The Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area (AFNHA) spans a section of Maryland and West Virginia known for its mountainous landscape and the largest hardwood forest in the world. The forests of the AFNHA are known for their abundant biodiversity, including rare northern species. The geography and natural resources of the region have played and continue to play a major role in central Appalachian life and culture. The forests continue to serve as a source of recreation, culture, livelihood and natural beauty. The AFNHA is a prime example of how the natural environment shapes human history and culture and how humans, in turn, shape the forest around them.
Ward family songbook collection, 1930s-1940s
James McCrobie oral history interview conducted by Gerald Parsons, 1982 May 21-22
Mike Seeger collectionStella Holaday and Fields Ward recordingsBaltimore National Heritage Area highlights the city's concentration of historic, cultural and natural resources. Over the centuries, Baltimore has been witness and host to events which have helped shaped American history. The story of Baltimore is one of change: in the way Americans life, work, and play. AFC collections which include Baltimore feature examples of the city's tremendous cultural diversity and industrial history.
El Camino del Pan a Baltimore
El Camino del Pan a Baltimore chronicles the life of José Vargas, owner of a bakery and taqueria located in Highlandtown, a neighborhood in East Baltimore. Vargas migrated to Baltimore from Huaquechula, Mexico and decided to build on his family tradition of baking bread. After arriving in Baltimore, he established a business selling Mexican fare using a pushcart stationed in Patterson Park. His first brick and mortar location was a bakery located in the Greektown neighborhood amidst a dwindling European immigrant community. With support from family and friends, he has since grown into a four-business enterprise - a bakery, taqueria, bar, and restaurant in Essex.
El Camino del Pan a Baltimore is part of the 2023 American Folklife Center Homegrown Foodways Film Series: Baltimore and New Orleans, based on a collaboration with Professor Sarah Fouts (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) and filmmakers Andy Dahl and Fernando López.
More information on this film series can be found on the American Folklife Center blog.
Raymond Haysbert oral history, 2004: National Visionary Leadership ProjectBaltimore Field School: Documenting Stories of Migration, 2018Mosaic: the American ethnic experience; programs 1-4John B Fergusson recordings of radio programsDuring the 19th century, the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers and their accompanying canals were part of a transportation system that stretched throughout the Appalachian Mountain Range to the Atlantic Coast. The region was a hub for industrial production of coal, slate, cement, iron and steel, providing the raw materials that helped build modern America.
Cement workers in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley: Archie Green Fellows Project, 2020-2021Sound recording made at the Lehigh Cement Company Plant in Evansville, Pennsylvania on May 26, 2021. The recording was made to accompany Vyta Pivo's collection of 20 occupational folklife oral history interviews with cement workers in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley.
Dominic Ninni discusses growing up in the cement industry, joining the labor gang after college, the hazards of working at the plant, the role and stress of purchasing equipment on an international scale, and how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted work at the plant. Interview forms part of the collection Cement Workers in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley: Archie Green Fellows Project, 2020-2021 (AFC 2020/008).
This heritage area - commonly called "The Journey" - encompasses an historic, natural and scenic region which cuts across the states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. While the primary focus of the heritage area are historic locations related to the events of the Civil War, the region also includes natural landscapes that can be explored on foot, horseback, and vehicle, historic downtowns, farms and agricultural fields, and cultural events.
Gettysburg, oh GettysburgThe Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area highlights southwestern Pennsylvania's history as the "Steel Making Capital of the World." Plants throughout the region provided steel for major construction projects such as the Empire State Building and the Brooklyn Bridge. Pennsylvania's steel mills have largely shuttered and been dismantled, but the region's steel-making contributions continue to be a major part of America's story.
Chronicle/Rivers of Steel Heritage areaCultural conversations/Rivers of Steel Heritage AreaSignificant to the history of the American Industrial and Environmental Revolutions, the Schuylkill River Greenways National Heritage Area highlights the region's abundant natural resources, its role in industrial innovation and technology, its transportation networks, and the efforts undertaken years later to protect and reclaim the river.
