^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                       Folklife Center News
                     American Folklife Center
                    The Library of Congress  
                           Spring 1999
                       Volume XXI, Number 2
            ISSN 0149-6840  Catalog Card No. 77-649628
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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
Alan Jabbour, Director
Doris Craig, Administrative Assistant

Acquisitions
Vacant

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

Publications
James Hardin, Editor

Public Events
Theadocia Austen, Coordinator

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

William L. Kinney Jr., Chair, South Carolina
James F. Hoy, Vice-chair, Kansas
Judith McCulloh, Illinois
David Robinson, New Hampshire
Charles E. Trimble, Nebraska
Presidential Appointees
Kevin Glover, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, 
              U.S. Department of the Interior
William Kennard, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission
Mario Morena, 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 Cantu, California
Tom Rankin, North Carolina
John W. Roberts, Ohio

Ex Officio Members  

James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress
I. Michael Heyman, 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
Kay Kaufman Shelemay, President, Society for Ethnomusicology
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. 20540-4610. _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

The Library of Congress was established by an act of Congress in
1800 when President John Adams signed a bill providing for the
transfer of the seat of government from Philadelphia to the new
capital city of Washington. The legislation described a reference
library, for Congress only, containing "such books as may be
necessary for the use of Congress and for putting up a suitable
apartment for containing them therein."

     Established with $5,000 appropriated by the legislation, it
was housed in the new Capitol until August 1814, when invading
British troops set fire to the Capitol Building, burning and
pillaging the contents of the small library. But within a month,
retired president Thomas Jefferson offered his personal library
as a replacement. Jefferson had spent fifty years accumulating
books, "putting by everything which related to America, and
indeed whatever was rare and valuable in every science." His
library was considered to be one of the finest in the United
States. In offering his collection to Congress, Jefferson
anticipated controversy over the nature of his collection, which
included books in foreign languages and volumes of philosophy,
science, literature, and other topics not normally viewed as part
of a legislative library. He wrote, "I do not know that it
contains any branch of science which Congress would wish to
exclude from the collection; there is, in fact, no subject to
which a member of Congress may not have occasion to refer."

                         --from a Library of Congress            
                            informational brochure

     Such were the beginnings of the Library of Congress, which
has become the national library and is no longer just "for
Congress only." And Jefferson's argument for an all-inclusive
approach to book-collecting helped to produce the great
institution that is about to celebrate its two hundredth
anniversary. Jefferson's dictum about "everything which related
to America" certainly provides an underlying and historical
rationale for  the creation of the Archive of American Folk Song
in 1928 and the American Folklife Center in 1976. And the
congressional and popular response to the Library's Local
Legacies project, a Bicentennial initiative that invites all
Americans to document their own traditions for sending to the
Library of Congress, reaffirms the importance of folklife in
telling the national story.

Cover: Ray Cottrell (left) and Randy Sprouse looking for
hellgrammites at the mouth of Hazy Creek on Coal River, Raleigh
County, West Virginia, spring 1997. Photo by Terry Eiler

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Indians and Scholars Join Forces to Document Dance Music of
Oklahoma's Yuchi Tribe

By Jason Baird Jackson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
...............................................................
Jason Baird Jackson's work at the Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa,
Oklahoma, in documenting Yuchi dance music was supported by a
1998 award from the Parsons Fund for Ethnography in the Library
of Congress. This article is one in a series of occasional notes
and reports on scholarly work supported by the Parsons Fund.
...............................................................

     Singers from the Yuchi (Euchee) Tribe of Indians in Oklahoma
have joined with anthropologist Jason Baird Jackson and
ethnomusicologist Victoria Lindsay Levine to document the tribe's
distinctive social dance music. The recordings this project is
producing will be a valuable resource for tribal members seeking
to learn these songs, and in addition will become part of the
priceless collection of American Indian music and spoken word in
the Archive of Folk Culture.

