Mountaineers are Always Free Book Launch

A new book by folklorist Rosemary Hathaway explores the history and potent symbolism of the iconic West Virginia University Mountaineer. The book launch for “Mountaineers Are Always Free: Heritage, Dissent, and a West Virginia Icon” ( WVU Press, 2020) will be held in the Event Hall at the WVU College of Law on February 24 at 4 p.m. Admission is free and the public is invited to attend.

Hathaway, an associate professor of English, will lead a discussion about the Mountaineer with Travis Stimeling, associate professor of music, and Emily Hilliard of the West Virginia Folklife Program.

Learn more via West Virginia University’s Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

New Journal of American Folklore Editorial Team

“Lisa Gilman (George Mason University) is taking over as the Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of American Folklore on November 15, 2019…

 An outstanding editorial team will collaboratively produce the journal through 2023.

 Associate Editors: Debra Lattanzi Shutika, Benjamin Gatling, and Lijun Zhang, George Mason University

Editorial Assistant: Tanya Boucicaut, George Mason University

Book Review Editor: James Deutsch, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

Exhibit Review Editor: Kelley Totten, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Film and Video Review Editor: Emily Hilliard, West Virginia Folklife Program

Sound Review Editor: Langston Collin Wilkins, Center for Washington Cultural Traditions

Digital Resources Review Editor: Natalie Underberg-Goode, University of Central Florida”

Learn more via the American Folklore Society

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.

Turkey Calls, Serbian Dancing, and Traditional Broommaking: The Folklife of W.Va.

Emily speaks with West Virginia Public Broadcasting's Roxy Todd about the first two years of the West Virginia Folklife Program, and the new Folklife Apprenticeship Program. Listen here and here. 

Road Trip Through Apple-atcha: Homemade Apple Pies, Apple Cider & More

West Virginia Public Broadcasting's Inside Appalachia interviews Emily on apple pie for their "Apple-atcha" episode... 

"Apples are for more than just cider, and some say that there is nothing more American than apple pie. So we talked to Emily Hilliard, the state folklorist of West Virginia and author of the pie blog Nothing in the House, about what goes into making a traditional apple pie, as well as a fig and goat cheese tart. Emily's pie crust was also featured in a new cookbook called Victuals: An Appalachian Journey with Recipes."

Listen via West Virginia Public Broadcasting