C. J. Meaders glazing a face jug, January 12, 2000. Photo by Aimee Schmidt. Part of Georgia's Local Legacies projects.

Georgia

The American Folklife Center contains has among its holdings ethnographic collections featuring the traditional music and folklore of Georgia. Among its unique recordings are substantial holdings of music, storytelling, and interviews made in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, featuring African American folk music, Sacred Harp singing, and southern Georgia fiddling; and the Foxfire project collection from Rabun Gap. In 1977, the Center sponsored the South-Central Georgia Folklife Project, which surveyed life, work, and traditional expression in the wiregrass region of south-central Georgia. The documentary material produced by the project includes thousands of photographic images and hundreds of sound recordings.

Collections

Finding Aid: View a complete list of our Georgia collections.

Local Legacies: This project provides a "snapshot" of local culture as it was expressed in the year 2000. View Georgia's Local Legacies projects.

Veterans History Project: Browse state collections from the Veterans History Project.

Songs of America: Browse an interactive state map for selected songs from the American Folklife Center’s collections, as well as songs from the Library’s Music Division and Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division.

Online Presentations: "Now What a Time:" Blues, Gospel, and the Fort Valley Music Festivals, 1938-1943 and Southern Mosaic: The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip.

Webcast

Seeing Mary: Belief, Politics, and Practice at Marian Apparition Sites: Presented by Anne Pryor. Lecture includes discussion of a site in Conyers, Georgia. [catalog record] [event flyer and webcast]

Additional Resources

Educational Resources: View a list of educational materials related to Georgia from A Teacher's Guide to Folklife Resources.

Folklife Resources: Find state folklife-related agencies, societies, archives, higher education programs, and more, in Folklife Sourcebook: A Directory of Folklife Resources in the United States.

Publications: Sketches of South Georgia Folklife, 1977. [catalog record]

"Howard Finster: Man of Visions," Folklife Annual 1985. [catalog record]

"Bulrush is Silver, Sweetgrass is Gold: The Enduring Art of Sea Grass Basketry," Folklife Annual 1989-90. [catalog record]

Published Recording: Folk Songs of America: The Robert Winslow Gordon Collection 1922-32, Library of Congress AFS L68. [audiocassette] [online presentation]