     The Yuchi are a Native American people who today reside just
outside Tulsa. Ancestors of the Yuchi once lived throughout the
region that is today the Southeastern United States, the tribe
having been forced west to "Indian Territory" with other Eastern
tribes during the 1830s. Dance songs are an important part of
Yuchi culture, playing a central role in the continuing practice
of traditional Yuchi religious ritual and serving as the focus
for the inter-tribal social dances that link the Yuchi to other
Woodland peoples in Oklahoma. With the loss of Yuchi doctoring
knowledge, the musical practices associated with traditional
medicine are moribund, as are Yuchi-language lullabies, game
music, and hunting songs. Dance songs and Native language
Christian hymns are the remaining Yuchi musical forms. Ensuring
their continued vitality is an important concern of the modern
Yuchi community.

     Yuchi elders have been active for over a decade documenting
their unique language, culture, and history. Working jointly with
outside researchers, the tribe has already completed projects
recording tribal oral history and genealogy. Most recently the
tribe organized an exhibition with Gilcrease Museum titled
Children of the Sun: Euchee Indian Culture and Tradition. This
project brought much needed public recognition to the history and
present circumstances of the little-known Yuchi people. Increased
awareness of Yuchi culture serves two goals. For younger tribal
members, these projects have helped to pass on the traditions
most valued by community elders. For the non-Yuchi community, the
projects help to clarify the unusual political situation of the
Yuchi. While they speak their own distinct language and possess a
unique history and culture, the Yuchi do not have a separate
political existence in terms of modern federal Indian affairs.
Since the time of their removal from the Southeast in the 1830s,
the Yuchi have been politically absorbed into the Muskogee
(Creek) Nation. Lacking political sovereignty, the identity of
the Yuchi people is closely linked, both for themselves and for
those who know them, to the distinctive customs and traditions
they possess as a community. Social and ceremonial dance music is
one particularly important expression of Yuchi peoplehood.

     The music of the Yuchi and their neighbors is unlike other
genres of American Indian music more familiar to many
non-Indians. Much Woodland dance music is sung in a
call-and-response style. The large drum central to the music of
Plains Indian groups and to those who have taken up the modern
inter-tribal powwow is absent from Yuchi music. The primary
accompaniment for Woodland music in Oklahoma is the sound of the
leg rattles (made of tortoise shells or tin cans) worn by women
during dancing. Women provide musical rhythm, while men provide
the vocal music for the song. In general, this division of
activity by gender is central to ceremonies and traditional life
among the Yuchi and their neighbors. Songs are sung by a dance
leader, who is often positioned at the front of a line of
dancers. The men and women alternate in line behind him, with the
other men singing "answers" to his songs and the women "shaking
shells." Additional instruments are used in some songs. A song
leader sometimes uses a hand rattle made from a dried coconut
shell. In some songs, the song leader or an assistant will play a
small "water drum" a hand-held pot or crock partially filled with
water and covered with a tight hide or rubber head. The soft,
resonant sound of a water drum is very different from the booming
sound of a powwow drum. While words in the Yuchi language are
sometimes incorporated into Yuchi ceremonial and dance songs,
most of the vocal text consists of vocables or sung syllables
that carry the melody of the song.

     Most important among Yuchi dance music is a group of songs
used to accompany the feather dances held each summer during the
annual Green Corn Ceremonial. These songs are believed to have
been provided to the Yuchi people in ancient times by the white
crane. Mr. Newman Littlebear, the leading ceremonial orator and
singer among the Yuchi today, has provided the following origin
story for these songs. His telling is based on an earlier telling
he received from a former feather-dance singer. The story is
presented here with line breaks keyed to the spoken rhythm of
traditional Yuchi oratory.

So,
He said this was
about our songs that:
"We didn't . . .
We didn't have songs
at that time, and well the Yuchi people was wanting
wanting songs for their ceremonies."
And
He said:
"At that . . ., in that . . ., in those times, our,
our people was able to
communicate with
birds and
animals."
"And they went
they went about,
seeking the
songs, that
they could use in their ceremony."
"They had went to different
animals and had them to
sing in their ways;
and
the birds."
"And there was none that they
had that was pleasing to 'em."
"So they continued on,
and,
and they came to the white crane."
And they asked the crane to sing."
"And he agreed to."
"So he sung for the Euchees and
And
they told the crane that:
"These are the songs that we want to use,
we want to use in our
our ceremonies."
"And the crane answered and
agreed
to let 'em use his songs."
And also the crane informed 'em that
"If you use my songs,"
he said
"I want you to also use my feathers."
And also
It's been said that
the white 
white feathers represent
peace
peace to people
And 
like
being dedicated and
pureness.
That's what they say the white feather represents.
And to this day that
we continue to use those songs. So,
according to that story, they don't belong to us
they belong to the
the crane,
We're just
on loan,
for those songs
and the feathers also.
So, but we still, we still continue on, to this day.
And that sounds like, you know, a good story.

