Folklife Resources
Web Links
National Museums/Institutions/Programs
National Endowment for the Arts Folk and Traditional Arts Program
http://www.nea.gov/resources/disciplines/folk/resources.html
The official site for the NEA Folk Arts Program offers information on folk arts grants
available to organizations nationally, as well as links to service organizations,
state programs, and publications lists, and festivals nationwide.
American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress
http://lcweb.loc.gov/folklife/
The collective memory of our country; the repository of oral history and folk music
for the United States, with access to on-line musical archives.
Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
http://www.folklife.si.edu/
Site for the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife, and the home of
Folkway Records where you can view and order hundreds of recordings from
traditional cultures worldwide.
Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian – "Identity by Design: Tradition, Change, and Celebration in Native Women’s Dresses" presents a fascinating array of Native women's clothing from the Plains, Plateau and Great Basin regions of the United States and Canada, dating from the 1800s to the present. Be sure to check out the Resource link for a lesson plan dealing with traditional dress making on the Fort Peck reservation. http://www.nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/identity%5Fby%5Fdesign/IdentityByDesign.html
American Folklore Society
http://www.afsnet.org/
Site of the membership organization for professional
folklorists in the United States including a directory,
a listing of graduate programs, membership directory, and other resources.
National Council for the Traditional Arts
http://www.ncta.net/
This web site lists current information on current events,
including the National Folk Festival.
Fund for Folk Culture
http://www.folkculture.org/
This support organization conducts research and coordinates initiatives
for the folk arts nationwide.
Western Folklife Center
http://www.westernfolklife.org/
Site for the home of the national Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada,
the Center webcasts cowboy poetry live during the annual Gathering
in January and presents programs such as “Voices of Youth,” in which
young people document their ranch communities through photography and interviews.
Fife Folklore Archives at Utah State University
http://library.usu.edu/Folklo/
Housed in Logan, Utah, the Fife Archives are one of the largest repositories
of American folklore in our country. There is also an excellent folklore
program at Utah State University.
City Lore
http://www.citylore.org/
City Lore's mission is to foster New York's—and American's living cultural
heritage—through programs and publications.
Place Matters
http://www.placematters.net/
A sister organization of City Lore, this non-profit promotes and protects
places that connect us to the past and contribute to vital communities.
Veterans' History Project
http://www.loc.gov/folklife/vets/
By Congressional mandate, the American Folklife Center is collecting and preserving
oral and videoed histories, photographs, home movies, and other documentation of
America's nineteen million veterans.
Folklife Education
C.A.R.T.S. (Cultural Arts Resources for Teachers and Students)
http://www.carts.org/
This site offers resources for educators and explores the role
that community, cultural heritage and artistic traditions can play in K-12 teaching.
A Teacher's Guide to Folklife Resources for K-12 Classrooms
http://www.loc.gov/folklife/teachers.html
A Teacher's Guide to Folklife Resources is a list of materials recently prepared
for the classroom by folklorists and other cultural studies specialists in closely related fields.
The Learning Page
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/
Teachers' “front door” to use of the incredible collection of the Library of
Congress—lesson ideas for working with the 100 collections comprising seven million
historical documents, photographs, audio recordings, maps and films.
National Endowment for the Humanities Edsitement
http://www.edsitement.neh.gov/
This educational partnership brings online humanities resources from some of
the world's great museums, libraries, cultural institutions, and universities
directly to your classroom.
Southern Poverty Law Center Teaching Tolerance
http://www.tolerance.org/teach/index.jsp
Teaching Tolerance supports the efforts of K-12 teachers and other educators to
promote respect for differences and appreciation of diversity, and serves as a
clearinghouse of information about anti-bias programs and activities being
implemented in schools across the country.
PBS
http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/
The site offers access to 4000 free lessons plans for teachers organized by discipline.
Selected State Folklife Education Programs
Louisiana
http://www.louisianavoices.org/lavoicessurvey/getemail.htm
This is one of the most extensive state folklife sites in the
country, and offers access to the very rich folk cultures of Louisiana.
Oregon
http://www.ohs.org/education/folklife/folklife-education-program.cfm
The Oregon state folklife site is also very informative.
Texas
http://www.texasfolklife.org/resources/curriculumguides.htm
This site offers an overview of Texas folklife and some good curriculum guides for several art
forms, including Texas style fiddle and Western swing.
Cool Exhibits
Mississippi Arts Commission Crossroads of the Heart
http://www.arts.state.ms.us/crossroads/
This is a very well-crafted website documents the folk traditions of Mississippi.
Indivisible: Stories of American Community
http://www.indivisible.org/gallery.htm
Indivisible is a project created to document stories of real American lives,
focusing on people in the process of struggle and change in nine communities across the country.
South Georgia Folklife Project
http://www.valdosta.edu/coa/SGFP/
The South Georgia Folklife Projects is a partnership to identify, document and
present the traditional arts and folklife of the region.
