Smithsonian Folkways Goes Foodways Playlist

Under the auspices of SPINSTER, I curated a foodways themed playlist for Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (my old employer and first favorite record label!). With thematic connections to SPINSTER's recent release, Measure, Pour & Mixtape: Music for Cooking, the playlist brings together food songs from across the Folkways catalog for a sonic meal of snap beans, potatoes, cornbread, pie, singing turkeys, and more, paired with blueberry wine and served by a well-tipped waitress.

I also love the graphic by D. Norsen Design, which evokes early Chez Panisse and Moosewood signage, and connects to my inspirational motto for the selections: "What if Les Blank soundtracked a (another) foodways film."

Listen to the playlist here.

The Food We Eat, The Stories We Tell: Contemporary Appalachian Tables

Hilliard’s chapter “‘The Reason We Make These Deep Fat-Fried Treats:’ In Conversation with the Rosettes of Helvetia, West Virginia,” is included in the new collection, The Food We Eat, The Stories We Tell: Contemporary Appalachian Tables, edited by Elizabeth Engelhardt and Lora Smith and published by Ohio University Press.

Related Events:

Keynote with Courtney Balestier, Emily Hilliard, and Lora Smith at Hindman Settlement School’s Dumplin’s and Dancin’, Hindman, KY, November 2, 2019

Reading and Dinner at Holly Hill Inn with Elizabeth Engelhardt, Robert Gipe, Emily Hilliard, and Lora Smith, Midway, KY, November 15, 2019

Reading at Taylor Books with Courtney Balestier, Emily Hilliard, and Lora Smith , Charleston, WV, December 5, 2019

Related Media:

Elizabeth Engelhardt and Emily Hilliard on WEKU’s Eastern Standard

West Virginia Folklife Progam Receives Gerald E. And Corinne L. Parsons Fund Award

The Gerald E. and Corinne L. Parsons fund was founded by American Folklife Center reference librarian Gerry Parsons (1940-1995) in honor of his parents. Parsons Fund Awards provide support to bring people to the Library of Congress to make use of primary ethnographic materials housed at AFC and elsewhere at the Library.

Emily Hilliard, West Virginia’s State Folklorist, was awarded a Parsons Fund Award for a one-week research trip to research AFC’s collection of sound recordings, photographs, field notes, and ephemera related to West Virginia, focusing particularly on archival content related to African Americans and other cultural communities whose “presence and contributions are often marginalized in historical and vernacular culture narratives of the Mountain State.” Her research will inform ongoing and future work of the West Virginia Folklife Program and culminate in a series of multimedia blog posts.

Brown University's Public Work Podcast- Episode 06: Emily Hilliard on Folklore, West Virginia, and Documenting Contemporary Labor Movements

"What role does folklore play in modern life? What is folklore, anyway? In this episode, Amelia Golcheski interviews West Virginia state folklorist Emily Hilliard to learn why folklore is more than just myths and legends. It can also be about labor movements, local histories, and even the “right” way to eat a hot dog. Amelia and Emily also discuss the recent teachers’ strike in West Virginia, misconceptions about life in so-called “Trump Country,” and approaches to public humanities that are invested in showing the importance of regional history."

Listen via Public Work

"One Year in Helvetia, West Virginia" Makes Bitter Southerner Top 10 Stories of 2017 List

Via Bitter Southerner: 

“One Year in Helvetia, West Virginia”

Story by Emily Hilliard | Photographs by Gabe DeWitt | Video by Coat of Arms

"This story was more than a year in the making. Emily Hilliard, the founder of the West Virginia Folklife Program based at the West Virginia Humanities Council, came to us wanting to document an entire year in one of the South’s most interesting small towns — Helvetia, West Virginia, population 59. In a high mountain valley “an hour from anywhere,” the little town sustains the traditions of the Swiss immigrants who settled there in 1869. Emily gave us a glorious look at Helvetia’s seasonal celebrations — and a deep understanding of how this isolated community draws strength from its land, its history, and its people."