^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                      Folklife Center News
                    American Folklife Center
                   The Library of Congress  
                          Spring 2000
                     Volume XXII, Number 2
           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.

STAFF

Administration

Peggy A. Bulger, Director 
James Hardin, Acting Assistant
Doris Craig, Administrative Assistant

Acquisitions

David A. Taylor, Acting Coordinator

Processing

Catherine Hiebert Kerst, Archivist
Nora Yeh, Archivist

Programs

Peter T. Bartis, Folklife Specialist
Camila Bryce-Laporte, Program Coordinator
Mary Hufford, Folklife Specialist
David A. Taylor, Folklife Specialist

Public Events

Theadocia Austen, Coordinator

Reference

Jennifer A. Cutting, Folklife Specialist
Judith A. Gray, Folklife Specialist, Coordinator
Stephanie A. Hall, Automation Specialist
Ann Hoog, Folklife Specialist

Administrative Office

Fax: 202 707-2076

Reference Service

Tel: 202 707-5510
E-mail: folklife@loc.gov 

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Congressional Appointees

James F. Hoy, Chair, Kansas
Kay Kaufman Shelemay, Vice-Chair, Massachusetts
Janet Brown, South Dakota
John Penn Fix III, Washington
Mickey Hart, California
William L. Kinney Jr., South Carolina
Judith McCulloh, Illinois
Charles E. Trimble, Nebraska

Presidential Appointees

Kevin Gover, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, U.S.
Department of the Interior
William Kennard, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission
Mario Moreno, Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental and
Interagency Affairs, Department of Education
Ellen McCulloch-Lovell, Deputy Assistant to the President and
Advisor to the First Lady on the Millennium

Librarian Appointees

Jane Beck, Vermont
Norma Cant, Texas
Tom Rankin, North Carolina
William H. Wiggins Jr., Indiana

Ex Officio Members  

James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress
Lawrence M. Small, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
Bill Ivey, Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts
William Ferris, Chairman, National Endowment for the
Humanities
Jo Radner, President, American Folklore Society
Bonnie Wade, President, Society for Ethnomusicology
Peggy A. Bulger, Director, American Folklife Center

FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS

James Hardin, Editor
David A. Taylor, Editorial Advisor
Sheryle Shears, Designer
Peggy Pixley, Production
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. 20540-4610. 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.

 LC Web is available through the World Wide Web service
(http://lcweb.loc.gov/). 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 the above Internet server. For
telephone service, call the Folklife Reading Room: 202 707-
5510.

EDITOR'S NOTES  

Happy Birthday

April 24, 2000, is the two-hundredth birthday of the Library
of Congress. Plans are underway for an all-day celebration,
including presentations and performances by Gen. Colin Powell,
David Copperfield, Tito Puente, Kathy Mattea, Ralph Stanley
and the Clinch Mountain Boys, Pete Seeger, the U.S. Army Band,
"Big Bird," and others. Bicentennial stamps and coins are
being issued for the occasion, and commemorative merchandise
will be on sale. More than sixty Americans who have achieved
distinction in their particular fields of endeavor will be
honored as "Living Legends." Readers of this journal will be
interested to know that among those being honored are Mickey
Hart, Alan Lomax, Pete Seeger, and Ralph Stanley.

On-Going and Up-Coming Activities

Folklife Poster: The Center is cooperating with the Department
of Education to produce a poster that will be available for
display in schools across the country. A poster is produced
annually as part of the department's "Read Right Now" program,
and this year's edition will feature a folklife theme, with
suggestions to teachers for developing reading skills using
folklife activities. The department is funding the design of
the poster, and the Center must raise private money for
printing and distribution.

Ethnographic Thesaurus: The Center has organized a committee
composed of folklorists, ethnomusicologists, archivists, and
librarians to discuss the creation of an ethnographic
thesaurus. Such a publication would provide consistent
representation of ethnographic subject terminology, using a
comprehensive, controlled vocabulary, so that material could
be better cataloged and more easily accessed by researchers.

Folklife Field Schools: The winter issue of Folklife Center
News included an article by David Taylor on the Center's field
documentation training school at Kenyon College in Ohio. Plans
are underway for another field school at Indiana University in
June and July of this year, and Center staff have discussed
the possibility of an "Appalachian" field school in the
future.

Collections in Crisis: Deteriorating and at-risk ethnographic
field recordings are an ongoing concern for any folklife
archive, however large or small. One of the Center's first
major projects, the Federal Cylinder Project, transferred
thousand of wax-cylinder recordings to preservation tape. The
Center now seeks to address the problem, as it exists for a
variety of media (wax-cylinder, wire-, disc-, or tape-recorded
materials) through a number of projects, including a symposium
scheduled for December 1-2 entitled "Folklife Collections in
Crisis." See box on page .





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Local Legacies Come to the Library of Congress

by James Hardin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Preservation boxes line the shelves of a large corner room on
the first floor of the Library's Adams Building, a squarish,
serviceable, art-deco structure completed in 1939. White
labels with bold black letters hang from the shelves, naming
the states and territories: Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa,
Arizona . . . The orderly arrangement, however,  belies the
profusion of American folklife documented within, in
photograph, video and audiotape, and descriptive essay: the
explosion of firecrackers at a Chinese New Year parade in
Portland, Oregon; the crackling conflagration of a bonfire, as
"Old Man Gloom" burns in Sante Fe, New Mexico; the strong,
joyful voices of a community Sacred Harp sing in Georgia; the
cries of the crowd as a young boy flies aloft in a blanket
toss in rural Utah. From around the country "Local Legacies"
have come to the Library of Congress.

