American Folklife Center

10/23/2026

How can musicians and artists use the resources available in libraries and archives to create new work? On Tuesday, AFC Reference Librarian Andrea Decker, alongside Kronos Quartet founder David Harrington and Jay Satterfield (Head of Rauner Library Special Collections & Archives, Dartmouth), addressed these questions, in a session moderated Memory Apata (Dartmouth). This discussion was part of the ongoing collaboration between the American Folklife Center and the Kronos Quartet, who will perform a concert, partly inspired by AFC collection materials, at Dartmouth later this evening.

10/22/2026

How does the American Folklife Center preserve the stories of those who cared for the dead during the COVID-19 pandemic? Last week, the American Folklife Center (AFC) presented about our work to document COVID-19 frontline worker interviews at the annual meeting of the Oral History Association. The session featured Anita Grant and Joél Maldonado, who shared insights from their interviews with death care professionals, capturing the experiences of those who supported communities through loss during an unprecedented public health crisis. AFC Folklife Specialist Doug Peach moderated the discussion.

Explore these powerful firsthand accounts: https://www.loc.gov/collections/covid-19-american-history-project/?fa=partof:reflections+on+the+covid-19+pandemic+from+last+responders:+covid-19+american+history+project,+2023-2024

10/21/2026

Last week, we welcomed HasSak Ethno-Folk Ensemble to the American Folklife Center's reading room. Known for bridging ancient Nomadic musical heritage with dynamic, modern arrangements, HasSak won the Grand Prix at the international World Folk Vision competition in 2019. The group has released three studio albums, with a fourth currently in production, and has performed extensively across Kazakhstan and internationally in countries such as Germany, Austria, Türkiye, China, South Korea, Azerbaijan, and Russia.

The ensemble features four highly skilled multi-instrumentalists—Yerzhan Zhamenkeyev, Darkhan Alimgazy, Askat Sagat, and Aray Kanatbek—who master over thirty traditional Kazakh instruments, including the dombyra, zhetygen, sybyzgy, and kyl-qobyz.

HasSak is currently participating in Heritage in Motion, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and the nonprofit organization Music Unbound. The project provides professional development and networking opportunities to culture bearers and intangible cultural heritage practitioners in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Tucson, Arizona, leading up to a program at the 2027 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. They came by the reading room to learn more about our collections and programs for musicians, including the Archive Challenge and the Artist in Resonance award.

At the link find all the current Archive Challenge videos. We hope to add HasSak Ensemble to the list someday!

https://www.loc.gov/film-and-videos/?fa=partof:folklife+archives+challenge&loclr=fbafc

10/20/2026

Two events this Thursday! Trivia and a Concert! https://www.loc.gov/research-centers/american-folklife-center/news-and-events/events/?tz_aware=true&dates=2026-10-22&loclr=fbafc

On October 22, as part of Live! At the Library, you have a choice of two Folklife Events: Folklife Trivia Night or an evening of Moroccan Jewish Music by Neta Elkayam and her New Orleans band, featuring special guest Moroccan vocalist Siham Chala. Please come to the Library and enjoy these great programs!

First up, Trivia!
Who Knew? Trivia Night - Folklife in America
Thursday, October 22, 2026
05:45 pm - 07:45 pm EDT
Thomas Jefferson Building - LJ 119

In celebration of America's 250th anniversary and the 50th anniversary of the American Folklife Center, join us for a special edition of "Who Knew?" that takes a historical look at the cultural practices and shared traditions found in communities across America. From long-standing traditional songs and foodways to modern memes and contemporary legends, the trivia questions will cover the depth and breadth of folklife today.

This isn't your typical trivia night. Along with answering questions, guests will have the opportunity to talk to Library of Congress folklife experts and, following trivia, to view the brand-new exhibition, "Alive in Many Hands: The American Folklife Center at 50" in the Southwest Exhibition Gallery.

Don’t miss out on your chance to win Library of Congress trivia! Find out how to sign up at the link!

Next: Moroccan Jewish Music!
Songs of Our Mothers: Neta Elkayam and the New Orleans Band,
with Special Guest Siham Chala
Thursday, October 22, 2026
06:30 pm - 08:00 pm EDT
Thomas Jefferson Building - Coolidge Auditorium (LJG45A)

Join the Library of Congress for a concert by Neta Elkayam and her New Orleans band, featuring special guest Moroccan vocalist Siham Chala.
The program celebrates Morocco’s interconnected Jewish and Muslim musical heritage and the central role of women in preserving, performing, and reimagining it across geographies, religions, and generations. Neta Elkayam is a multidisciplinary artist and singer of North African Jewish heritage whose work draws on ancestral memory, archival research, and musical traditions of Morocco. Music will also be performed from the Library’s collections.

