Lowell Folklife Project collection
| Lowell Folklife Project collection | |
|---|---|
| Held by | American Folklife Center, Library of Congress |
| Scope | Community life in Lowell, Massachusetts, 1987 to 1988 |
| Catalogue reference | AFC 1987/042 |
| Language | English; Cambodian; French; Greek; Laotian; Portuguese; Spanish; Vietnamese |
| Subjects | Community & Civic Life; Religion & Spiritual Life; Music & Sound |
The Lowell Folklife Project collection documents community life in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1987 and 1988, including Cambodian ceremonies and celebrations, and is held in the Archive of Folk Culture at the American Folklife Center in Washington, D.C. (Lowell Folklife Project finding aid)
Overview
The project was a year-long ethnographic study by the American Folklife Center, sponsored by the Lowell Historic Preservation Commission. Cambodian material documented in the study includes a Cambodian Buddhist wedding ceremony and Cambodian and Laotian New Year celebrations. (Library of Congress Cambodia folklife guide) (Lowell Folklife Project finding aid)
Material coverage
The collection holds about 17,000 items in ten containers, including 196 hours of sound recordings of oral history interviews, religious services, musical events, processions, festivals, restaurants and neighbourhood tours, with a further 23 hours copied from originals lent by Lowell residents. It also holds roughly 13,500 photographs, about 6,750 pages of manuscript material with interview transcripts and field notes, and fifteen computer disks. Cambodian is among the languages of the material. (Lowell Folklife Project finding aid)
Catalogue and access
The call number is AFC 1987/042, the Library of Congress catalogue record is at https://lccn.loc.gov/2004695186 and further search options are at https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/eadafc.af014008. The guide asks researchers to quote AFC or AFS numbers when requesting information and to contact the Folklife Reading Room about Archive of Folk Culture collections; it also notes that all durations in finding aids are estimates. (Lowell Folklife Project finding aid) (American Folklife Center Cambodia guide)