     It was, at first, an elegantly simple idea (albeit
fraught with the possibility for going wrong): invite senators
and representatives to identify grassroots traditions and
activities from every state and congressional district,
document them in photographs, sound and video recordings, and
manuscript, and send a portion of that documentation to the
Library of Congress for its Bicentennial. The resulting
collection would provide a snapshot of traditional cultural
life in America at the turn of the twentieth century.  No
money would be provided, just lots of advice and
encouragement.

     Librarian of Congress James H. Billington proposed the
Local Legacies project at the May 1997 meeting of the American
Folklife Center's Board of Trustees in New Orleans, a city
well-known for its own grassroots cultural life. Local
Legacies would take its cue from other community-based
Millennium projects and activities, and celebrate the two-
hundredth birthday of the Library of Congress. Each state and
congressional district might place their examples of
"extraordinary creativity" in the national folk archive at the
Library of Congress (as a birthday present to the nation's
library), and a digital library project would allow them to be
shared throughout this country and internationally.

     The project would provide an opportunity for Library
staff to work with Congress, and for Congress to work with its
local constituents. But would Congress respond? Would local
communities understand the proposal?  Who would do the work,
and what might be sent in?  There were many questions. The
Center's Board was polite but skeptical, acknowledged the
extraordinary possibilities, worried about the kind and
quality of material that might be created (and how it would be
handled and stored), and suggested that the Library devise
guidelines for participants.

     The Center's very successful Montana Folklife Project was
cited as an example of a community-based documentary project,
and the Library asked Center folklife specialist Peter Bartis
to take the lead on Local Legacies, since he had helped devise
the Montana project. His first task was to train a small staff
to manage liaison with the state and district congressional
offices, identify and resolve problems, and be available to
answer a host of questions that were likely to arise. Bartis
himself contacted folklorists in every state and gave
presentations at the American Folklore Society meetings, to
explain and build support for the project. He understood that
one difficulty inherent in the new project was that different
interested constituencies (the Congress; state folklorists and
cultural organizations; the public) would have different
expectations. Project "Guidelines" defined a local legacy as
"a traditional activity, event, or area of creativity that
merits being documented for future generations." Project staff
were hoping for representative, or "signature," events and
activities that somehow characterized the local community.

     As congressional members and staff were notified of the
project, said Bartis, "the response was amazing. Members of
Congress understood what was being suggested and many knew
immediately what signature event they wanted to nominate. As
for folklorists and cultural organizations, they were grateful
for the opportunity to work with their senators and
congressman. In fact, the project provided a wonderful
opportunity for folklorists to demonstrate what they do."

     Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico expressed the common
reaction.  He said his state is rich in cultural tradition
(many senators and congressman nominated several projects);
and that he was delighted to be able to tell others about
them. Domenici wrote to Bartis, "New Mexico has so many unique
traditions and legacies and we are excited to share our
traditions with the rest of the nation."

     Rep. Robert Weygand of Rhode Island nominated several
festivals, a museum, and the Narragansett Indian tribe from
his district to be local legacies.  At a program announcing
his selection, he said, "today's Library of Congress
exemplifies Thomas Jefferson's faith in learning and his
determination to make democracy work.  He would be proud of
this rich heritage we are exhibiting today." [Providence
Sunday Journal, January 23, 2000]

     Rep. John Hostettler, who nominated a Revolutionary War
battle re-enactment,"The Spirit of Vincennes Rendezvous," from
the Eighth District of Indiana, said, "the Library of Congress
worked it out so that each member deals with his constituency
on a person-to-person basis . . . that's why it's working so
well." [The Hill, November 10, 1999]

     Interestingly, Bartis pointed out, "folklorists and
politicians have a lot in common: both operate at the
grassroots level, both have an interest in building community,
both are happy to have local communities and individuals
recognized and honored." Many of the participants from the
local communities were delighted to discover, through the
recognition of the Library of Congress, that what they had
been doing for years had "cultural significance."

     By the end of 1999, over twelve-hundred projects were
registered, representing 90 percent of the Senate and 70
percent of the House. The Library asked for ten to thirty
photographs, a written report, and administrative data such as
permission forms. Video and sound recordings were optional. By
the end of March 2000, the documentary material from over 900
projects had been delivered to the Library of Congress for
sorting and arranging. More arrive every day, and anticipation
is growing for a celebratory reception at the Library on May
23.


Festivals, historic sites, civic activities, occupational
culture, and environmental projects were some of the places,
activities, and events documented for Local Legacies. In
Newhall, California, a trail ride through the Placerita Canyon
is part of an annual cowboy poetry festival, held at the
Melody Ranch Movie Studio. Ride leader Scott Dickens calls it
"an opportunity to step into the Old West." In Arizona, each
year, there is a reenactment of the two-hundred-mile Pony
Express ride from Holbrook to Scottsdale, with actual mail
carried and delivered under a continuous contract with the
U.S. Postal Service. The riders are members of the Navajo
County Sheriff's department, a search-and-rescue team named
the Hashknife Posse Pony Express after a famously rough-and-
ready band of cowboys, the "Hashknife Outfit," that worked for
the Aztec Land and Cattle Company.

