National and urban festivals are included from Washington DC, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, and San Diego.
Related Berea Sound Archives Sites
- Traditional Music and Spoken Word Performances This link opens in a new windowListen to selected musical performances and storytelling from the Berea Sound Archives.
- Alan Lomax Kentucky CollectionListen to ocumentary sound recordings of rural Kentucky music and lore collected under the auspices of the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress between 1933 and 1942.
- Oral History Collections GuideBerea's online oral history collections cover a broad range of topics in the areas of Appalachian history and culture, and the history of Berea College. In many instances searchable transcripts accompany the digitized audio recordings.
- Examples of Oral Histories For Use As Primary SourcesSelected interview texts and recordings covering a wide range of topics.
- Sound Recording Analysis WorksheetA teaching / learning resource from the National Archives.
- Sound Archives Research GuidesResearch guides are the work of Archives staff and the College's Sound Archives Fellows. Using audio and video illustrations, the guides cover a wide range of topics.
- Sound Preservation ProgramThe program's focus is on Berea's collections of noncommercial recordings that document Appalachian history and culture and the history of Berea College.
- Berea Sound Archives HomepageBrowse By Topic
Contact the Berea Sound Archives
- Down Home Folk Festival - Temple University, Philadelphia, PA(For copyright reasons these performances are not available online, but can be heard in the Department of Special Collections & Archives at Berea College’s Hutchins Library.)
- National Folk FestivalLaunched in St. Louis, MO on April 29, 1934, the "National" was the brainchild of Princeton, KY's Sarah Gertrude Knott. Knott had an expansive idea of folk culture and drew upon performers from all over the United States. During the 1970s the festival was held at the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, VA near Washington, DC. (For copyright reasons these performances are not available online, but can be heard in the Department of Special Collections & Archives at Berea College’s Hutchins Library.)
- National Oldtime Fiddlers Contest & Festival - Weiser, IDWeiser, Idaho has welcomed fiddlers' contests since before WWI, but it was not until 1953 that a regular event was developed by Blaine Stubblefield. To preserve traditional fiddling, the Weiser fiddle contest makes authentic fiddle performance, and not showmanship or tricks, its focus. Today over 350 fiddlers compete in 8 different categories.
- San Diego Folk Festival - San Diego, CA(For copyright reasons these performances are not available online, but can be heard in the Department of Special Collections & Archives at Berea College’s Hutchins Library.)
- Smithsonian Folklife Festival - Washington, DCCo-founded in 1969 by folklorists Ralph Rinzler and Archie Green, and using Washington DC's National Mall as a stage, the then Festival of American Folklife was an instant hit. Held annually over a two-week period centered around the 4th of July, it still regularly attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors.
(For copyright reasons these performances are not available online, but can be heard in the Department of Special Collections & Archives at Berea College’s Hutchins Library.) - Snoose Boulevard Festival - Minneapolis, MNThe Snoose Boulevard Festival was held in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis from 1972 through 1977. The headline performer was the Swedish-born singer Anne-Charlotte Harvey. In conjunction with the festival she recorded three albums of folk tunes, emigrant ballads, hymns, waltzes and comic songs. The non-profit Olle i Skratthult Project sponsored the annual celebration and the recordings.(For copyright reasons these performances are not available online, but can be heard in the Department of Special Collections & Archives at Berea College’s Hutchins Library.)
- University of Chicago Folk Festival - Chicago, ILStarted in 1961. (For copyright reasons these performances are not available online, but can be heard in the Department of Special Collections & Archives at Berea College’s Hutchins Library.)
