American Folklife Center

Reminder! Concept papers for the Archie Green Cultural Documentation Program are due May 28. The goal of this grant program is to support communities to document their cultural traditions, practices, and experiences from their own perspectives. Projects can span up to twelve months and proposed budgets should not exceed $50,000. For more information on this exciting opportunity, visit: https://guides.loc.gov/archie-green-cultural-documentation/introduction/?loclr=fbafc

Photo: Tyra Uwel, photographer. Photograph of Modesta Tauwl (right) interviewing master lavalava weaver Conchita Leyangrow. Part of the 2022 American Folklife Center Community Collections Grant project, Warp and Weft of Yap’s Outer Islands: Backstrap Weaving in Micronesia.

The American Folklife Center is very sad to pass on news of the death of Ian Russell, MBE, one of the most accomplished folklorists of our day. Among his many enterprises, Russell was a longtime editor of Folk Music Journal and director of the Elphinstone Institute at the University of Aberdeen. He was a tireless fieldworker and a supporter of many festivals and community initiatives to safeguard folklore and cultural heritage. For these efforts, he was a recipient of the Coote Lake Medal from The Folklore Society, the Gold Badge of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, a Point of Light Award by UK Prime Minister Theresa May, and an MBE in the 2020 Queen's Birthday Honours.

Although he had wide interests and contributed research in many areas, Ian was best known for his work with English "Village Caroling," a style of Christmas carol performance with roots in the 18th century. Ian visited AFC in 2014 to give a Botkin Lecture about his work with English Village Carols. You can watch a video of that lecture at the link below:

https://www.loc.gov/item/2021689292/?loclr=fbafc

Ian also studied and sang ballads, and he worked closely with the ballads in AFC's James Madison Carpenter collection. At the second link, see Ian's video in which he performs "The White Fisher," an unusual and rare ballad from the collection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG7y0H4KRTw

Ian visited the United States frequently to attend meetings of the American Folklore Society, where AFC staff members had many opportunities to talk and sing with him. We will miss his visits. We send our condolences to his wife Norma and his family, friends, students and colleagues.

The photo by Jennifer Cutting shows Ian directing a caroling session at Whitby Folk Week in 2023.

On Folklife Today, read about a recent celebration of the AFC's 50th anniversary in New Orleans. John Fenn and Andrea Decker have all the details of the music, food, and related collection materials in part one of this two-part post.

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler: The American Folklife Center Down in the French Quarter | Folklife Today In this post, American Folklife Center staff report on a the first day of a two-day series of programs recently hosted by the National Park Service in New Orleans to celebrate the Center’s 50th anniversary. Through music, food, and stories, traditional artists and culture bearers from SW Louisiana...

"I Ain't Got Nobody, and Nobody Cares For Me...."

On May 14, 1939, John and Ruby Lomax recorded Hattie Ellis singing "I Ain't Got Nobody." Hear her great version at the first link:

https://www.loc.gov/item/lomaxbib000243/?loclr=fbafc

Of the song, the Lomaxes duly noted: "adapted from old popular song and recorded by Hattie Ellis as blues." One of the composers to register copyright on the "old popular song" was ragtime pianist and composer Spencer Williams, and the Library of Congress has four renditions of his composition in the National Jukebox, as both a song and a dance tune for foxtrot.

Curiously, several composers registered copyright on similar songs with versions of the title "I Ain't Got Nobody" between 1911 and 1916, including Williams, Charles Warfield and Clarence Brandon. This leads jazz scholar Bill Edwards to speculate that "Williams and his co-writers independently used similar source material to Warfield's and probably Brandon's," and that "'I Ain't Got Nobody' started out as a regional folk strain of some kind." Find Edwards's essay on Spencer Williams at the link:

https://ragpiano.com/comps/swilliams.shtml

So is "I Ain't Got Nobody" a folk song? Maybe or maybe not...but it sure is fun!

The image is a song folio of Spencer Williams songs that included "I Ain't Got Nobody." See less

Right now in the Coolidge: Lily Henley and her trio!