     Near Lyons, Colorado, the San Juan Mountains provide a
spectacular back-drop for the Telluride Bluegrass Festival,
which attracts ten thousand people on a single day for its
outdoor concerts; the college town of Ann Arbor, Michigan,
hosts a full weekend of events, inside and out, for the Ann
Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival, begun in 1969 as the first
blues festival of its kind in North America; and in Hoboken,
Georgia, family and community members gather for a capella
singing, using four shape notes (fa, sol, la, mi). This shape-
note singing style is sometimes labeled "Sacred Harp," after a
shape-note book published in 1844 by B.F. White of Hamilton,
Georgia.

     In Portland, Oregon, as in many other cities, Chinese New
Year is celebrated with a parade through the streets of
Chinatown, reminding us that America is a nation of immigrants
who bring their traditions with them. In Sante Fe, New Mexico,
the annual burning of the great cartoonish effigy Zozobra (Old
Man Gloom) on the second Thursday of September
dispels the hardships of the past year and marks the start of
Fiesta de Sante Fe. As many as thirty thousand attend the
event, which blends Hispanic-, Anglo- and Native American
culture.

     In many communities across the nation, economic viability
depends upon a particular local product that becomes an
essential part of the cultural life: watermelon in Hope,
Arkansas; wine in Napa Valley, California; cider in Topeka,
Kansas; tulips in Holland, Michigan; onions in Orange County,
New York; and salmon in northwest interior Washington, all
represented by Local Legacies projects. Rep. David Wu, First
District of Oregon, wrote that his project, "A Day in the Life
of the Columbia Pacific," provides "a glimpse into the life
and times of our community through the eyes of our children"
and helps the school-aged participants feel apart of their
community and "examine and reflect upon what is truly
wonderful about our region." [Letter to Local Legacies staff
Evie McCleaf]

     In Fountain Green, Utah, the third Saturday of July is
set aside for Lamb Day, providing young future farmers an
opportunity to prepare their lambs for show and auction. The
festival dates from 1932, when economic conditions were
difficult and the town fathers were looking for ways to
promote this local product. The present-day celebration
includes a parade, a pole climb, and occasionally a
spontaneous blanket toss (see cover).

     Commenting on the Lamb Day celebration, Utah Arts Council
folklorist Carol Edison said, "these are modern-day
manifestations of our heritage. . . . Many of the people who
live [in Fountain Green] today have some cultural tie to the
sheep industry. . . that occupation still symbolizes who they
are and where they came from." [SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, September
29, 1999]

     Mayor Bob Salley of Salley, South Carolina, was tempted
to send in chitlings for his Local Legacies project the
"Chitlin' Strut," nominated by Sen. Strom Thurmond, but
decided that souvenir books, brochures, photographs, and other
mementos from the event would be less odorous and easier to
archive. The annual festival includes crafts, entertainment,
hog calling, and, of course, the deep frying of thousands of
pounds of hog intestines. The mayor, for whose ancestors the
town is named, said the nomination was a "very high honor."
[AUGUSTA CHRONICLE, December 24, 1999]


The common thread in all these projects is community, says
project coordinator Peter Bartis, and in particular "what
makes and reinforces community." The Local Legacies projects
provide evidence in abundance of Americans celebrating their
local customs, landscapes, and history; feeling proud about
who they are and where they live; meeting their friends and
neighbors; showing off for visitors; and coming together
simply to have a good time.  "In just a few months we have
found new depth in our surroundings, and discovered a new
connection to where we live," wrote Libby, Montana, high
school student Alice Maahs to Evie McCleaf at the Library's
Local Legacies Office. Sandee Hansen, executive director of
the Florence Area Chamber of Commerce in Florence, Oregon, was
"excited and proud" that the Rhododendron Festival was
selected for a Local Legacies project. "Our small town is
absolutely aglow because of such an honor."

     On March 28, the House of Representatives passed a
resolution commending the Library of Congress for two hundred
years of outstanding service. Many Members of Congress rose to
praise the institution and the Bicentennial celebration, and
Rep. John Larson, of Connecticut's First District, said "I
think of the Local Legacies project as a patchwork quilt of
American communities; no two [projects] are exactly alike, but
each is a true treasure."

     It is the mission of the Library of Congress "to
preserve, secure, and sustain for the present and future use
of the Congress and the nation a comprehensive record of
American history and creativity." Across the country a panoply
of events and activities bears witness to the endless capacity
of the American people to celebrate themselves in creative and
fanciful and ingenious ways. What becomes part of the National
Library through the Local Legacies project are the festivals
and parades and fairs and crafts and music-making Americans
have themselves designated and documented as their "local
legacies" to the future.