     While our current collaboration with Yuchi singers focuses
on recording and analyzing songs, stories like this one make
clear that understanding the significance of songs in Yuchi life
requires understanding the larger cultural context in which songs
are used and made meaningful. This understanding is central to
Yuchi community efforts to pass on traditional knowledge. In
addition to the informal teaching that has always taken place in
Yuchi community and family life, new formal gatherings play an
increasingly important role teaching songs, dances, and other
parts of the tradition. In these gatherings, songs are taught,
but singers and ceremonial leaders also share the stories and
beliefs that make them significant. We are fortunate to have been
included in these gatherings.

     The first product of our work with Yuchi singers is a set of
recordings on compact disc. One set of these recordings is being
deposited in the Archive of Folk Culture while another is being
given to the Euchee Tribe of Indians for use by young singers
apprenticing themselves to the leading singers of today, with
whom we have worked and made the recordings. The discs provide
master recordings from which high-quality cassettes can be made,
to be used by learners in their work of mastering the Yuchi song
repertoire. During the summer of 1999, Professor Levine and I
will continue our work with Yuchi singers, recording additional
songs and participating in dance events. Our longer-term project
is a study of Yuchi dance music in the boader context of the many
Woodland Indian communities with whom the Yuchi have shared dance
gatherings since time immemorial. We are grateful for the support
the Yuchi people have shown this project.

.............................................................
Jason Baird Jackson is curator of anthropology at the Gilcrease
Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His work on Yuchi music builds on work
he has conducted in collaboration with Yuchi ceremonial leaders
since 1993. This work is reported on in Jason Baird Jackson,
"Yuchi Ritual: Meaning and Tradition in Contemporary Ceremonial
Ground Life." Ph.D. diss., Indiana University, 1998.
...............................................................

Yuchi Feather Dance, performed during the 1996 Green Corn
Ceremonial at the Duck Creek Ceremonial Ground near Hectorville,
Oklahoma. Newman Littlebear (left) and Chief Simon Harry (right)
are the singers. They accompany themselves with coconut hand
rattles. The four "feather men" who  lead the dance can be seen
behind the singers. They carry poles decorated with crane
feathers given to the Yuchi for this purpose in ancient times.
Four "poleboys" stand to the left, serving as ceremonial
policemen who protect the purity of the square ground. 

All photos by Jason Baird Jackson

Yuchi women perform the Ribbon Dance during the 1998 Green Corn
Ceremonial at the Polecat Ceremonial Ground near Kellyville,
Oklahoma. Their head dancer, Mary Watashe, leads the dancers. The
women wear tortoise shell leg rattles. A pair of singers is
seated beneath the chief's arbor to the west of the town square,
where they provide music for the dance.

Chief Simon Harry leads a performance of the Yuchi Old Folks
Dance during the Green Corn Ceremonial of the Duck Creek
Ceremonial Ground. The dance is a memorial to Yuchi ancestors.
The leader keeps time with a coconut rattle, while the women
shake tortoise or milk-can leg rattles.

During a dance demonstration at the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa,
Oklahoma, Yuchi and Creek women rest between performances. The
leg rattles they wear, made of tortoise shells (called "turtles")
or condensed milk or tomato-sauce cans (called "cans") can be
seen beneath their long cotton dance skirts. Tulsa oilman Thomas
Gilcrease founded Gilcrease Museum. Mr. Gilcrease, who was
himself of Creek Indian heritage, is pictured in the portrait
hanging behind these women.

