Midwest

Illinois

Bronzeville-Black Metropolis National Heritage Area

The Bronzeville-Black Metropolis National Heritage Area tells the story of a large section of a historic neighborhood in Chicago's South Side. The historic district - which stretches from 18th street to the north, 71st street to the south, Canal Street to the west and Lake Michigan to the east - is home to the Pilgrim Baptist Church, known as the birthplace of gospel music, and the homes of blues and jazz musicians Muddy Waters and Louis Armstrong.

Chicago Ethnic Arts Project collection, 1976-1981
Call Number: AFC 1981/004
The collection consists of sound recordings, photographs, manuscript materials, videorecordings, publications, ephemera, administrative files, and field notes produced and collected during the 1977 Chicago Ethnic Arts Project field survey from 1976-1981. The final project report presented to the Illinois Arts Council summarized the current conditions and folk arts needs in a number of Chicago's ethnic communities.

Chicago Blues and Jazz Story Map
Through a tour of (mostly blues) clubs and musical hot spots, the Chicago Blues and Jazz story map spotlights musicians and singers who have become part of the American Folklife Center's online Chicago Ethnic Arts Project Collection. During the AFC project, folklorists Beverly Robinson and Ralph Metcalfe Jr. were responsible for documenting African American cultural traditions. Although they documented a number of jazz musicians and venues, the city's blues traditions - and the musicians and singers who have given them life - are more heavily represented.

Iowa

Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area

The Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area covers thirty-seven counties of the state. Through a combination of activities and organization partnerships, the heritage area preserves and tells the story of American agriculture and celebrates the land, people and communities of Northwest Iowa.

Ethnic Heritage and Language Schools in America Project collection, 1982-1986
Call Number: AFC 1993/001
The collection consists of field notes, interviews, curriculum materials, sound recordings, photographs, and one videorecording resulting from a survey conducted by the American Folklife Center in 1982 which documented 23 ethnic schools in the United States. Included in the survey are a Czech school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and a Dutch school in Pella, Iowa.
Recent immigrant workers in Iowa's meatpacking industry: Archie Green Fellows Project, 2015-2016
Call Number: AFC 2015/026
Collection of 20 interviews with workers, union members, and union employees, most of whom have worked in meat processing plants in Iowa. John McKerley and Jennifer Sherer and colleagues from the University of Iowa Labor Center, Iowa City, Iowa, conducted audio interviews documenting the occupationsl culture of foreign-bord workers in Iowa's meatpacking industry. Over the last several decades, the state's meatpacking industry has been transformed by technological and organizational change and the arrival of new waves of immigrants and refugees from across the globe.
Truman Michelson collection of Fox (Mesquakie) cylinder recordings
Call Number: AFC 1948/061
Collection of five hours of field recordings from the Fox (Mesquakie) community at Tama, Iowa, recorded by Truman Michelson in July 1912 and perhaps circe 1916 on other Bureau of American Ethnology-sponsored field tribes. Approximately two-thirds of the cylinders contain songs of the Religion Dance (the Central Algonquian rite known elsewhere as the Drum or Dream Dance).
Marcus Bach "Preserving Iowa's religious heritage" collection, part 2
Call Number: AFC 1944/011
Professor Marcus Bach, State University of Iowa, conducted a field recording project, "Preserving Iowa's Religious Heritage," from 1943 to 1945. The project proposed to record "the sacred songs of little known religious and minority groups of Iowa, including the Amish, Mennonites, Trappists, Moravians, Welsh, Bohemians, and the Dutch colony at Pella. This collection includes Trappist monks at New Melleray, Iowa.

Kansas

Freedom Frontier National Heritage Area

The Freedom Frontier National Heritage Area, which includes sites in Kansas and Missouri, tells the story of the Americans who impacted major moments in American democracy and freedom, from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement.

Voices of Civil Rights Project collection, 2003-2006
Call Number: AFC 2005/015
Inspired by the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), and the Library of Congress initiated the Voices of Civil Rights (VOCR) Project in 2003 to collect and preserve stories of individuals who took part in, witnessed or were affected by the civil rights movement.
William T. Coleman oral history, 2003-04-08: National Visionary Leadership Project
Call Number: AFC 2004/007
William T. Coleman was a civil rights lawyer for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and was an author of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case. He was also the first African-American Secretary of Transportation. The interview includes William T. Coleman's memories of growing up in Pennsylvania, joining the army and becoming a Tuskegee Airman, and his education at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Law School. He discusses his work with Thurgood Marshall on the Brown v. Board case, his experience as a Republican and working in the Gerald Ford administration.
Robert L. Carter oral history, 2005-04-27: National Visionary Leadership Project
Call Number: AFC 2004/007
Robert L. Carter was an attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and worked on the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case. He was also a U.S. District Court Judge for Southern New York.

Michigan

MotorCities National Heritage Area

The MotorCities National Heritage Area celebrates Michigan's rich automotive history and labor heritage.

Jerome Brooks oral history, 2002: National Visionary Leadership Project
Call Number: AFC 2004/007
The interview includes Jerome Brooks' memories of growing up in Port Arthur, Texas, facing discrimination in his first jobs and attending Prairie View A&M University. He recalls moving to Detroit, Michigan, working in auto plants and moving to Memphis, Tennessee, where he started a business.

Missouri

Freedom Frontier National Heritage Area

Frankie Muse Freeman oral history, 2006-11-04: National Visionary Leadership Project
Call Number: AFC 2004/007
Frankie Muse Freeman was a civil rights lawyer in Missouri. She was the first woman appointed to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and helped found the Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights. She discusses opening her own law practice in St. Louis, Missouri and working with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund on several civil rights cases related to school segregation and public housing.

North Dakota

Northern Plains National Heritage Area

The Northern Plains National Heritage Area tells the interconnected stories of North Dakota's tribal citizens and explorers and settlers set against a backdrop of the Missouri River in central North Dakota.

Collection of video recordings of a performance of storytelling by NEA Heritage Fellowship winner Mary Louise Defender Wilson, a Dakotah/Hidatsa elder enrolled with the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota and by Keith Bear, a Mandan/Hidatsa flute player and storyteller enrolled with the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, North Dakota. Each performer was interviewed on the same day by Troyd Geist, folklorist, North Dakota Council on the Arts and these interviews (about 46 minutes each) form part of this collection. AFC 2006/031

Hidatsa Songs and Texts recorded by Carl Voegelin and Z.S. Harris
Call Number: AFC 1955/021
Four 10-inch discs of Hidatsa texts, recorded by Carl F. Voegelin and Z.S. Harris in 1938 at Ann Arbor during the Summer Linguistics Institute. Includes Hidatsa songs and Great Plains tales.
Gilbert L Wilson collection of Mandan-Hidatsa cylinder recordings
Call Number: AFC 1980/040
Collection of field recordings of Mandan and Hidatsa songs originally recorded by anthropologist Gilbert L. Wilson on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, North Dakota in 1910-1911 on wax cylinders.
Orin Grant Libby collection of Arikara cylinder recordings
Call Number: AFC 1983/036
Preservation tape reels of field recordings containing Arikara songs originally recorded on eighteen wax cylinders in Fort Berthold, North Dakota by Orin Grant Libby in July-August 1915. The cylinders were recorded in connection with Libby's research on the narratives of Arikara scouts in General Custer's army at Little Big Horn, which he published in 1920 as: The Arikara Narrative of the Campaign against the Hostile Dakotas -- June, 1876.

Ohio & Erie National Heritage Canalway

The Ohio and Erie National Heritage Canalway tells the story of the Ohio & Erie Canal, which connected Lake Erie to the Ohio River, thereby connecting America's heartland with new avenues for trade and commerce. It ties together Ohio's industrial manufacturing history with the settlement of towns and villages that sprang up along the canal.

Captain Pearl R. Nye collection, 1937-1944
Call Number: AFC 1937/002
Captain Pearl R. Nye: Life on the Ohio and Erie Canal captures the culture and music of the men, women, and children who worked and lived along the Ohio and Erie Canal. Nye, who was born and raised on a canal boat, never lost his love of the "Big Ditch." After the canal closed permanently in 1913, he devoted considerable time and energy to preserving its songs and stories. This online presentation includes 22 audio discs containing 75 songs performed by Nye, 74 manuscripts of correspondence and song texts, and 7 photographs.

National Aviation Heritage Area

The National Aviation Heritage Area honors Ohio's place in national aviation history. The heritage area covers eight counties in Ohio and includes the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Heritage Park, the Wright Company Factory, and the Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Neil Armstrong's hometown of Wapakoneta.

Margaret Peters oral history, 2006: National Visionary Leadership Project
Call Number: AFC 2004/007
Margaret Peters was a teacher, historian and civic leader. The interview includes Margaret Peters' memories of growing up in Dayton, Ohio, attending the University of Dayton and becoming a teacher. She recalls her efforts to include black history in the Dayton school district's social studies curriculum, her work at the Aviation Heritage Foundation and writing books on African American history. She discusses Dayton's African American history, her volunteer work and her love of poetry.

National Heritage Areas: Resources in the American Folklife Center