Introduction

Alan Lomax, author. *Letter from Alan Lomax to Robert Barton Allen thanking him for contributing interview recordings made in Bloomington, IN.* December 18, 1941. Radio Research Project manuscript collection (AFC 1941/005). Library of Congress American Folklife Center.

American Folklife Center collections from Indiana document expressive culture from across the state and span over nine decades. Beginning with items in the Alan Lomax Ohio and Indiana collection, and continuing on to today with StoryCorps interviews and documentation in the Occupational Folklife Project, American Folklife Center collections illustrate the rich variety of traditional culture in this geographically central and culturally rich state.

Particularly noteworthy are the many disc recordings made by Alan and Elizabeth Lomax in Bloomington and other south-central Indiana towns in 1938. They recorded over 50 discs in Indiana during the trip in late March, which also took them to Ohio and Kentucky. The recordings contain songs and stories, featuring much material in French, a wealth of fiddle tunes, and a series of Amish hymns.

After the Day of Infamy: "Man-on-the-Street" Interviews Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor

This collection provides insight into the opinions and thoughts of people around the United States immediately following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. While serving as a folklore consultant on the Library's Radio Research Project, Alan Lomax sent a telegram on December 8, 1941 asking fieldworkers around the U.S. to collect "man-on-the-street" reactions. This request resulted in approximately four and one half hours of recordings that were used to create a fifteen-minute radio program for the Mutual Broadcasting System. A second set of recordings, in which the interviewees were asked to address their thoughts and opinions on the attack and the declaration of war directly to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was made under the auspices of the Office of Emergency Management in January and February 1942. These recordings total approximately seven and one half hours and were also used to create a radio program, entitled "Dear Mr. President," which was broadcast in May 1942. The collection includes six recordings from Indiana.

Explore the After the Day of Infamy: "Man-on-the-Street" Interviews Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor collection
This online collection presents approximately twelve hours of opinions recorded in the days and months following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, from more than two hundred individuals in cities and towns across the United States--including Bloomington, IN. The interviews feature a wide diversity of opinion concerning the war and other social and political issues of the day, such as racial prejudice and labor disputes. The result is a portrait of everyday life in America as the United States entered World War II.

Additional Collections of Interest

The following materials link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to digital content are provided when available.

Alan Lomax Ohio and Indiana collection
Call Number: AFC 1938/004
Published/Created: Originals on instantaneous discs recorded in 1938.
Collection of field recordings of songs, ballads, hymns, fiddle tunes, banjo music, interviews, and stories performed and spoken by various people throughout Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. Recordings made through the courtesy of organizers of the Ohio Valley Folk Festival; the Indiana Folk-lore Society meeting, Bloomington, Indiana; and the WPA Writers' Project in Indiana. The collection includes field recordings of military personnel at Fort Thomas, Kentucky; French folk songs recorded in Vincennes, Indiana; and Amish singers, including Eli J. Bontrager and Joni Easch, in the Goshen, Indiana area, performing hymns from Ausbund, das ist, etliche schöne christliche lieder, 10th ed. Includes Alan Lomax's field notes from his interviews with the performers (some of whom had worked in minstrel shows and medicine shows, and in community gardens), information about the song titles, music, and the singers. During parts of this field trip the Lomaxes were accompanied by Paul G. Brewster, who was also conducting fieldwork in the region.
Folklife Center of the Ohio Valley recordings
Call Number: AFC 2004/025
Published/Created: September to November 1977
Collection of recordings by fieldworkers Jens Lund, Dillon Bustin, and Kathleen Restle for the Folklife Center of the Ohio Valley, September - November, 1977 including Primitive Baptist church meetings and church services in Posey County, Indiana; local music making, and interviews with quiltmakers, fishermen, and others in Gallatin County, Illinois and Posey County, Indiana. Includes interviews about whirligigs and barn painting; storytelling, supernatural experiences, religion, hymn-singing, poems, and songs.
Herbert Halpert Collection
Call Number: AFC 2004/008
Published/Created: 1937-1960
Sound recordings, correspondence, indexes, manuscripts, research notes, music transcriptions, photographs and photographic negatives, newspaper clippings, student papers, ephemera and other materials primarily representing the documentation and analysis of the folklore of regions of New York; New Jersey, particularly the New Jersey Pinelands region; Kentucky; Pennsylvania; Indiana; and Alaska by folklorist Herbert Halpert from the 1930s to 1950s. Includes publications edited by Herbert Halpert issued by the National Service Bureau of the WPA Federal Theater Project in New York City. Topics of Halpert's research included folk songs, folk belief, tales, legends, customs, and folklife. Includes photographs of interviewees and landscapes from the 1930s
Ranger lore--the occupational folklife of parks
Call Number: AFC 2013/014
Published/Created: 2013 - 2015
Collection of video and audio oral history interviews documenting the work life of individuals working in national and state parks in Kentucky and Indiana. Interviews were conducted from July 2013 through May 2015 by Brent Björkman, director of the Kentucky Folklife Program at Western Kentucky University and Jonathan Kay, who directs Traditional Arts Indiana at Indiana University. The interviews focus on occupational traditions of rangers, naturalists, law enforcement, and other park personnel at Kentucky's Mammoth Cave National Park and in the Indiana State Parks and Reservoirs system. The collection includes an interview log or transcript for each recorded interview.

Podcasts and Blog Posts

Bill Stepp, Aaron Copland, and "Bonaparte's Retreat"
Read a history of the well-known fiddle tune, Bonaparte's Retreat, in which AFC staff folklorist Stephen Winick discusses an important archival recording featuring Bill Stepp--a farmer and fiddler who lived in both Indiana and Kentucky. (Folklife Today Blog: November 3, 2015)

Public Programming

In 2010, the American Folklife Center hosted The Not Too Bad Bluegrass Band from Bloomington, Indiana. Formed in 1987, original members included Jeff White, who went on to play with superstars like Alison Krauss and Vince Gill; singer-songwriter Bob Lucas; and Lisa Germano, who later played fiddle with John Mellencamp's band. For their 2010 appearance in the Library's Coolidge auditorium, the line-up included: Brian Lappin (banjo), Doug Harden (mandolin), Greg Norman (bass), Kent Todd (fiddle), and Brady Stogdill (guitar).

American Folklife Center Collections: Indiana

American Folklife Center: Ask a Librarian

About AFC Geographic Guides

Introduction

After the Day of Infamy: "Man-on-the-Street" Interviews Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor

Additional Collections of Interest

Podcasts and Blog Posts

Public Programming