Back cover:

Yuchi women of the Duck Creek Community perform the Ribbon Dance
during the Green Corn Ceremonial in 1997. The dance takes its
name for the long flowing hair ribbons the women and girls wear
for the performance. The Ribbon Dance is performed solely by
women, and recognizes their important contributions to Yuchi
community and family life. For more on Yuchee dance traditions,
see page 3. Photo by Jason Baird Jackson

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Local Legacies Projects Start Up Nation-wide
By James Hardin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Robert Winslow Gordon, who became the first head of the
Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress in 1928,
invited all Americans to send him their folksongs.  He had a
dream of a great national archive, and called the collecting
effort "a national project with many workers."

     Since Gordon's day, the Library's Folk Archive has grown to
include over 1.5 million items, with a wide range of folklife
materials, from this country and around the world. This happy
fulfillment of Gordon's dream has been made possible through the
efforts of hundreds of fieldworkers persons such as Jesse Walter
Fewkes, who made the first wax-cylinder field recordings, of
Passamaquoddy Indians in Maine in 1890; Zora Neale Hurston, who
made recordings of African American folk expression in Florida in
the 1930s; John and Alan Lomax, who made recordings of folk music
throughout the South; Henrietta Yurchenco and Vida Chenoweth,
whose international work has brought in ethnographic materials
from around the world; and folklorists on the staff of the
American Folklife Center, who have directed and coordinated field
documentation projects in many regions of the country.

     Now the Librarian of Congress has invited all Americans to
join in the effort of building the national folk archive. The
Library of Congress and the American Folklife Center are
sponsoring a project called "Local Legacies," as part of a
program to celebrate the Bicentennial of the Library of Congress,
which will be two-hundred years old on April 24, 2000 (see
_Folklife Center News_, fall 1998, p.12). 

     "We invite all Americans, working through their members of
Congress, to participate in this project to document their local
culture and deposit portions of that documentation in the
national library," said Librarian of Congress James H.
Billington.  "The materials in the Local Legacies archives will
serve as a snapshot of American traditions at the end of the
century, and they will be available to future generations."

     "Members of Congress represent the very people whose culture
we want to preserve in the congressional library," said Director
of Congressional Relations Geraldine Otremba. "This is why we
have asked the members and their staffs to help identify
traditions and customs unique to the state or district they
represent."

     The Library's Bicentennial is a celebration of all libraries
and the role they play in communities throughout the nation, and
the Library of Congress hopes to gain the participation of
communities large and small in this grassroots effort to document
and preserve a panoply of "local legacies." The congressional
offices will oversee the many Local Legacies projects, and a
selection of materials from these projects will be sent to the
Library of Congress. And, in addition, the Bicentennial Program
hopes local libraries, archives, and historical societies will
want to house all the documentation created by the projects, so
that it can be made available to interested patrons and local
residents.

     According to Peter Bartis, folklorist at the American
Folklife Center and coordinator of the Local Legacies Project,
"persons doing the documentation need not be professional
folklorists. We will guide participants toward the kinds of
projects and materials we want. The key words for us are public
participation."

     So far, more than two hundred projects have been proposed to
members of Congress by citizens from all areas of the country,
including at least one project in each of the fifty states. Some
Local Legacies projects are already under way: 

           In Hawaii, for example, the journey of a voyaging
canoe of Polynesian design will be documented during its passage
to New Zealand and back. The trip will retrace migration routes
in the South Pacific, and thus challenge the notion that the
ancient Polynesians drifted between the islands by accident.

      In South Carolina, documentation will focus on the renowned
Hallelujah Singers gospel group.  

     In the District of Columbia, the "Hope in Our City" project
will document and celebrate the African American traditions of
the people living in the city's historic Anacostia section.

     Citizens living in the upper peninsula of Michigan will
document dog-sled races.

     As a collaborative effort in the Pacific Northwest,
involving both Oregon and Washington, folklorists and others
recorded a "Fisher Poets Gathering" in Astoria, Oregon, in
February. All those involved in the maritime culture of the area
were invited to participate in this second annual gathering,
which was modeled after the famous Cowboy Poets Gathering held in
Elko, Nevada.