Reminder! We’re hiring a motivated archivist to help steward AFC’s dynamic ethnographic collections. See the link below for details and application instructions. Applications are due May 18.

Archivist This position is located in the American Folklife Center, Special Collections Directorate, Researcher and Collection Services in the Library Collections and Services Group. This is a non-supervisory, bargaining unit position. The position description number for this position is 446809. The salary ra...

Florence Nightingale was born May 12, 1820 in Florence, Italy. A statistician, writer, social reformer, and early feminist theorist, she is best known as a nurse, and helped create the modern field of nursing. Her actions in the Crimean War made her a household name in the English-speaking world, and she has become part of English-language folklore as the epitome of nursing skill. As such, she entered both English and American songs as both a character in her own ballads and a symbol of nursing. For the former, see the first song sheet, which describes Nightingale's actions as a nurse:

https://www.loc.gov/item/amss.sb10129b/?loclr=fbafc

For the latter, see the fascinating Civil War song sheet, "Address to her Maryland lover, by a Virginia girl, and his reply":

https://www.loc.gov/item/amss.cw200010/?loclr=fbafc

The photo, which is by an unknown photographer, seems to have been taken between 1860 and 1870, and was published before her death in 1910. For more information visit the last link:

http://www.loc.gov/item/2004672058/?loclr=fbafc

This past Saturday, AFC staff and interns had a blast celebrating the opening of The Source, a brand-new, experiential gallery for children and teens located on the ground floor of the Jefferson Building at the Library of Congress. Staff showcased AFC collection items featured in The Source and debuted a children's zine version of Folklife & Fieldwork (https://www.loc.gov/item/2019667028/?loclr=fbafc). To learn more about The Source, visit: https://www.loc.gov/programs/the-source/about-this-program/?loclr=fbafc

Reminder! Join us at the Library of Congress' Coolidge Auditorium for a wonderful evening of Sephardic Jewish music with Lily Henley on May 13 at 7pm. Lily Henley is a talented singer, songwriter, and violinist who performs traditional and original songs in the Ladino language. Henley’s music is influenced by Sephardic Jewish traditions from across Europe and western Asia, as well as by Celtic music, American old-time, and other folk music genres. The performance is free and open to the public, but registration is required. For more information, and to register, click the link below:

afc@50-an-evening-of-jewish-music-with-lily-henley/2026-05-13/" rel="ugc" target="_blank">https://www.loc.gov/item/event-420800/afc@50-an-evening-of-jewish-music-with-lily-henley/2026-05-13/

This event is hosted in collaboration with the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History and in partnership with the African and Middle Eastern Division of the Library of Congress. The American Folklife Center is organizing this concert as part of the Homegrown Concert Series and in celebration of the Center's 50th anniversary.

afc@50-lecture-with-greg-harris-president-of-the-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame/2026-06-10/?loclr=fbafc" rel="ugc" target="_blank">https://www.loc.gov/item/event-421124/afc@50-lecture-with-greg-harris-president-of-the-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame/2026-06-10/?loclr=fbafc

Join us at the Library of Congress at noon on Wednesday, June 10th, for a lecture from Greg Harris, the President of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Harris will give a presentation titled, “Is That Seat Taken?: Folklore, Community, and Connection in Baseball and Rock and Roll.” Drawing on his background as a trained folklorist and his previous experience as head of the Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, Harris will discuss how attendees at signature community gatherings—such as sporting events, games and concerts—use stories and material culture to quickly establish connections with others.

This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. See the link at the top of this post for more information and to register.

Harris' presentation is part of the American Folklife Center’s Benjamin A. Botkin Lecture Series and part of the Center's 50th anniversary celebrations.

Right now in the Whittall Pavilion: Liam O’Connor, CEO of the Irish Traditional Music Archive in Dublin, plays airs and reels on a priceless Guarneri violin belonging to the Library of Congress. Don’t miss his lecture at noon!