folklorists' response

[Shana Walton]

Thought some of you who don't subscribe to Publore might be interested
in how the public sector folklorists are responding.  The American
Folklife Center has put out a call for documentation of how people are
talking about these events. The call is for documentation far and wide.
Now, how these voices are to be used, I don't know. The AFC, I'm sure,
will just be in the business of warehousing them until
scholars/researchers use them as data. Anyone who is interested in
participating/documenting would be welcome. Perhaps some of your
fieldwork students would be interested in documenting this discourse.

Shana Walton
Center for Oral History & Cultural Heritage

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Forwarded message:
The date of September 11, 2001 will be remembered by us all forever.
At a time of national crisis, one wonders what positive action should
or could be taken? As folklorists, what might we contribute to the
future?

On December 9, 1941 Alan Lomax (then in charge of the Library of
Congress
Archive of Folk Song) sent an urgent message to  fieldworkers all
around the U.S. to collect "person on the street" reactions to the
bombing of Pearl Harbor and the declaration of war by the U.S.  Among
those fieldworkers who responded were Bob Allen, Fletcher Collins, John
Henry Faulk, Lewis Jones, Vance Randolph, Robert Sonkin, and several
others. Recordings were made in all parts of the United  States in which
people expressed their immediate reactions to the attack on Pearl Harbor
and the U.S. declaration of War. Interviews were conducted with
shoemakers, electricians, janitors, oilmen, cab drivers, housewives,
students, soldiers, physicians, etc.

People of many ethnic groups and ages are represented in these
interviews expressing their opinions on the political, social,
financial, and miliary aspects of the U.S. involvement in the war.

These field recordings were sent to the Library where they were made
into a series of radio programs and distributed to schools and radio
stations. The radio programs and field interviews are still housed in
the Archive of Folk Culture at the American Folklife Center where they
comprise an invaluable aural resource and are part of our American
legacy.  The AFC has continued to make these unique recordings
available to researchers and media producers (most recently by Sound
Portraits' _American Talkers_ series for NPR).

The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress is
interested in partnering with the Publore community to provide such a
service to the nation today.  We call for all of those who are
interested in participating to use your folkloristic training in a
positive way during a time of national crisis and mourning.  We ask
you to document the immediate reactions of average Americans in your
own communities to yesterday's terrorist attack and to what many have
called "an act of war".   What were they doing when they heard?  How
have their lives been changed? We are asking those who are interested,
to document these reactions on audio tape (all formats accepted).

Kathy Condon's chilling account of her experience on her rooftop in
New York is one example of how powerful and instructive one person's
experience can be.

The AFC can promise that these interviews will be deposited in the
Center's Archive of Folk Culture where they will be preserved for and
made available to future generations. Time is of the essence. If you
need release forms or have any questions please contact the American
Folklife Center: (202) 707-5510; folklife at loc.gov .  Thank you in
advance for all those who will participate.


Peggy Bulger, Director
Ann Hoog, Reference Specialist

American Folklife Center
Library of Congress
Washington, DC 20540-4610
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