This program is made possible through the generous support of Lilly Endowment Inc. It is further supported by the African and Middle Eastern Division, the Music Division, and the American Folklife Center.

Both events are free and open to the public, but a free ticket is required.
Visit the link and click through to get your free tickets!

10/20/2026

On Folklife Today, read part one of Stephen Winick's research into the origins and folklore of Uncle Sam.

“Uncle Sam,” as a personification of the United States, certainly goes back to the early days of the nation, emerging soon after the American Revolution. Everyone agrees that his name is an expansion of the abbreviation “U.S.” for “United States,” which first appears in documents written...

10/19/2026

On Folklife Today, read Michael Pahn's reflections on how our new exhibit, Alive in Many Hands: The American Folklife Center at 50, explores themes of sharing and sustaining folklife through a variety of collection items.

On September 17, 2026, the Library opened a new exhibit,

10/09/2026

Yesterday, the American Folklife Center was happy to host a talented group of librarians and administrators participating in the HBCU History of Science Collecting Fellows Initiative--a program created by the HBCU Library Alliance and the American Institute of Physics. The visit included presentations from AFC staff, a tour of the Thomas Jefferson Building, and a Fellow finding herself in a photo on the Library's walls. Thanks so much for your visit!

10/08/2026

On Folklife Today, see highlights from a recent Family Day at the Library of Congress, which took place on 9/19. The event was held in celebration of the American Folklife Center's 50th anniversary and the opening of our new exhibition, Alive in Many Hands.

On Saturday, September 19, 2026, the American Folklife Center capped off a week-long celebration in honor of its new exhibit with a Family Day event focused on folklife. Visitors to the Library were invited to participate in a number of activities that highlighted the exhibit’s themes of Folklife ...

10/06/2026

The American Folklife Center is very sad to pass on the news that folklorist Joseph Sciorra passed away suddenly yesterday.

Sciorra was a preeminent scholar of Italian American folklore, belief, and material culture. As a fieldworker, Joseph amassed significant documentation of Italian-American and other ethnic folklore in New York and New Jersey. This work is represented in two significant collections at AFC. The Joseph Sciorra Collection contains interviews and voluminous documentation conducted and gathered by Joseph between the 1980s and 2018, primarily relating to Italian American folklife but also to New York City neighborhoods and other immigrant communities. Topics include Catholic religious expression and material culture in the form of altars, processions, shrines, social clubs, feasts, games, puppeteering, visual arts, folk poetry, and music. The Brooklyn Rediscovery Folklife Study Project contains Sciorra's documentation of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel giglio tradition in Williamsburg, with photographs by Martha Cooper.

As the longtime director for Academic and Cultural Programs of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute at Queens College in New York, Joseph produced scores of public events, from readings and film screenings to concerts and lectures. He produced many symposia, and an annual conference which brought together scholars from Europe and the Americas to study the culture of the Italian diaspora.

In 2009, Sciorra gave a lecture in our Benjamin Botkin Folklife Lecture Series, "Built with Faith: Place Making and the Religious Imagination in Italian New York." In the talk, he examined how Italian Americans create and use vernacular architecture, material culture, and ceremonial display to inscribe meaning on New York City's religious and cultural landscapes, especially through yard shrines, sidewalk altars, Christmas displays, and other creative productions. You can find a video at the link

https://www.loc.gov/item/2021688305/?loclr=fbafc

The American Folklife Center expresses condolences to Sciorra's partner, Zulma Ortiz Fuentes, to his family, and to his many friends and students in the folklore community.

10/06/2026

On Thursday, 10/22, at 5:45pm, please join us at the Library of Congress for a "Who Knew? Trivia Night," where attendees' knowledge of American Folklife will be tested! This will be a fun and informative gathering, held as part of the Library of Congress' Live at The Library series and in celebration of the AFC's 50th anniversary. The Trivia Night is free and open to the public, but registration is required. To register, and to learn more about the event, visit: https://www.loc.gov/item/event-423612/live-at-the-library-who-knew-trivia-night-folklife-in-america/2026-10-22/?loclr=fbafc