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Identifier/Call Number
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AFC 1987/042
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Description
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en
This year-long study conducted by the American Folklife Center yielded an ethnographic collection consisting of 196 hours of sound recordings covering a wide range of subjects and activities, including oral history interviews, religious services, musical events, parades and religious processions, ethnic festivals, ethnic restaurants, and neighborhood tours. An additional 23 hours of sound recordings of musical events and oral history interviews were copied from originals lent by Lowell residents. Collection materials also include correspondence; field notes; questionnaires; neighborhood maps; reports; publications; administrative files; interview transcripts; black-and-white photographic prints, contact sheets, and film negatives (ca. 10,000 images); and color slides and prints, (ca. 3,500 images) which documented community life in Lowell, Massachusetts from 1987 to 1988.
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Copyright Statement and Conditions governing use
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Duplication of the collection materials may be governed by copyright and other restrictions.
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Biography, Administrative History and Provenance
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en
The Lowell Folklife Project was conducted in 1987-88 as a cooperative project of the American Folklife Center and the Lowell Historic Preservation Commission, with support from the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities. The Lowell Historic Preservation Commission, a federal agency charged with telling "the human story of the Industrial Revolution," invited the Center to develop and administer a cultural survey of contemporary ethnic and neighborhood life in Lowell in order to aid the Commission in its planning and programmatic functions, assist the State Heritage Park and National Historical Park in their interpretive programs, and create an archive of documentary materials. The Lowell Folklife Project yielded an ethnographic collection consisting of 196 hours of sound recordings covering a wide range of subjects and activities, including oral history interviews, religious services, musical events, parades and processions, and neighborhood tours. An additional 23 hours of sound recordings covering musical events and oral history interviews were copied from originals lent by Lowell residents. The photographic materials amassed by the project total approximately 10,000 black-and-white images and 3,500 color slides. In general, these images provide photographic coverage of events also documented on audiotape, but they also document occupational scenes, cultural artifacts, environmental details, and public events that were not conducive to sound recording. Print and manuscript materials amount to 6,750 pages and include fieldnotes, reports, and administrative material. Finally, 15 computer disks, which constitute electronic versions of the manuscript material, and an assortment of ephemera round out the collection.
The large body of information collected on the life and traditions of the people of Lowell served as the basis for "Report to the Lowell Historic Preservation Commission." The report discusses the project's course of development and implementation, briefly surveys the project holdings, reviews cultural issues involved in folklife research and programming in Lowell, and presents a number of recommendations for further research and public programming in Lowell. (A copy of the report is included in the collection).
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Extent
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17,000 items ; 10 containers; 4 linear feet; 158 folders; 90 sound cassettes, analog; 247 sound tape reels, analog, 7 1/2 ips , 7 in; ca. 13,500 photographs, b&w., col.; 15 computer disks, 5 1/4 and 3 1/2 in.
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Arrangement
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en
Organized by format into the following series: I. Print and Manuscript Materials; II. Computer Disks; III. Sound Recordings; IV. and Graphic Materials.
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Notes
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Finding aid encoded by Kate Stewart, December 2014
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Recommended Citation
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Lowell Folklife Project collection, 1987-1988. American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/eadafc.af014008.
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