West Virginia Mine Wars Museum's Blair 100 Kickoff Event

I’m really looking forward to the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum's Battle of Blair Mountain Centennial Kickoff Event, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Blair Mountain, and focusing specifically on the importance of music and poetry as expressions of solidarity during the Mine Wars.

Featured musicians include blues harmonica player and National Heritage Fellow Phil Wiggins & West Virginia folklorist and musician Gerry Milnes, both of whom are featured in the film and soundtrack of John Sayles' 1987 film Matewan. Honored to be saying a few words alongside Crystal Good, Doris A. Fields, and more.

2021-2022 American Folklife Center Archie Green Fellowships

I'm so honored to be awarded an American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress 2021-2022 Archie Green Fellowship for my occupational folklife oral history project “Rural Free Delivery: Mail Carriers in Central Appalachia.” I've long admired Archie's work in occupational folklore and aspired to this fellowship, so I'm very grateful for this recognition and support.

Over the next year, I'll be documenting the expressive culture and experiences of approximately 25 rural mail carriers and clerks (formerly known as postmasters) in the upper mountain South (VA, WV, KY, OH, NC, and TN). The project will focus, in particular, on the function mail carriers serve as lifelines in their community, as well as how their place of work—rural post offices—are invaluable community hubs in remote rural areas. I'm also interested in recording how, through their regular routes, long-time rural mail carriers may have witnessed changes in the landscape—due to farm loss, deforestation, climate change, mountaintop removal mining, and other factors. The interviews and other project materials will be archived at the Library of Congress.

Thank you to Brett Ratliff at WMMT FM/ Appalshop for their support, past fellows Katy Clune & Kim Stryker for their guidance, and everyone at the AFC, especially Nancy Groce & John Fenn.

Read more about this year’s American Folklife Center fellowship awardees via Folklife Today.

2021 Mountain Heritage Literary Festival

I’ll be teaching two nonfiction classes at this year’s (virtual) Mountain Heritage Literary Festival, June 4-5—one on conducting and writing from oral histories, and another on writing from family recipes. I’ll also be on the nonfiction panel with author Cinelle Barnes. See the full schedule, line-up, and get more information here.

Smithsonian Folkways Curated: Emily Hilliard

“Expertly curated selections, excellent listens, this time chosen by Emily Hilliard, West Virginia state folklorist and founding director of West Virginia Folklife Program.”

Read and listen to the annotated playlist via Smithsonian Folkways

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