Folklore Archive

Join us for a captivating presentation from researcher and folklorist Derek Piotr on his archive of folklife from Iceland to Appalachia.

Piotr set out to capture the human voice by recording and preserving diverse representations of folklife; from ballads, to hymns, tales, poems, children’s songs, and interviews alike. The focus of this collection is on the "non-singer": someone with no background in musical performance who can nevertheless relate a song or folkloric memory.

In this lecture, Derek will walk you through the process of recording these songs from non-musicians, as well as the organization and development of the Archive as a web-based repository.