Photo Captions:

Cover: Crowds at the Lamb Day celebration, Fountain Green,
Utah, engage in a spontaneous blanket toss at Fountain Green
City Park, July 1980. Lamb Day was first held in 1932 to
promote the local product. Local Legacies project sponsored by
Sen. Robert F. Bennett. Photo by Richard D. Menzies

"Belles of West Virginia," at the State Folk Festival,
Glenville, West Virginia, from the 1970s.  The West Virginia
State Folk Festival was established in 1950 by college
professor Patrick Gainer to "preserve the remnants of the
pioneer life and culture of West Virginia in music,
entertainment, education, social and economic activities to
the end that citizens may appreciate and respect the
achievements of their forebears."  Ten "Belles" are selected
each year by the Extension Homemakers or Senior Citizens
Organization. They must be over seventy years of age and
represent the "true pioneer mountain spirit." Local Legacies
project sponsored by Rep. Bob Wise. Photographer unknown

Surrounded by hundreds of boxes containing Local Legacies
project materials, coordinator Peter Bartis opens a box sent
in from the state of Montana. Photo by James Hardin

Local Legacies staffer Denise Gotay Theunissen reviews one of
the many newspaper stories that were published on the
projects. Photo by James Hardin

Placerita Canyon Trail Ride, 1999,  Newhall, California. Led
by Scott Dickens, this trail ride was part of the sixth annual
Cowboy Poetry Festival, held at the Melody Ranch Movie Studio
in Newhall. Project sponsored by Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon.
Photo by Jack Hummel

Telluride Bluegrass Festival, near Lyons, Colorado, June 1998.
Begun in 1973, the festival now attracts as many as ten
thousand people a day for music in this spectacular outdoor
setting. Project sponsored by Sen. Wayne Allard. Photo by
Jamie Janover

Sacred Harp sing led by David Lee (center left, facing camera,
with open book), Hoboken, Georgia, November 19, 1999. Sacred
Harp singing in Hoboken dates from the 1820s. Project
sponsored by Rep. Jack Kingston. Photo by Laurie K. Sommers

Jazz artist Archie Shepp performs at the 1972 Ann Arbor Blues
and Jazz Festival, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Project sponsored by
Rep. Lynn Rivers. Photo by Ira Lax

In the Local Legacies processing area, staffer Evie McCleaf
sorts and arranges material for storage in preservation boxes.
Photo by James Hardin

Some project participants could not resist including event
paraphernalia with their documentary photographs and
recordings, such as these T-shirts from the University of
Montevallo's College Night, nominated by Rep. Spencer Bachus
from the Sixth District of Alabama. Staffer Rachel Mears,
shown here, is arranging and organizing the Local Legacies
collection. Photo by James Hardin

"Zozobra," or "Old Man Gloom," in his final moments before
burning, Sante Fe, New Mexico,  September 1999.  The tradition
of burning the great effigy, which dates back seventy-three
years, blends elements of the three local cultures Anglo-,
Hispanic, and Native American and attracts a crowd of as many
as thirty thousand. Project sponsored by Sen. Pete Domenici.
Photo courtesy of Kim Kurianowicz

Monserrate Montalvo, "petate" weaver from Sabana Grande,
Puerto Rico, August 17, 1999. "Dona" Monserrate, who makes
woven mats, is one of a number of Puerto Rican artisans
documented for Local Legacies. Project sponsored by Delegate
Carlos Romero Barcelo. Photo by Giovanni Rufino

Phoebe Mason of Chicago, with a twenty-three-pound salmon and
a three-pound salmon she caught, Puget Sound, August 11, 1949.
The project "Cycles of Life in Northwest Interior Washington"
points to the centrality of salmon to the economic and
cultural life of the state. Project sponsored by Rep. Jack
Metcalf. Photo courtesy Jack Carver Collection, Whatcom Museum
of History and Art


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Omaha Indian Music: Voices of the Past and Present

By Laurel McIntyre
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In a letter to the Omaha Tribal Council in 1983, Alan Jabbour,
then the Director of the American Folklife Center (AFC),
wrote: "If [the recording] is to live up to our dreams for it,
it should make a special contribution to encouraging the
living cultural traditions of the Omaha tribe today, at the
same time that it educates others in Nebraska and around the
country about the nature and richness of Omaha culture."
Jabbour was describing an initiative of the American Folklife
Center to produce an album of Omaha wax cylinder recordings
dating back to 1895-97 that eventually was published as the
record album OMAHA INDIAN MUSIC (AFC L71).  

     As it turned out, the idea to collaborate with the Omaha
in preparation for the album led to several projects and an
ongoing relationship. Interviews with tribal elders, the
return of cassette copies of the wax-cylinder recordings and
simultaneous documentation of pow-wows, as well as the
production of the album and a concert at the Library of
Congress, established this relationship in the 1980s. And, in
1999, the Folklife Center, as part of a National Digital
Library Program project, again consulted with the Omaha tribe
in preparation for an Internet presentation of traditional
Omaha Indian music. On February 3, 2000, OMAHA INDIAN MUSIC
joined the more than seventy multimedia collections that are
part of the Library of Congress's American Memory Historical
Collections. The Center hopes that this recent online project
will foster the survival of cultural traditions among Omahas
at the same time that it educates others throughout the world.

     In 1979, the Center inaugurated the Federal Cylinder
Project to catalog, make copies of, and disseminate to the
Indian communities of origin thousands of wax-cylinder
recordings that had come to the Library from the National
Archives and other sources.  Among these recordings, which
were recorded between 1890 and 1942, was an extensive
collection of Omaha songs. Staff for the project thought these
recordings would be ideal for a published album. Their sound
quality was better than that of many other cylinders, their
documentation was complete for a wide variety of songs, and
they were among the earliest recordings of Plains Indian
Music. While Rev. James Owen Dorsey had previously recorded
Omahas, these wax cylinders represented the first Omaha Indian
music to have been recorded on the reservation in the field.
Also of special interest was the fact that they had resulted
from the collaboration of two pioneering individuals:
ethnologist Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Omaha Indian
ethnologist Francis La Flesche.  