     The Bethesda Home for Boys, located in Savannah, Georgia, is
the oldest extant orphanage in the United States. It celebrates
its 260th birthday in 2000, and documentation will focus on its
place in Savannah's history.  

     Persons, organizations, and institutions wishing to become
involved in a Local Legacies project should contact the Library's
Bicentennial Program Office at (202) 707-2000; toll free: (800)
707-7145; e-mail: bicentennial@loc.gov; fax: (202) 707-7440.
Bicentennial Program Office staff will offer suggestions for
projects appropriate for documentation and explain how to contact
members of Congress, either to suggest a project or to take part
in one already under way.  They will also send a Local Legacies
information kit, which includes guidelines and a time line for
documentation, a brochure on publicizing local projects, sample
press releases, and permissions and other forms. Project
documentation is due to the Library of Congress by December 1999.
In May 2000, members of Congress and all participants will be
invited to a special event at the Library to celebrate their
contributions. 

     Local Legacies is but one of the Bicentennial projects that
the Library of Congress is sponsoring as part of its birthday
celebration. Information about others is available online for
those who have Internet access at www.loc.gov/bicentennial.
Ken Light photographs four generations of an Italian American
extended family in Pueblo, Colorado, while several family members
hold cherished photographs of relatives. From the American
Folklife Center's Italian-Americans in the West Project. Photo by
David Taylor

Local Legacies team members pack project kits for distribution
around the country. From left, standing, Evie McCleaf, Peter
Seligman, Denise Gotay, Aya Asano, and Robert Sokol; and,
kneeling, Peter Bartis. Photo by James Hardin
Evening dance at the volunteer fireman's barbecue, Paradise
Valley, Nevada. Such community events are emblematic of folklife
in the United States. From the American Folklife Center's
Paradise Valley Folklife Project. Photo by Carl Fleishhauer

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seining for Hellgrammites on Coal River in West Virginia
By Mary Hufford
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellgrammites (like the one pictured right), also known as
"grampus," are the fierce and succulent larva of the dobson fly.
They first hatch in late spring and hide under rocks from
would-be predators, such as red-eye, bass, wall-eye, and other
game fish native to Coal River. The term grampus elsewhere refers
to the whip-scorpion and the hellbender, fitting companions for a
larva whose pincers draw blood.

     Fishermen in the region, like Ray Cottrell (left) and Randy
Sprouse (right), capture hellgrammites to use as bait. They snag
the feisty creatures by means of "hellgrammite seines" nets
suspended vertically in the water, with ends that can be pulled
together to enclose the catch. The seine pictured here is strung
between two broom handles (sometimes hickory sticks or even
window screens are used). Cottrell turns over rocks, and the
current washes the hellgrammites downstream into Sprouse's
waiting seine.

     Randy Sprouse served in 1997 as a field coordinator for the
American Folklife Center's Coal River Folklife Project in West
Virginia and now directs the Coal River Mountain Watch, a
grassroots heritage conservation group. Recognizing the river's
centrality to a local way of life and the need for safeguarding
its tributaries against mountaintop removal strip-mining, the
American Rivers Council recently named Coal River one of the ten
most endangered rivers in America.

Photos by Terry Eiler

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Center Board of Trustees Welcomes "New Day"
By James Hardin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A spirit of optimism and anticipation pervaded the March 12
meeting of the Board of Trustees of the American Folklife Center,
with old members happy to have the support and expertise of new
members and all eager to work on future plans and directions for
the Center. Board chair William L. Kinney welcomed a "new day"
for the Center, which has been given permanent authorization and
a new, expanded board by the U.S. Congress. Kinney hopes to make
the American Folklife Center truly the center for folklife in
this country. "Let us make this clear," he  said, "as we develop
our mission statement and goals."

     Alan Jabbour, director of the Center, said that he was
thrilled by the new construction of the board. "Times are
shifting in Washington," he said. "Our difficulties of the past
few years coincided with a budget deficit. That time has gone.
People are once again looking to Washington for ideas."

