Cultural Conservation
odd: label: Introduction
content: Cultural Conservation was identified by the Smithsonian as a scientific and humanistic concern for the continued survival of the world's traditional cultures. Like its sister concept, environmental conservation, it grew from several related insights of scientists and humanists over the preceding quarter century.

First, living individuals and groups exist within ever-widening webs of relationships that form systems. The concept of ecosystem, for example, has helped us to understand interrelationships between natural species and to devise strategies for conserving threatened parts of our environment. In the understanding of traditional cultures as well we are learning to look at larger economic, political and social contexts as elements in systems of which traditional cultures are also parts. Seeing them in these larger contexts allows planning for their continued vitality.

Second, the world's resources are limited, not unlimited. When cultures die, because their practitioners die or are forced or induced to give up their culture, great resources of understanding are lost. We all lose evidence of the variety of human cultural possibilities. Lost as well is native peoples' knowledge of their environment, based on intimate, painstaking observations compiled over generations - knowledge that may provide crucial information about managing ecosystems and the uses of particular plants. And aesthetic systems as complex and meaningful as any in humankind perish or leave artifacts devoid of their original meanings.

But more importantly, the people whose cultures are defaced, if they remain alive, lose the essential human tool for comprehending and coping with the world, for understanding and integrating their lives, and for orienting and raising their children. The effects of their loss - social dysfunction and alienation - may last for generations.

Finally, the Smithsonian has come to understand that it is possible to foster the continued vitality of "endangered species" - natural or cultural - without dismantling or derailing national and international economic, political and social institutions. Conservation can be made part of development plans. In the cultural sphere, this enables the bearers of traditional culture themselves to adapt their ideas and actions to a changing environment. They have done this when necessary for hundreds of years, within the context of their own cultural thought, on their own terms.

Cultural conservation had been an underlying, if implicit, principle of the Festival of American Folklife since its beginning in 1967. In 1985 the Festival inaugurated a program that explicitly explored the question of cultural conservation from several points of view. The exhibit examined the kinds of contexts in which cultural conservation becomes a necessary concern; it documented efforts on the part of the keepers of tradition themselves to conserve their own culture in the face of a changing social and physical environment; and it explored the efforts of U.S. public cultural institutions to address the problem of cultural conservation. Festival visitors were invited to participate in and comment on the exhibit, the performances by keepers of these valued traditions, and the discussions of various aspects of this important topic.

Marjorie Hunt served as Cultural Conservation Program Coordinator, and Ann Dancy as Assistant Coordinator.
label: Consultants and fieldworkers
content: Consultants

George Abrams, Greig Arnold, Duncan Earle, Alicia María González, Rayna Green, Bess Hawes, Glenn Hinson, Stephanie Honeywood, Alan Jabbour, Robert Laughlin, Dorothy Sara Lee, Maxine Miska, Emily Norton, Frank Proschan, Bernice Reagon, Daniel Sheehy, Nicholas Spitzer, Nancy Sweezy, Ken Taylor, Bob Teske, Terry Zug

Fieldworkers

Roland Freeman, Marjorie Hunt, Yvonne Lockwood, Frank Proschan

Foodways fieldworkers

Olivia Cadaval, Yuet-fung Ho, Janet Theophano
label: Presenters
content: Morrie Abrams, Barry Ancelet, Greig Arnold, Hal Cannon, Walter Murray Chiesa, Duncan Earle, Alicia María González, Rayna Green, Glenn Hinson Louise Jeffredo, Dorothy Sara Lee, Phyllis May, Mick Moloney, Barry Lee Pearson, Frank Proschan, Daniel Sheehy, Nicholas Spitzer, John Vlach

Foodways presenters

Cheryl Brauner, Olivia Cadaval, Alicia María González, Laurie Kalb, Tim Lloyd, Frank Proschan, Janet Theophano
label: Participants
content: Crafts

Greig Arnold, 1951-, Makah woodcarver, Neah Bay, Washington

Miguel Caraballo, Sr., mask maker, Ponce, Puerto Rico

Miguel Caraballo, Jr., mask maker, Ponce, Puerto Rico

Greg Colfax, Makah woodcarver, Neah Bay, Washington

Ernestine Corbin, 1946-, African-American cornrower, Hyattsville, Maryland

Factor Gomez, Mayan Indian weaver, Guatemala

Josefina Diaz Gomez, Mayan Indian weaver, Guatemala

Boonsong Keomanywong, 1949-, bamboo craftsman, Stockton, California

Leck Khoonsirivong, 1935-, Kmhmu craftsman, Stockton, California

Liang Khoonsrivong, 1921-, Kmhmu craftsman, Stockton, California

Joyce Mwombela, 1961-, Tanzanian cornrower, Washington, D.C.