     About the same time, by coincidence, Omaha tribal
archivist Dennis Hastings was becoming curious about
references to the recordings included in notes by La Flesche
and Fletcher and arranged to hear them. In an article for
FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS, a recording technician for the Federal
Cylinder Project, Erika Brady, wrote: "He listened with
motionless intensity, his excitement clear. Folklife Center
staff had already been thinking about producing an album of
the Omaha material with accompanying notes, but it was
Dennis's enthusiasm that sparked the project to life." 1  The
Center received a grant from the L. J. and Mary C. Skaggs
Foundation for production of the album, but more than
financial support would be required to make the album
possible the Center would need the collaboration of the Omaha
tribe.  

     In late February of 1983, Jabbour traveled to the Omaha
reservation in Macy, Nebraska, to present the plan for the
project to members of the tribal council. He took with him the
recordings that project staff Erika Brady and Maria La Vigna
had prepared, in the event that someone might wish to hear
them. In the April-June 1983 issue of FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS,
Jabbour described what happened:

Dennis Hastings gave an initial talk, then I made a fairly
lengthy presentation describing the project, the Fletcher/La
Flesche collection, and the Folklife Center's publication
plans. The Council members seemed interested but were curious
to hear for themselves. At that point I excused myself to run
out to the car and retrieve my cassette recorder. When I came
back, I discovered that the Council had sent for two old men
to join us. One of them was 80-year-old John Turner, whom I
later recorded. I played examples from the cylinder
recordings, concentrating on the hethu'shka (warrior songs)
category. When John Turner began singing along with some of
the 1896 recordings, I knew we were home free. 2       

     As more tribal members listened, the positive response
continued. Roger Welsch, noted Nebraska folklorist, humorist,
and writer, was struck by the reactions of individuals at the
elderly center. In an article published in the Lincoln
Journal-Star, Welsch is quoted: "As they listened, their
mouths began to move in time with the beat of the music. Their
lips mouthed the words.  They muttered names of friends long
dead. Their eyes glazed with tears . . ." 3  The music had not
been forgotten.

     The person who was perhaps most familiar with Omaha songs
at the time was John Turner, the very person who had joined
the tribal council meeting the day before. During the
following afternoon of Jabbour's February visit, Turner
provided commentary that would prove integral to the selection
of recordings for the OMAHA INDIAN MUSIC album. Jabbour played
hethu'shka songs, funeral songs, captive songs, woman songs,
victory songs, and love songs, and Mr. Turner offered  rich
and animated interpretations. Not only did he identify the
songs as either acceptable or too sacred for public
dissemination, he also sang along with or after many of them.
At the end of one hethu'shka song, he sang his own version and
jokingly gave the impression that his must have been more
thoroughly Omaha. "The way I learned it is different. . . .
That one's old, I guess. Must have been half-breeds singing
it" (AFS 22,622: 0731).

     In 1985, OMAHA INDIAN MUSIC (AFC L71) became available as
a long-playing phonograph record and cassette. Included on
this album are forty-four cylinder recordings of public and
social songs that were selected from the ninety cylinders of
Omaha songs collected by Alice Cunningham Fletcher and Francis
La Flesche between 1895 and 1905. The selections were made in
accordance with the information that John Turner had provided
during the 1983 interview. Among the songs, which are sung by
men and women, are ten hethu'shka songs, a traditional funeral
song, the Ritual of the Maize, he'dewachi or tribal dance
songs, war and victory songs, songs celebrating personal and
tribal honors, and love songs. Supplementing the recordings is
a nineteen-page booklet that includes essays by Dennis
Hastings and Roger Welsch, as well as biographical information
about the collectors, Fletcher and La Flesche. Also included
is contextual information for each of the recordings, and
photographs from the early twentieth century and the 1980s.  

     In celebration of the LP recordings, members of the
Hethu'shka Society and other Omahas were invited to the
Library of Congress for a concert on Neptune Plaza.
Participating in this event were emcee Dennis Hastings,
singers James Walker and Rufus White, dancers Isaac Caramony,
Charles Lonewolf, Morgan Lovejoy, Rudi Mitchell, and Hollis
Stabler, Sr. During the event, four hethu'shka songs were sung
in succession, just as they are at the beginning of each pow-
wow program. In addition, there was an honoring song that
celebrated Hethu'shka Society members of the past, and Hollis
Stabler Sr., then chairman of the Society, told a story about
the formation of the original Hethu'shka Society. Other songs
sung during the concert were a flag song, the song for the
whipman, a buffalo dance, a sneak up, and a quitting song.
During a two-step, audience members were  invited to join the
Omaha dancers. By the end of the concert, as Rufus White
explained the history of the drum that James Walker and he had
been playing, it was evident that Omaha traditions are still
very much alive. And, once again, this was an event marked by
the return of copies of wax-cylinder recordings. This time,
the recordings, in the form of an album, were available to
others as well.

     When the American Folklife Center was offered the
opportunity to highlight a collection of Native American
materials as part of the Library of Congress's American Memory
Historical Collections, Omaha materials immediately came to
mind. The wealth of materials, in the form of older and more
contemporary sound recordings, slides and black-and-white
photographic images, fieldnotes, and other supporting
documentation, set this collection apart. And so, by the end
of 1998, plans were underway for a return trip to Macy in
order to make a formal proposal to the Tribal Council.  

