Tales of the Supernatural: A Selected List of Recordings_ is
number 13 in the series of "Library of Congress Folk Archive
Finding Aids" (ISSN 0736-4903), which describes relevant portions
of the Archive's unpublished, multi-format, ethnographic
collections. Other recent finding aids describe the Archive's
holdings for Alaska, boatbuilding, Brazil, Robert Winslow Gordon,
Zora Neale Hurston, Kentucky, Mexico, Puerto Rico, radio broadcasts
and projects, South Asia, South Carolina, and World War II. These
finding aids, as well as a complete list of more than two-hundred
finding and reference aids, are free and available upon request.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Yankee and Marcum

A Story narrated by Burl Hammons
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
...................................................................
In the early 1970s, Alan Jabbour, then head of the Library's
Archive of Folk Song, along with Carl Fleischhauer, made a study of
the traditions of the Hammons family in West Virginia. They
recorded many songs and stories, including "The Yankee and Marcum,"
narrated by Burl Hammons on April 24, 1972. The story was published
in THE HAMMONS FAMILY: A STUDY OF A WEST VIRGINIA FAMILY'S
TRADITIONS, Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1973 (AFS L65-
66, box set of two LP records and accompanying booklet. "The Yankee
and Marcum" has been edited here to facilitate readability.
.................................................................

They was . . . a feller by the name of Marcum, and they was a
Yankee . . . they didn't know where he'd come from. . . . This
[Yankee] feller got talking about building a mill, you know, a
grist mill, and he told [Marcum] he could build one. And [Marcum]
got this stranger to build his mill for him; he told him he'd just
hire him to build the mill for him. And [the stranger] went to work
at the mill.

      And it kindly got scarce directly, meat; you know, they killed
the bigger part of their meat. So, this feller, he said to Marcum,
"Why don't you get out and kill us a deer?" "Well," Marcum said,
"that's kindy hard, but probably I can kill one." And Marcum went
out and hunted that day and he never killed nary none. "Why," [the
feller] said, "if you've seen any sign, I can kill a deer." "Well,"
[Marcum] said, "they're plenty of sign . . . I just didn't happen
to see 'ary one." And [the feller] said, "Well, I'll go with you in
the morning."

      And they took out, and they didn't go but a little piece till
here'd went a deer. And [the feller] looked [at] the track, and he
said, "Now that deer's a long ways from here. But I think we can
kill it." "Oh," Marcum said, "it ain't no use to track that deer,
just no telling how far it is. . . ."  "Well," [the feller] said,
"I believe we can kill it." And he told Marcum, the Yankee did, he
said, "Just get up there and sit down." "Oh," Marcum said, "it
ain't no use to set here. No telling where that deer is, they ain't
no use to set here." . . . And [the feller] said, "Sit down there."

      And Marcum just sat down, just setting there. And [the feller]
got right down over the track, and he said, "Don't you speak." And
Marcum just set there a little while. He said he thought that was
one of the biggest, craziest men setting there over that deer
track. And he said he set there right smart while.

      After a while he heard something a-coming the way the deer'd
went. . . .  And he saw that deer a-coming, it was just a-coming,
and its hair was all buzzed up, and its tongue was out of its mouth
that far, just like it had run to death. And he just set there, and
the deer just come up in about twenty steps to him, and he said,
"Well all right now, kill it." And [Marcum] just took the gun and
killed it. "Now," [the feller] said, "I can't eat a bite of that
deer myself, you can eat all you want. I won't eat a bite of it."
"Well," [Marcum] said, "I don't know why." "Well," [the feller]
said, "I won't. But that deer's just as good as any deer."

      "Well," [Marcum] said, "now I'll tell you one thing. If you'll
tell me how you done that, I'll just give you anything that I ever
seen"--I think he had two or three cows that he said he'd give him,
a cow or something--"just give you anything if you just tell me." 
"Now," [the feller] said, "it ain't no use to tell me. I don't want
n' anything. But, it wouldn't be no use for me to tell you, because
you wouldn't do it if I'd tell you. . . . Besides, if I'd tell
you," [the feller] said, "you'd aim to kill me, and that you'll not
do; I can tell you before it." . . .

