Fishermen wading in the Maumee river, April, 1999. Photo by Tim Daniel. Part of the documentation from the "Maumee River Walleye Run," one of Ohio's Local Legacy projects.

Ohio

The American Folklife Center was created in 1976 by the U.S. Congress through Public Law 94-201 and charged to "preserve and present American folklife." The Center incorporates the Archive of Folk Culture, which was established at 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.

Collections

The collections of the American Folklife Center contain materials from Ohio that document the diversity of the state's folk traditions. Among its recordings are numerous hours of maritime songs and stories; Lithuanian immigrant songs; folk music collected by Alan Lomax in the 1930s; folksongs and piano and fiddle tunes from the 1950s; and religious music.

• Ohio Collections in the Archive of Folk Culture (Finding Aid)

Ohio participated in the Library's Bicentennial Local Legacies project, which includes documentation of local traditions and celebrations for the American Folklife Center's Archive of Folk Culture.

• Ohio's Local Legacies projects

Field School

In 1999 an ethnographic field school was conducted in Knox County, Ohio, in cooperation with Kenyon College. The student researchers looked at the intersection of nature and culture along the Kokosing river. To read an article about the field school by David Taylor, follow this link to "Folklife Center Field School Explores Life Along the Kokosing," from Folklife Center News, Winter 2000.

Publications

• A Brief List of Materials Relating to Ohio Folksong (Bibliography from 1970)

Published Recordings

The Library of Congress and Rounder Records joined together in a project to reissue on compact discs American folk music from the legendary Library of Congress series Folk Music of the United States. The original series, launched in 1942, was the first documentary anthology of American folk music featuring field recordings drawn from the Library's Archive of Folk Culture. Songs from or about Ohio are found on the following recordings.

• Anglo-American Ballads, Library of Congress AFS L1. Audiocassette. Compact Disc.
• Anglo-American Shanties, Lyric Songs, Dance Tunes, and Spirituals, Library of Congress AFS L2. Audiocassette.
• Anglo-American Songs and Ballads, Library of Congress AFS L21. Audiocassette.
• Songs and Ballads of American History and of the Assassination of Presidents, Library of Congress AFS L29. Audiocassette. Compact Disc.