Alan Jabbour and I traveled to Macy and met with the council
in mid-April 1999, the first of three trips that we would take
together. At 10:00 a.m. on Monday, April 12, we arrived at the
tribal administration building for a meeting with Chairman
Blackbird (who was also the chairman in 1983), Vice Chairman
Amen Sheridan, Treasurer L. Arnie Harlan, Member Doran Morris
Sr., and Dennis Hastings. In addition, Charles Trimble, an
Oglala Lakota Sioux, a member of the American Folklife
Center's Board of Trustees, and the person who helped to
schedule the meeting, was also present. The chairman, Mr.
Sheridan, Mr. Harlan, and Mr. Morris Sr. were soon convinced
that the Internet would be yet another way to encourage the
survival of Omaha culture, and the council agreed that we
would again work with Dennis Hastings, as well as with other
members of the tribe. Hastings introduced us to Rufus White,
who had been the lead singer of the Host Drum during the 1983
pow-wow.  We made plans for a recording session with him and
met his wife Maxine, who provided helpful identifications for
the photographs to be included  with the online presentation.  

     By late July, Alan and I were again on our way to Macy,
as the heat index hovered around 110 degrees. Over the course
of four days, White shared a wealth of information about the
nearly two-hundred songs Folklife Center staffer Carl
Fleischhauer had recorded during the 1983 pow-wow.  Not only
did he translate Omaha words, but, in a number of cases, he
shared stories that related to the songs. For example, he
translated a hethu'shka song about a warrior's return to his
village: "The young man is coming home. Get something ready
for him. God help us. Pity us. Thank you for the beautiful
things that we can share with one another." This translation
was followed by a story relating to the origin of the
significance of the number four among Omahas:  An Omaha
veteran had made four stops before he returned to his people.
He was proud that he could bring food back to them. He gave
sick elderly people four spoonfuls of everything for four
days. In doing so, he saved people's lives. Today, four
hethu'shka songs continue to be sung at the beginning of each
harvest festival pow-wow, and the pow-wow lasts for four days
(AFS 1986/038: 0759).  In some cases, White could trace the
origins of songs to particular individuals. He was able to
comment on Omaha songs that he had heard at other pow-wows and
to elaborate on the role of singers. He could comment
specifically on the quality of the singing and drumming. For
example, he knew when one of his fellow singers was slowing up
in his drumming. Further, he provided extensive information
about the songs that are sung in series at the Omaha pow-wow.
Included in this sequence are the grand entry song, a flag
song, four hethu'shka songs, a song for the whipman, and a
song for the pow-wow princess.

     The third visit occurred during the harvest celebration
pow-wow, which was held August 12-15, 1999. On Friday evening,
Jabbour made a presentation about the online project, and
later we stood near the speakers' stand and distributed fliers
about the project. Tribal members approached us to find out
how they might access the online presentation. As we consulted
with Maxine and Rufus White about photograph information,
people curiously peered over our shoulders to see if they too
might be able to help with the identifications. And, as we
visited with Isaac Caramony, Morgan Lovejoy, and Rudi
Mitchell, all of whom had been participants at the 1985
concert, we sensed an enthusiasm for this new means of sharing
Omaha culture.

     In their seminal work entitled The Omaha Tribe, Alice
Cunningham Fletcher and Francis La Flesche describe music as
"an integral part of the life of the Omaha."  "Through song,
he approached the mysterious Wakon'da; through song he voiced
his emotions, both individual and social; through song he
embodied feelings and aspirations that eluded expression in
words." 4  It is this music of the Omahas music sung more than
a hundred years ago, as well as more contemporary music,  that
forms the basis for an online collection that joins over
seventy collections now available as part of American Memory.


Notes

1. Erika Brady, "Bringing the Voices Home: The Omaha Pow-Wow
Revisted," FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS 8:4 (October-December 1985):
7-10.  

2. Alan Jabbour, "Director's Column," FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS 6:
2 (April-June 1983): 2-3.

3. Kathleen Rutledge, "Omaha Tribal Songs Put in Record
Album," LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR, September 1, 1985.

4. Alice C. Fletcher and Francis La Flesche, THE OMAHA TRIBE
(Originally published in 1911 by the Government Printing
Office as a paper accompanying THE TWENTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL
REPORT OF THE U.S. BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY TO THE
SECRETARY OF SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1905-06).  New York:
Johnson Reprint Corporation, 1970.

............................................................

Laurel McIntyre is a digital conversion specialist for the
National Digital Library.
............................................................

Captions:

Host Drum, 1983 Omaha pow-wow, Macy, Nebraska. First row from
left to right: Valentine Parker, Jr., Clifford Cayou, Mike
McCauley, James Walker, Albert Dick Sr., and Rufus White.
Second row from left to right: John DeCorra, Jacob Drum,
Rudolph Clark, Alfred Gilpin, James Edwards, Clyde Hallowell,
and Charlie Edwards. 1983 Omaha pow-wow. Macy, Nebraska. 
Photo by Carl Fleischhauer (AFC 1986/038:
FCP/0-CF-214061-6/36;  Digital ID 0059)