     The board has grown to include four new members appointed by
the Librarian of Congress (Jane Beck, director, Vermont Folklife
Center; Norma Cant, acting director, Center for Chicano Studies,
University of California, Santa Barbara; Tom Rankin, director,
Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University; John Roberts,
chair, Department of African-American and African Studies, Ohio
State University); and two new ex officio members, the presidents
of the American Folklore Society and the Society for
Ethnomusicology (currently Jo Radner, American University, and
Kay Kaufman Shelemay, Harvard University, respectively). In
addition, the president has named four representatives from
federal agencies to the board: Kevin Gover, assistant secretary
for Indian affairs, Department of the Interior; William Kennard,
chairman, Federal Communications Commission; Ellen
McCulloch-Lovell, deputy assistant to the president and advisor
to the first lady on the Millennium, the White House; and Mario
Moreno, assistant secretary for intergovernmental and interagency
affairs, Department of Education. 

     Other board members who returned for the March meeting were
Wilsonia Cherry (representing William Ferris, chairman, NEH),
James Hoy, William L. Kinney Jr., Richard Kurin (representing I.
Michael Heyman, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution), Dan
Sheehy (representing Bill Ivey, chairman, NEA), Winston Tabb
(representing James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress), and
Charles Trimble. Members unable to attend the meeting included 
Judith McCulloh, David Robinson, and Kay Shelemay.

    The first day of the two-day meeting consisted of an
orientation to the Center and the Library, with presentations
from staff and a tour of Library buildings. Geraldine Otremba,
director of the Library's Congressional Relations Office, told
the board that permanent authorization might be attributed in
part to the significance of the collections in the Archive of
Folk Culture, and that the board should help to guide the growth
of the collection, as well as help with fundraising and the
development of long-range plans. Winston Tabb, associate
librarian for Library Services, said that the board's job is to
determine what the Center can do to "help folklife in America,"
and that his job at the Library is to help make that happen. The
Center's budget for fiscal year 1999 is $990,800, with about 90
percent of that amount allocated for staff salaries and benefits.
In making requests for appropriated funds in the future, Tabb
told the board, they should note that Congress often responds
more favorably to proposals for "big things that make a
difference" than to incremental increases that seem like "more of
the same."  

     Three of the four new presidential appointees attended the
March meeting, and offered ideas and suggestions for
collaborative projects:

     William Kennard said that, in the fifteen months he has been
chairman of the FCC, he has done a lot of thinking about what he
can accomplish in this industrial and information age. One of his
challenges is to see that information goes to everyone, and that
it is used to "advance culture."  The FCC will put $2 billion
into a program to provide Internet access to schools and
libraries.  "There ought to be a public place of access for
people who do not have computer access in their homes," he said,
noting that some people still do not have their own telephones.
The Internet affects the way people understand culture. Kennard
is concerned with the problem of how to "marry" culture and
technology and thinks there might be some interesting synergies
between the FCC and the American Folklife Center.

     Mario Moreno spoke about the exciting opportunities for
connecting folklife and kids, as exemplified by the Center's
Montana Heritage Project. Engage children in folklife projects,
he said; involve them in the life of their own communities.
After-school programs might be tailored to fit the mission of the
Center and provide young people with enriching, productive
experiences. The Center might also think about forming
partnerships to carry out its mission. For example, the
Department of Education has established the "Partnership for
Family Involvement in Education," in order to engage a whole
range of persons and institutions in the work of raising and
educating children.

     Ellen McCulloch-Lovell (representing the White House
Millennium Council) said that the board meeting was a
"homecoming" for her; and she was especially happy to see the
talented people assembled around the table.  She credited Alan
Jabbour with helping her to establish a folklife program in
Vermont twenty years ago, and noted that she hired board member
Jane Beck to fill the created post of director.

     The Millennium Council, with the slogan "honor the past;
imagine the future,"  has a number of projects underway: (1)
Millennium evenings at the White House, lectures to recognize
American creativity; (2) Save America's Treasures, with $30
million in fiscal 1999 for monuments, documents, and sites that
represent cultural and intellectual heritage, including $3
million to preserve the "Star- Spangled Banner"; Scenic and
Heritage Trails, sponsored by the Department of Transportation,
NEA, and others; Millennium Communities, which will be
so-designated if they work to save their history and heritage and
engage citizens to imagine their future; and a great celebration
on the Mall, such as to make Washington, D.C., the place to be to
celebrate the Millennium.