George Korson collection, 1913-1975George Korson recording of songs from PennsylvaniaThe lore of America's coal miners: a fresh look at the George Korson collection, 2004 September 20The Susquehanna National Heritage Area encompasses Lancaster County, York County, and the Susquehanna River. The river has played a central role in transportation and trade throughout history, which likely contributed to the town of York serving as the temporary seat of the Continental Congress. A major spot on the Underground Railroad, the region features in America's history of the conflict over slavery. Today, the region is known for its scenic beauty, agriculture, and its Amish and Plain People communities.
Martin Ressler recording of an old order Amish lob-songDon Yoder collection of wire recordings
Pennsylvania folk songs: an addition to an old heritage, 1979As part of the Benjamin Botkin Folklife Lecture series sponsored by the American Folklife Center, Dr. Don Yoder discusses the common culture and language of rural, small town Pennsylvania Dutch communities and the history of differences between the "plain" sects (Mennonites, Amish, and Brethren) and the Lutherans and Reformed Churches (now United Church of Christ) who share this culture in southeastern Pennsylvania. (AFC 2011/019)
Virginia's Northern Neck is often called "the birthplace of our nation," as it is home to the birthplace of three of the first five American presidents as well as home to a number of prominent families who were instrumental to early American history. Today, it is known for the watermen who continue to live and work in the Chesapeake Bay harvesting blue crabs and Virginia oysters.
Alicia J. Rouverol collection on Northern Neck, Virginia, watermen, 1991The Archie Green memorial features Northern Neck Chantey Singers, beginning at 2:10:55.
The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District features historic towns and preserved landscapes of a region that played a critical role in the Civil War. In addition to historic battlefields, the historic district is home to Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive.
M Ellsworth Kyger recordings of fiddle tunesGreen Island Pickers collectionThe Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area (AFNHA) spans a section of Maryland and West Virginia known for its mountainous landscape and the largest hardwood forest in the world. The forests of the AFNHA are known for their abundant biodiversity, including rare northern species. The geography and natural resources of the region have played and continue to play a major role in central Appalachian life and culture. The forests continue to serve as a source of recreation, culture, livelihood and natural beauty. The AFNHA is a prime example of how the natural environment shapes human history and culture and how humans, in turn, shape the forest around them.
Tending the Commons: Folklife and Landscape in Southern West VirginiaGwilym Davies Appalachian and Adirondack Mountains collection, 1997-1998
This heritage area - commonly called "The Journey" - encompasses an historic, natural and scenic region which cuts across the states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. While the primary focus of the heritage area are historic locations related to the events of the Civil War, the region also includes natural landscapes that can be explored on foot, horseback, and vehicle, historic downtowns, farms and agricultural fields, and cultural events.
"The Battle of Antietam Creek" is a Civil War song, also issued on the American Folklife Center's published recording AFS L 29, SONGS AND BALLADS OF AMERICAN HISTORY AND OF THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENTS. It is performed by Warde Ford and recorded by Sidney Robertson Cowell in Central Valley, California on September 4, 1939. The song forms part of a group of field materials documenting Warde Ford performing Anglo-American songs on December 25, 26, and 27, 1939, and September 4, 1939, collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell in Boomtown [Central Valley], Shasta County, California.
The mission of the National Coal Heritage Area (NCHA) is to preserve, protect, and interpret lands, structures and communities associated with the coal mining heritage of southern West Virginia. Shaped by the coal deposits found in its mountains, today's communities retain their history and character as "company towns," reflecting local traditions, immigrant laborers and the history of the coal industry.
Coal River Folklife Project collection, 1992-2000New River Gorge Folklife Survey collection, 1991-1993Carl Fleischhauer collection on Melvin Wine and other performersMike Rivers recordings of West Virginia musicMiners' welfare fundWheeling, West Virginia holds a special place in history, as both the birthplace of West Virginia and an early industrial hub. Influenced by its steel plant heritage, the boundaries of the Ohio River, and its role in country music and the golden years of early radio broadcasts, the Wheeling National Heritage Area provides a way for the community to share its story of the past and look to the future.
Fay McGinnis collection of an interview and photographs of the Burgess Hall String Band, 1979