Dance Honoring John and Susette Turner at the 1983 Omaha pow-
wow, Macy, Nebraska.  Second row (behind unidentified girl)
from left to right: Dennis Turner, Francelia Clark, Maxine
White, Elmer Blackbird, and Dale Saunsoci. Second row from
left to right: Kenny Blackbird and Ruby Turner. 1983 Omaha
pow-wow, Macy, Nebraska. In an interview with Alan Jabbour in
February 1983, John Turner provided information about wax-
cylinder recordings that were being considered for inclusion
on an LP (AFC L71 Omaha Indian Music). Photo by Carl
Fleischhauer (AFC 1986/038: FCP/0-CF-214061-4/27; Digital ID
0033)

Traditional dancer Joe Snowball, 1983 Omaha pow-wow, Macy,
Nebraska. Photo by Carl Fleischhauer (AFC 1986/038:
FCP/0-CF-214061-6/9; Digital ID 0051)

Dennis Hastings and Federal Cylinder Project staffer Dorothy
Sara Lee listen to the tape of musician Charlie Edward's
INDIAN CHIPMUNKS, 1983 Omaha pow-wow, Macy, Nebraska. Ninety-
one at the time, Edwards was believed to be the oldest man on
the Omaha reservation. Photo by Carl Fleischhauer (AFC
1986/038: FCP/0-CF-214061-1/12A; Digital ID; Digital ID 0003)

Rufus White during a July 22, 1999, interview at the Tribal
Administration Building, Macy, Nebraska. Head singer of the
Host Drum in 1983, White provided a wealth of contextual
information about the songs that were sung during the pow-wow.
Both songs from the pow-wow and his commentary are now
available online.  Photo by Laurel McIntyre 

Alan Jabbour and Chairman Elmer Blackbird, Tribal
Administration Building, Macy, Nebraska.  In April of 1999,
Jabbour and Blackbird discussed plans for an American Memory
presentation entitled OMAHA INDIAN MUSIC. Photo by Laurel
McIntyre

Maxine White and Laurel McIntyre, 1999 harvest festival pow-
wow, Macy, Nebraska. White helped to identify people in
photographs that were taken by Carl Fleischhauer and Dorothy
Sara Lee during the 1983 Omaha pow-wow. Photo by Alan Jabbour

BOX

OMAHA INDIAN MUSIC features traditional Omaha music from the
1890s and 1980s. The multiformat ethnographic field collection
contains 44 wax cylinder recordings collected by Francis La
Flesche and Alice Cunningham Fletcher between 1895 and 1897,
323 songs and speeches from the 1983 Omaha harvest celebration
pow-wow, and 25 songs and speeches from the 1985 Hethu'shka
Society concert at the Library of Congress. Segments from
interviews with members of the Omaha tribe conducted in 1983
and 1999 provide contextual information for the songs and
speeches included in the collection. Supplementing the
collection are black-and-white and color photographs taken
during the 1983 pow-wow and the 1985 concert, as well as
research materials that include fieldnotes and tape logs
pertaining to the pow-wow.

OMAHA INDIAN MUSIC can be reached through the American
Folklife Center's Home Page at http://lcweb.loc.gov/folklife/.
Click on "other collections available online." This
presentation has been made possible by the generous support of
The Texaco Foundation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Instinctive Folklorist": An Interview with Jo Radner

Conducted by James Hardin, with photographs by David A. Taylor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last year Jo Radner, professor of literature at American
University, joined the board of trustees of the American
Folklife Center as the first president of the American
Folklore Society to serve in a newly created ex officio
position for that office. Both the American Folklore Society
(AFS) and the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM) are now
represented, signaling a closer relationship between the
Center and these two national scholarly societies. I spoke
with Jo Radner following the February 18 meeting of the board
at the Library of Congress.

     Jo Radner began her career in folklore through the
"indirect route" of her Harvard University studies in Celtic
languages and literature. Her plans were for an academic
career as a scholar and teacher. Along the way, she discovered
that what most interested her was the way language and
literature, and stories in particular, functioned in a social
setting. Because Celtic literature was invented in an oral
culture, she found herself, of necessity, studying folklore,
both at Harvard in the late sixties and on her own.

     In 1971, Radner joined the faculty of American University
in Washington, D.C., to teach in an interdisciplinary Ph.D.
program. Duncan Emrich was there at the time, long after he
had served as head of the Archive of Folk Culture at the
Library of Congress, and Radner eventually took over his
course Introduction to Folklore. Shortly after coming to
Washington, she met Alan Jabbour, then head of the Folk
Archive at the Library of Congress, and Jabbour further
encouraged her to pursue her interest in folklore. "Never
teach anything you don't want to learn," is one of Radner's
mottos. She discovered herself to be an "instinctive
folklorist," and she very much wanted to learn more about
folklore.

     Radner characterizes herself as "an eclectic person,"
interested in "a lot of different things, with the common
thread of narrative," and her teaching is affected by that
interest. She has her students tell stories in class, for she
believes that with the telling, the "enactment" of the story,
comes understanding. One discovers, for example, that the
decorative "runs" in Irish narratives, often regarded as stock
passages (such as how a warrior arms for battle) are in fact
opportunities for performance, a chance for the fun of showing
off one's narrative skills, of "juggling ten balls."

     At American University, she teaches a wide variety of
courses, including women's folklore, a seminar on theories of
oral narrative, Celtic myth and literature, storytelling in
North America, Irish and Scottish folklore, and general
education courses on the literary imagination. Her current
research focuses on composition and performance of literary
"newspapers" at village gatherings in postbellum northern New
England a little-known genre that offers a window into
community culture and values.