      Then [Marcum] just kept on. "All right," [the feller] said,
"I'll tell you. You go up on that high mountain, and when you see
the sun a-getting up of morn, just as it's hit the hill, you shoot
at that sunball, nine mornings. And the ninth morning there'll be
a drop of blood on your gun barrel. And you take a piece of paper,
and cut a little place on your arm, and write on it how long you
want to be sold to the devil, and give it to him when he comes to
get it."  "All right," [Marcum] said, he'd do that.

      And he'd go ever morning up there, and the ninth morning, when
he shot that time, he looked onto the gun barrel, and there was a
drop of blood. And he just cut a little place on his arm and writ,
I think it was a year he wanted. And the gun never quit roaring;
the gun never quit roaring, it just kept on roaring, the longer the
worse, and the longer the worse, and after a while the whole earth
just seemed like it got to jarring with him just up and down. 

      And directly he looked a-coming through the treetops, and he
said there come some kind of a thing that they was balls of fire
coming out of its mouth. And he just dropped and away he went to
the house and told 'em what he'd seen and all about this. He told
them all about it, and he said, "I'm a-going down to kill the
Yankee just as quick as I can go down. Man telling me such stuff as
that, I'm a-going down to kill him." They tried to beg him not to
go. "Yes sir, I'm a-going down," he said, "to kill the Yankee." And
he just took his gun and started down where he was a-working on the
mill, and the Yankee seen him a-coming. He knowed just exactly what
he'd done.

      "Well," [Marcum] said, "I've come to kill you." [The Yankee]
said, "Just as I expected. But you ain't a--yet." And the Yankee
just picked up his gun, and just took and shot him, and they said
that he jumped up and just crowed like a rooster and just fell over
dead. The Yankee just quit and they never did hear tell of him no
more, he just quit right there and went right-on.  They was no way
they could get trace of him. They had no phones, they had no way to
trace him. That was the last of him, never heared tell of him
again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

American Folklife Center Spins a New Web

By Stephanie A. Hall
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The dream of archivists has always been to provide wide public
access to unique or rare materials while at the same time
protecting them from the destructive forces of time and human
handling. Those purposes, not surprisingly, often come into
conflict with each other. But modern technology is making it
possible for archivists to realize this dream. Internet technology
has long made public access to digital copies of archival
materials, catalogs, and finding aids a possibility for the highly
computer literate. But now World Wide Web software is making this
access easy and comfortable for the average researcher.

      World Wide Web (or "Web") software, developed at the European
Laboratory for Particle Physics, CERN, in Switzerland, makes it
possible to view text and images and listen to sound interactively
through the Internet. Users can browse interrelated texts in a form
called "hypertext." The software is called "the Web" because of
this non-hierarchical interconnected display of texts and images.
The user can move from one document to another with ease, usually
by clicking a mouse button to select words in the text displayed on
the screen in blue. This "intuitive" movement through a group of
materials provides an information medium with great potential for
research and education. The display of online images and hypertext
is available to those with state-of-the-art personal computers with
a Web-capable connection to the Internet, and equipped with
software and hardware that facilitate browsing the Web, viewing
images, and listening to sound files. Hypertexts without the images
and sound are also available to those with more basic equipment.

      The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress opened
its Web service to the public on April 25, 1995. The texts of free
publications and information about Center services, events, and the
collections in the Archive of Folk Culture are available through
this service. The Folkline information service and connections to
Internet resources related to ethnographic studies are also
provided. The texts are illustrated with photos from the Archive,
and a link to one sound sample from the Archive is included. This
is only a small taste of what is to come. The WPA California Folk
Music Project Collection is being prepared for World Wide Web
distribution and there are plans for additional collections to be
made available through this service.

