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 Florida
Folklife Collection
Funded
in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS),
the Florida State Archives has completed a two-year project to enhance
access to and provide educational tools based upon the Florida Folklife
Collection (Record Group 158), a rich collection
of field notes, images, and sound recordings created by the Florida
Folklife Program and the Florida Folk Festival that document the
ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity reflected in the communities
of our state.
Materials
from the Folklife Collection have been added to the Florida Memory
web site (FloridaMemory.com).
Through the use of primary historical records, the web-based Florida
Memory Project illustrates significant moments in Florida history,
provides educational resources for students of all ages, and makes
available archival collections useful for historical research.
The
Florida Folklife Collection includes approximately 150 cubic feet
of paper records (including field notes and administrative files)
and thousands of audio and video recordings, which date from the
1930s through 2001. Created by Florida folklorists, the Collection
consists of 88 individual series that document the performances
by, interviews with, and fieldwork surveys of folk musicians, artisans,
storytellers, folklife interpreters, and other Florida peoples and
their traditions. Topics include children's lore, foodways, religious
traditions, Native American culture, numerous musical traditions,
art, maritime traditions, ethnic folk culture, material culture,
and occupational lore. These records document the living traditions
of Florida's peoples.
In
addition to the research files of the Florida Folklife Program,
the Collection also includes the recordings and images of the annual
Florida Folk Festival, the nation's longest-running continuous folk
festival. Through more than two thousand reel to reels, audio cassettes,
and digital audio tapes, as well as thousand of photographic prints
and slides, the Collection documents not only the state's oral and
musical traditions, but also the development of national musical
trends and genres. Performers range from Florida folk artists, including
Gamble Rogers, Lilianne Louis, Will McLean, Ida Goodson, and Frog
Smith, to national artists such as Vasser Clements, Doc Watson,
the Beers Family, and James Kelly.
Using
the Florida Folklife Collection as source material, the Archives
has completed the following components of the project.
| Florida
Folklife Collection Plan |
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Current
Status |
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| Create
an online index providing item-level descriptions of approximately
50,000 photographic images and approximately 5,000 audio
recordings. |
 |
Done. |
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Create
catalog records and digital images of 10,000 of the most
significant and representative indexed photographic images.
|
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Done.
Over 10,000 images have been scanned, cataloged and placed
on the Florida
Folklife Collection page of the Florida
Photographic Collection web site. |
|
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Create
four educational units using digitized materials from
the Folklife Collection. |
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Done.
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The
Institute of Museum and Library Services, a Federal agency that
fosters innovation, leadership and a lifetime of learning, supports
the Florida State Archives' Florida Memory Project. |
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