     Radner balances her academic work with her professional
participation in the American Folklore Society. She is
coordinating the creation of a long-range planning document
for the society, and I asked her about the relations between
academic and public sector folklorists.  The idea that there
is a dichotomy between academic and public folklore is "a
dangerous myth," she said. Folklore study has broad
implications, and the methods and skills of folklore have
broad applications. Folklore study equips students for
academic work, but it also equips them for "work in the
world," and the non-academic, applied practice of professional
folklorists in turn enriches academic folklore study.

     While some high-profile academic programs in folklore
have been called into question recently by university
administrators, Radner stresses that many others are thriving.
And there are other signs of success for the folklore
enterprise: many festivals and public programs with a
folkloric content (such as those on National Public Radio)
have a high intellectual integrity, and folklorists occupy
positions of national leadership at NEA and NEH. Grassroots
interest in folklore and cultural documentation is very high.
There has been an increasing momentum in activity over the
past decade, and people outside the academy are doing great
work.

     Radner praised the addition to the Center's board of
Trustees of an ex officio position for the president of the
American Folklore Society. Within the Library of Congress, she
said, there is a new understanding of the importance of the
work of folklorists and the place of folklore documentation
within this great national institution. Folklore is an
essential part of the American story. She called it an
"amazing and important coincidence" that the president-elect
of the AFS is also the director of the Center. Peggy Bulger's
dual role should serve to increase the communication that is
now going on between the two complementary organizations, she
said. Both Center and Society are making long-range plans, and
thinking together about how to work together. The Center has
the Congress, the Library, and the Folk Archive. The Society
has its membership and national and international reach.

     In fact, Radner noted, "the board of the American
Folklife Center has now become a node of folklore planning for
the country." It is a "cross-section of folklorists practicing
their art." The board brings together people from federal
agencies that are becoming increasingly committed to folklore,
and provides access to these people for folklorists (and their
respective agencies and organizations) on the board. As a
profession, "folklorists are engaged in a period of self-
examination and planning as we move into the new century,"
Radner said. And folklorists today are confident of their
abilities and of the important contributions they have to make
in the world: "We have found what folklore was destined to
do."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
William L. Kinney Honored for Service to the American Folklife
Center
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the February 18, 2000, meeting of the Board of Trustees of
the American Folklife Center, Center director Peggy Bulger
presented William L. Kinney Jr. with an ornamental duck decoy
carved by Lennie Burcham, in appreciation for his service as
chairman of the board. On October 11, 1999, Kinney was
reappointed to the board for another six-year term by the
Speaker of the House of Representatives. Photo by David Taylor


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Folklife Collections in Crisis
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There is growing concern around the country about
deteriorating and at-risk ethnographic field recordings from
the last century even recordings made as recently as ten years
ago may be in danger. The American Folklife Center feels a
special responsibility for addressing this problem since it
manages the national folk archive. But many private collectors
and small archives are also seeking information on the long-
term preservation of their valuable material.

     The American Folklife Center and the American Folklore
Society are making plans to survey ethnographic field
collections of recorded sound and bring together at the
Library of Congress specialists in various areas of expertise
to formulate recommendations for the preservation and
accessibility of this important heritage. Using the survey as
a guide, the Center will organize a two-day symposium
(scheduled for December 1 and 2) to explore the most urgent
and current challenges facing sound archives, including
preservation, public accessibility, and intellectual property
rights. Recommendations arising from the symposium will be
published in a "white paper," in print and online. Archivists,
recorded-sound technicians, preservation and media
specialists, heritage scholars, and recording company
representatives will be invited to participate. This symposium
will identify and define common problems, encourage the
sharing of the best practices, suggest responses to critical
issues, and develop plans for the preservation of folk
heritage recorded sound resources for future generations. The
project is being funded by the National Endowment for the
Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the
Council on Library and Information Resources.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
American Folklife Center T-shirts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Show your support for American folklife! Tell others about the
American Folklife Center! Wear a folklife T-shirt!
     
     American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, T-shirts
are available from the Library's Retail Marketing office.
Logos are green and blue, and printed on a light-green, 100
percent cotton shirt. They are available, in Large and Extra-
Large, for $15, plus $5 for shipping and handling. Pre-payment
is required. Please send orders, along with checks made out to
the Library of Congress ($20 for each shirt) to: Library of
Congress, Attn: Bill Brown (Retail Marketing), 101
Independence Avenue, SE, Washington, D.C. 20540-4985.

     The shirts were provided to the Center by Grateful Dead
Productions (through the agency of Center board member Mickey
Hart) and are also available from the Grateful Dead's On-line
Store at http://www.GratefulDead.com. Click on On-line Store,
then Shirts, and then on Library of Congress T-shirt. 
Grateful Dead Productions offers the shirt in beige, and in
Medium, Large, Extra-Large, and Extra-Extra Large sizes.

Caption

Pictured here at the Neptune Fountain in front of the
Library's Thomas Jefferson Building are Folklife Specialist
Jennifer Cutting and folklife researcher Todd Harvey. Photo by
James Hardin

Back cover:

The Robinson family gets ready for the evening dance, 1983
Omaha pow-wow, Macy, Nebraska.  From left to right: Jamie,
Linda, Norman Jr., Norman, and Seth Robinson. A new online
presentation from the National Digital Library, Omaha Indian
Music, is described on page .  Photo by Carl Fleischhauer (AFC
1986/038: FCP/0-CF-214061-11/16; Digital ID 0087)