Free workshop on TN folk traditions



Tennessee is a state rich with folk traditions. By studying oral history interviews and song recordings, we can learn a lot about how people lived during simpler times. From hog killings to sorghum making to wash days to building railroads and banjos, the old ways of life in our communities have been passed down from generation to generation. Fortunately, these traditions of the past are not lost - the Tennessee State Library & Archives holds a vast collection of material about them.

Carol Roberts, conservation manager at the Library & Archives, will discuss these homespun traditions during the next event in our free lecture series. Her talk, titled "Preserving Tennessee Folkways: Highlights of the Folklife Collections of the Tennessee State Library & Archives," will be held in the Library & Archives auditorium July 30 from 9:30 a.m. until 11 a.m.

Her presentation will highlight collections that document "Tennessee folklife," including the Tennessee State Parks Folklife Collection, the Zilphia Horton Folk Music Collection, the Highlander Collection, Tennessee Folklore Society Bulletins and Sound Recordings, and interviews, captured on reel to reel and cassette tape, which help tell the stories of Tennessee's rural communities.

As conservation manager at the Library & Archives, Roberts oversees preservation work in the conservation lab and assists with programs to preserve historic records housed in the Library & Archives and in individual counties throughout the state. She's charged with the care and preservation of the state's historic governmental documents, maps, books, photographs and many other types of media. Although the lecture is free and open to the public, registration is required. To register, please visit: http://tennesseefolklife.eventbrite.com