     McCulloch-Lovell made two additional comments that pertained
particularly to the American Folklife Center: Government policy,
she said, may either enhance or destroy cultural heritage.
Agencies daily make policies without thinking about their effects
on indigenous cultures.  And (echoing a remark made earlier by
Winston Tabb), "big ideas attract big money."  The Center ought
to identify its unique role, and that might attract new money.

     These presentations caught to spirit of cooperation and
collaboration that was a theme of the meeting, a shared hope that
the Center might work closely with other federal agencies,
specialists in the field of folklore, cultural communities, and
private corporations to accomplish its goals. Speaking as
president of the American Folklore Society, Jo Radner called upon
the board to "reinvent" itself and said "there is no precedent
for this kind of board" at the Center.

     It's also a "new day" for the American Folklore Society,
said Radner. The AFS board is working on a strategic plan that
includes bringing many people into the planning process, building
a structure of support, and understanding and acting on diversity
and education.  The AFS board is rethinking its role and wants 
to make itself more responsive to members and active outside the
society. She looks forward to "extraordinary collaborations" with
the American Folklife Center.

     The new expanded Board of Trustees of the American Folklife
Center brings to its discussions of folklife programming wide
experience from public, private, and academic life, as well as
geographic, racial, and cultural diversity. The next several
meetings will be devoted to defining the role and responsibility
of the board and creating a long-range plan for the Center.
Winston Tabb, Associate Librarian for Library Services, tells the
Center's board of trustees that they should consider what the
Center can do to "help folklife in America," while board member
Charles Trimble looks on. Photo by James Hardin
William Kennard, Chairman of the Federal Communications
Commission, says he is concerned with the problem of how to
"marry" culture and technology. Photo by David Taylor
Mario Moreno, Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental and
Interagency Affairs, Department of Education, would like to see
children engage in after-school folklife projects, to involve
them in the life of their own communities. Photo by James Hardin
Ellen McCulloh-Lovell, Deputy Assistant to the President and
Advisor to the First Lady on the Millennium, reminds the board
that government policy may either enhance or destroy cultural
heritage. Photo by David Taylor

Jo Radner, President of the American Folklore Society, calls upon
the board to "reinvent itself," while past president John Roberts
considers the idea. Photo by James Hardin

At a luncheon following the board meeting, Geraldine Otremba,
Director of the Library's Congressional Relations Office, and
William Kinney, Chair of the Center's board, share a moment of
mutual appreciation and congratulations for the work they did
together to achieve permanent authorization for the Center. Photo
by David Taylor

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Three New CDs Join List of Rounder Records Reissues
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rounder Records has released three new compact discs in its
series of reissues of the Library of Congress series Folk Music
of the United States, originally released in the 1940s:

     ANGLO-AMERICAN BALLADS, VOLUME ONE, edited by Alan Lomax,
was originally released  in 1942 as AFS L1, the first in the
Library's series Folk Music of the United States. It includes
such recorded treasures as Woody Guthrie's "The Gypsy Davy," Pete
Steele's "Pretty Polly," and versions of "The House Carpenter"
and "Barbara Allen."

     ANGLO-AMERICAN BALLADS, VOLUME TWO, edited by Benjamin
Botkin, was originally released in 1943 as AFS L7. Successor to
Alan Lomax's Volume One, this album includes "The Golden Willow
Tree," "The Two Sisters," and "Lord Thomas and the Fair
Ellender."

     COWBOY SONGS, BALLADS, AND CATTLE CALLS FROM TEXAS, edited
by Duncan Emrich, was originally released in 1952 as AFS L28. All
but two of the selections on this disc were recorded on portable
equipment by John A. Lomax, the great collector of cowboy songs.
It includes  "Good-bye, Old Paint," "The Texas Rangers," "The
Streets of Laredo."

     Rounder Records is located at One Camp Street, Cambridge,
Massachusetts 02140. Telephone (617) 354-0700, or on the World
Wide Web at: http://www.rounder.com  

[END]