      In addition to assisting archivists in realizing a dream, the
World Wide Web also adds to the archivist's oldest nightmare. Legal
issues related to rights and permissions for unpublished
uncopyrighted materials have always been difficult to sort out.
World Wide Web distribution provides these materials in a forum in
which they are distributed throughout the world (as the name
implies) and can be downloaded intact for use by anyone who wants
them, often in highly reproducible digital form. The Library of
Congress is distributing historic materials that are free of
copyright or permissions issues, or where permissions can be
obtained.

      In the case of the WPA California Folk Music Project
Collection, the Center wrote to all the performers documented or
their next of kin to request permission to distribute. In addition,
the copyright status of the songs needed to be researched, and, in
some cases, the copyright laws of the country of origin needed to
be determined. We expect that most of the songs in the collection
will be cleared for Internet distribution. But we discovered
through this process that the new technology brings both new
solutions and new problems. There are numerous legal and technical
issues that must be explored to find the best means of distributing
materials while, at the same time, maintaining appropriate respect
for the rights of performers and creators.

      Although it is often said that the Web is the future of the
Internet, many users still prefer services such as Gopher, which
requires no special software or connections. For the present, many
providers, including the American Folklife Center, continue to
provide the more widely accessible Gopher service along with Web
service. It is even possible to integrate the two services. The
Center's Web service provides access to all of the documents on our
LC MARVEL Gopher menus.

      Since many institutions have the equipment for Web access,
those interested in seeing the Web in action may try their local
university library for a demonstration. Those interested in setting
it up themselves will find that there are a number of possible
types of browsing software, both free and commercial, and there are
several types of Web-capable connections to the Internet being
marketed as well. In addition, computers are being marketed with
hypertext-capable software and hardware in place. In the ever-
changing world of Internet development it is often a good idea to
ask several users the pros and cons of the available systems before
purchasing equipment.
   
      Web services are being made available so quickly that it is
difficult to keep track of all the new sites. There are a number of
Web services of interest to folklorists, including the new
Smithsonian Center for Folklife Programs pages, the "Digital
Tradition" folksong database, the "Forth World Documentation
Project" for the study of indigenous peoples, and EthnoForum's site
for hypertext publications in ethnomusicology. All these and more
are available via the Center's Web home page. Just scroll to the
bottom and select "other resources in ethnographic studies."

      The Center's pages are available through the Library of
Congress's LC Web service (URL=http://lcweb.loc.gov), under the
Services and Publications menu. The direct URL is
http://lcweb.loc.gov/folklife.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Folklife Center News, Fall 1995: Captions

Cover: Eugenia Popescu-Judetz, Gheorghe Popescu-Judetz, and
musicologist Constantin Arvinte in the Oltenia region of Romania,
1957. For Romanian dance researchers in the 1950s, fieldwork
sometimes involved traveling by cart. (AFC 1990/022:P9)
Photographer unknown

Howard W. Marshall interviews rancher Joe Boggio for the Folklife
Center's Paradise Valley [Nevada] Folklife Project, 1978.
Marshall's new book focuses on the vernacular architecture of the
region. (NV-8-26-19354-19) Photo by Carl Fleischhauer

Ciocirlia Ensemble performing a Banat dance with stilts
choreographed by Gheorghe Popescu-Judetz, possibly on a 1966 U.S.
tour. (AFC 1990/022:P40) Photo by Edmund Hofer  

A young Gheorghe Popescu-Judetz posing for a portrait wearing a
shepherd's costume. Cmpulung-Muscel, Romania, 1930s. (AFC
1990/022:P23) Photographer unknown

Sometimes the Popescu-Judetzes asked their informants for old
pictures showing costuming, which they would copy and return. Here
Gheorghe Popescu-Judetz's caption indicates that this is a picture
of Ion Albota, forty-six years old in 1952, with his first wife,
from the village of Secusigiu in the Arad district. They are
wearing the old costume of the Banat. (AFC 1990/022:P21)

The trials of fieldwork in Romania in the 1960s: Gheorghe Popescu-
Judetz (far right) with fieldwork team and others. The car got
stuck in the road in the Banat region, 1966. (AFC 1990/022:P19)
Photographer unknown

A page showing a section of the dance notation score for "Purdelul
de la Scornicesti," a dance from the Oltenia region of Romania
recorded by Gheorghe Popescu-Judetz in 1970 using his notation
system. This version of the notation was prepared for publication
in a book. The "s" and "d" indicate foot positions; the
corresponding music notation and lyrics are placed above.

