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

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

Music Makers Lecture and Panel Discussion

October 3, 2019, 5pm at the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences, Charleston, WV

Led by curator Jessica O’Hearn, Music Maker Foundation founder Tim Duffy will be joined by West Virginia State Folklorist Emily Hilliard and Clay County Fiddler John Morris, to discuss the importance of supporting artists with opportunities and funding and preserving artistic and cultural history. Attendees will learn how the Music Makers Foundation and the West Virginia Folklife program have assisted many artists and practitioners to forge a path to success, and preserve musical traditions.

This event is free and open to the public.

Vermont Folklife Center Summer Institute

This August, Emily will be teaching a one-day workshop at the Vermont Folklife Center’s Discovering Community Summer Institute at The Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

From the VFC:

Our Discovering Community Summer Institute introduces educators to the methods of ethnographic field research and the techniques of documentary media-making and digital storytelling as a means to facilitate meaningful student involvement with the communities in which they live. Working with community resources and digital media tools offers rich opportunities for personalized, student-led learning experiences. This student-directed research model facilitates the development of transferable skills such as clear and effective communication, responsible and involved citizenship, creative and practical problem solving, and informed and integrative thinking

Thank you to Trish Denton and Mary Wesley of the Vermont Folklife Center for the invitation.