Duff Severe, 1919-2004, saddle maker Pendleton, Oregon

Fana Smith, 1959-, African-American cornrower, Washington, D.C.

Loy Thamala, 1941-2002, Kmhmu craftswoman, Stockton, California

Nettie Watt, 1901-1987, Seneca basket maker, Steamburg, New York

Ruth Watt, Seneca basket maker, Steamburg, New York

Cultural Spokespersons

Lorraine Hyde, Luiseño Indian, Escondido, California

Villiana Hyde, 1903-1994, Luiseño Indian, Escondido, California

Khampheang Khoonsrivong, 1957-, Kmhmu, Stockton, California

Gus Palmer, Kiowa Indian, Carnegie, Oklahoma

Foodways

Rita Torres González, Salvadoran cook, Washington, D.C.

Dorotea Marcucci, Italian cook, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Mary Ning, 1927-, Chinese cook, Boston, Massachusetts

Stephen Ning, 1950-, Chinese cook, New York, New York

Rose Marcela Notoris, 1928-, Italian cook, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Performance

Appalachian Balladry

Frank Proffitt, Jr., 1946-2005, ballad singer, Morganton, North Carolina

Doug Wallin, ballad singer, 1919-2000, fiddle player, Marshall, North Carolina

Blues Music

John Cephas, guitar player, Washington, D.C.

Phil Wiggins, harmonica player, Washington, D.C.

Cajun Music

Christine Balfa, triangle player, Basile, Louisiana

Dewey Balfa, fiddler, Basile, Louisiana

Tony Balfa, guitar player, Mamou, Louisiana

Peter Schwarz, 1968-, fiddler, Brodbecks, Pennsylvania

John Sonnier, accordion player, Washington, Louisiana

Cowboy Music, Song & >Poetry

Bruce (Waddie) Mitchell, 1950-, poet, Elko, Nevada

Glenn Ohrlin, 1926-, singer Mountain View, Arkansas

Ken Trowbridge, storyteller, Darby, Montana

Johnny Whelan, 1946-, ballad singer, Sunnyside, Utah

Fairfield Four, Gospel Music

Isaac Freeman, Nashville, Tennessee

James Hill, 1915-2000, Nashville, Tennessee

Louis McBride, 1945-, Nashville, Tennessee

Samuel H. McCrary, 1913-1991, Nashville, Tennessee

Lawrence Richardson, 1913-1993, Nashville, Tennessee

William Wilson Waters, 1931-2005, Nashville, Tennessee

Irish Music

Jack Coen, flute player Bronx, New York

Billy McComiskey, accordion player, Baltimore, Maryland

Joanie Madden, flute player, Yorktown Heights, New York

Mick Moloney, tenor banjo, mandolin player, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Brendan Mulvihill, 1954-, fiddle player, Baltimore, Maryland

Andy O'Brien, 1947-, guitar player, Baltimore, Maryland

Jerry O'Sullivan, 1959-, uillean piper, Yonkers, New York

Kmhmu Music

Rey Rasmy Khoonsirivong, 1939-, Stockton, California

Thongsoun Phuthama, 1929-, Stockton, California

Cheu Rathasack, 1912-, Stockton California

Lay Sivilay, 1920-2003, El Cerrito, California

Chanh Thamala, 1925-2006, Stockton, California

Martinez Family Hispanic Music from New Mexico

Michelle Hernandez, 1963-, fiddle player, Euclid Pueblo, Colorado

Debra Martinez, singer, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Lorenzo Martinez, violin player, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Robert D. Martinez, 1963-, guitar player, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Roberto Martinez, 1929-, vihuelaplayer, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Mayan Marimba Music

Jeronimo Composeco, Indiantown, Florida

Pedro Diaz, Willingboro, New Jersey

Pedro Franciso, Indiantown, Florida

Juan Gaspar, Indiantown, Florida
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
setName: label: See more items in
content: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1985 Festival of American Folklife
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
identifier: label: Identifier
content: CFCH.SFF.1985, Series 2
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials