National Heritage Area Regions

A Guide to National Heritage Area Regions

As of December 2023, the National Park Service recognizes 62 National Heritage Areas spread across 36 states and territories. The American Folklife Center is home to collections relevant to locations, communities and cultures found within several National Heritage Areas, though not every state or heritage area is represented in the archive.

This research guide is meant to be a representative introduction to help jumpstart research in the archive and is not a comprehensive list of all the materials related to each heritage area. New collections are added to the American Folklife Center each year and the list of national heritage areas is not static.

To aid in navigation, the national heritage areas presented in this guide have been grouped into regional subcategories:

Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont
Mid-Atlantic: Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia
Southeast: Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, U.S. Virgin Islands
Deep South: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi
Midwest: Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio
Southwest: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah
Western: Alaska, California, Nevada, Washington

Each of these regions is represented by a separate subpage of this research guide. In cases where a state has more than one NHA represented within AFC collections, the state is further divided into tabbed boxes focused on each heritage area.

The decision to divide NHAs in the South into two categories (Southeast and Deep South) was made due to the great wealth of NHAs which exist in the southern United States, as well as the number of collections which feature these regions. Regional distinctions for these areas were made based upon the presence of NHAs that cross state boundaries.

Several states are not listed in these regional pages. In some cases, this is because the state does not currently have a national heritage area. In others, the Center does not have any collections relevant to the focus of their respective heritage areas. Materials relevant to these heritage areas may be found in other locations within the Library, such as Geography & Maps, Prints & Photographs, and Manuscripts.

Selected Digital Collections

The Library of Congress has been digitizing unique primary source collection materials since the 1990's. The following digital collections focus on communities or regional areas related to several NHAs from the perspective of folklorists and others who have documented elements representative of the region such as folklife and material culture, vernacular religious expression, and music and dance.

Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project collection, 1977-1981
The Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project was conducted by the American Folklife Center in cooperation with the National Park Service. The survey examined folklife in and around an area of the Blue Ridge Parkway at the Virginia and North Carolina border. This online presentation includes the majority of the sound recordings and photographs in this collection. Among the items in this collection are photographs and field notes about vernacular architecture. The remainder of the collection is available in the Folklife Reading Room at the Library of Congress.
New Mexico Folklife Project Collection
The New Mexico Folklife Project was conducted by Carl Fleischhauer of the American Folklife Center, in the summers of 1984 and 1985. In 1984, the effort supported the work of the folklorist Laurie Beth Kalb, representing the Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and focused on three Hispanic santeros in northern part of the state: Felix Lopez, La Mesilla; Eulogio Ortega, Velarde; and Horacio Valdez, Dixon, with additional documentation of the work of the artist Clem "Pop" Shaffer in Mountainair, New Mexico.
Rhode Island Folklife Project Collection
The Rhode Island Folklife Project collection resulted from a field survey project of the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, conducted in cooperation with the Rhode Island Heritage Commission, the Rhode Island Council on the Arts, and the Rhode Island Historical Society from July 15 to December 31, 1979. Photographs include both built and natural landscapes of Rhode Island such as Rhode Island houses, barns, street scenes, landscapes, and locations connected to Rhode Island's occupational culture.
Tending the Commons: Folklife and Landscape in Southern West Virginia
The Coal River Folklife Project Collection documented traditional uses of the mountains in the Big Coal River Valley of southern West Virginia and explored the cultural dimensions of ecological crisis from 1992 to 1999. The collection documents the intersection of ecological/resource conservation and traditional folkways. This collection is part of the New River Gorge Folklife Survey collection, 1991-1993. The collection inclues photographs and manuscrips documenting the impact of large scale industries such as logging and mountaintop removal mining on local communities.
Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve collection, 1985
Call Number: AFC 1985/022
Collection of field recordings of interviews and photographs collected by Mary Hufford comprising part of the preliminary fieldwork for a proposed cooperative project with the National Park Service's Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in southern Louisiana. Photographs document a local cemetery, boats, waterways, traditional foods and housing, the preparation of nutria hides, Park Service staff, and aerial photographs of the Mississippi Delta, some taken by Tom Tankersley.

National Heritage Areas: Resources in the American Folklife Center

National Heritage Area Regions

A Guide to National Heritage Area Regions

Selected Digital Collections