A page showing a section of the hand-written choreographic diagram
for the staging of a suite based on dances from the Maramures
district of Romania. Gheorghe Popescu-Judetz developed the dance in
1965 for the Ciocrlia Ensemble; in this outline he shows the
progressive movements and positions of male (triangle) and female
(semi-circle) dancers. 

Eugenia Popescu-Judetz (left) reviews manuscript materials with
dance archivist Michelle Forner, March 1995. Interviews with
collectors assist in the accurate arrangement and description of
ethnographic collections. Photo by James Hardin

Ethnomusicologist Vida Chenoweth interviewing Taaqiyaa, her chief
Kaagu Usarufa music and text contributor in Papua New Guinea, 1967.
Chenoweth's recent donation of materials from her fieldwork among
the Usarufa is the first of several ethnographic projects she will
be donating over the ensuing years.

Henrietta Yurchenco continues to enrich the collections of the
Archive of Folk Culture, this time with a donation of audio-
recordings, manuscripts, and photographs documenting the folklife
of African-American Gullah-speakers in John's Island, South
Carolina, in the early 1970s. Here she appears (right) with one of
her informants in front of a Methodist church that served as a
focus for some of the documentation. Photo by David Lewiston

Burl Hammons in the kitchen of his West Virginia home, early 1970s.
Photo by Carl Fleischhauer

Folklife Center archivists Stephanie Hall (top) and Catherine Kerst
view the Library of Congress Home Page on the World Wide Web. Photo
by James Hardin

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
People and Events

An Evocation of Ancestors: On June 28, about twenty-five Russian
Molokans who were participating in the Smithsonian's Festival of
American Folklife visited the American Folklife Center. Center
archivist Catherine Kerst gave them a presentation of Russian
Molokan materials (including sound recordings, photographs, and
fieldnotes) from the Sidney Robertson Cowell California Folk Music
Project Collection (she is shown here with a photograph of the
collector). Several visitors were the descendants of the Potrero
Hill, San Francisco, congregation Sidney Cowell recorded in 1938.
Photo by James Hardin

Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart visited the American
Folklife Center on June 23 for a tour of the collections. He
continues to sponsor the Center's Endangered Music Project. Photo
by James Hardin

Ethnomusicologist Max Derrickson and anthropologist Ken Bilby
listen to recordings from the Archive of Folk Culture in order to
make selections for the next several releases in the Center's
Endangered Music Project. Photo by James Hardin

Romanian president Ion Iliescu reviews selections from the American
Folklife Center's Popescu-Judetz Collection as dance archivist
Michelle Forner explains the materials and Librarian of Congress
James Billington (left) look on. Iliescu made a state visit to the
Library in September 1995. Photo by Yusef El-Amin

Two new members representing federal agencies attended the October
meeting of the Center's Board of Trustees: Ada Deer, Bureau of
Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, and Shirley Sagawa,
Corporation for National and Community Service, are shown here with
board members William Kinney (left), Robert Malir, and Alan Jabbour
(right). Photo by David A. Taylor

The Buenos Aires Connection presented traditional Argentine music
and dance at the Center's October concert on the Library of
Congress's Neptune Plaza. Rebecca Shulman and Jorge Udrisard
demonstrated the tango. Photo by James

Folk dancers from the 30th Dorobantzi Regiment from Muscel,
Romania, 1941. The group, organized and led by Gheorghe Popescu-
Judetz, poses in costume with local dance partners and musicians.
Dance archivist Michelle Forner has been processing the American
Folklife Center's Popescu-Judetz Collection for the Dance Heritage
Coalition Access Project. Her article on the subject begins on page 
x. (AFC 1990/022:P27) Photographer unknown