Text of the song "Pretty Molly" sung by Pauline Ramsay from Kentucky, from Voices from the Dust Bowl: The Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection, 1940-1941. A recording of the song is available in the online presentation.

Kentucky

The collections of the American Folklife Center contain rich and varied materials from Kentucky that document the diversity of the Bluegrass State's folk traditions. Among its unique recordings are hundreds of hours of folk music, recorded from the 1930s to the present, including banjo, dulcimer, and fiddle tunes; religious music and sermons; and Southern Harmony singing and Baptist "lining-out" hymns. (Pictured right: Kentucky text of the ballad "Pretty Molly.")

Collections

Finding Aid: View a complete list of our Kentucky collections.

Local Legacies: This project provides a "snapshot" of local culture as it was expressed in the year 2000. View Kentucky's Local Legacies projects.

Veterans History Project: Browse state collections from the Veterans History Project.

Webcast

Northern Kentucky Brotherhood Singers: Quartet style a capella gospel music from Kentucky. Recorded July 16, 2009. [webcast and event flyer]

Additional Resources

Educational Resources: View a list of educational materials related to Kentucky from A Teacher's Guide to Folklife Resources.

Folklife Resources: Find state folklife-related agencies, societies, archives, higher education programs, and more, in Folklife Sourcebook: A Directory of Folklife Resources in the United States.

Exhibition: 1983 "Generation to Generation: Sharing the Intangible," Western Kentucky University, Ivan Wilson Center for Fine Arts, Bowling Green; and University of Kentucky, Council on Aging, Lexington.

Publication: "The Photographs of Maggie Lee Sayre: A Personal Vision of Houseboat Life," Folklife Annual 90. [catalog record]