Museum folklore is a domain of scholarship and professional practice within the field of folklore studies (

folkloristics Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...

Characteristics

Some museum folklorists work full-time in museums of

ethnography Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

ethnology Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural anthropology, cultural, social anthropolo ...

cultural history Cultural history combines the approaches of anthropology and history to examine popular cultural traditions and cultural interpretations of historical experience. It examines the records and narrative descriptions of past matter, encompassing the ...

, or

folk art Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative art, decorative. The makers of folk art a ...

, often as educators,

curators A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

, and directors. Others work in other settings, such as in

public folklore Public folklore is the term for the work done by folklorists in public settings in the United States and Canada outside of universities and colleges, such as arts councils, museums, folklife festivals, radio stations, etc., as opposed to academic ...

programs, academic departments, community-based organizations, and consultancies. Such folklorists either partner with museums in the development of scholarly and public programs or study the history and impact of such work. Key themes in museum folklore include policies and practices relating to tangible and

intangible cultural heritage An intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is a practice, representation, expression, knowledge, or skill considered by UNESCO to be part of a place's cultural heritage. Buildings, historic places, monuments, and artifacts are cultural property. Int ...

, museums as sites of conscience, museums and cultural tourism, and museums as sites of innovation relative to the digital preservation, presentation, and access to cultural heritage collections. Museum folklore practice has often focused on ways of animating the object-centered nature of the museum through events and activities that bring the people behind heritage collections into engagement with museum audiences, as through such activities as museum-based

artist in residency Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

programs,

folk festivals A folk festival celebrates traditional folk crafts and folk music. This list includes folk festivals worldwide, except those with only a partial focus on folk music or arts. Folk festivals may also feature folk dance or ethnic foods. Handicraf ...

, and art and craft sales markets. There is significant interaction and overlap between museum folklore and the neighboring field of

museum anthropology Museum anthropology is a domain of scholarship and professional practice in the discipline of anthropology. Characteristics A distinctive characteristic of museum anthropology is that it cross-cuts anthropology's sub-fields (archaeology, cultural ...

, as well as the interdisciplinary field of

material culture Material culture is the aspect of social reality grounded in the objects and architecture that surround people. It includes the usage, consumption, creation, and trade of objects as well as the behaviors, norms, and rituals that the objects creat ...

studies. Museum folklore is often understood as a sub-area of the wider realm of

. In North America, the historical connections linking anthropology and folklore studies more broadly are of particular relevance to museum folklorists because many early leaders of the American folklore society were also anthropologists active in museums. In Europe, what is here referred to as museum folklore would often fall within the field of European

. Museum folklore is also often understood as a part of the sub-field of

folklife Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging fr ...

studies.

Organizations

An organizational home for the sub-field in the United States and Canada is th
Folklore and Museums section
of the

American Folklore Society The American Folklore Society (AFS) is the US-based professional association for folklorists, with members from the US, Canada, and around the world, which aims to encourage research, aid in disseminating that research, promote the responsible ...

. Among folklorists, this section is cognate to the

Council for Museum Anthropology The American Anthropological Association (AAA) is an organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 10,000 members, the association, based in Arlington, Virginia, includes archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, ...

among museum anthropologists.

Important persons

Prominent figures in the history of museum folklore include: *

William Bascom __NOTOC__ William R. Bascom (May 23, 1912 – September 11, 1981) was an award-winning American folklorist, anthropologist, and museum director. He was a specialist in the art and culture of West Africa and the African Diaspora, especially the Yo ...

(1912-1981) *

Franz Boas Franz Uri Boas (July 9, 1858 – December 21, 1942) was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology". His work is associated with the movements known as historical ...

(1858-1942) *

William N. Fenton William N. Fenton (December 15, 1908 – June 17, 2005) was an American scholar and writer known for his extensive studies of Iroquois history and culture. He started his studies of the Iroquois in the 1930s and published a number of significant w ...

(1908-2005) *

Stewart Culin Stewart Culin (July 13, 1858 – April 8, 1929) was an American ethnographer and author interested in games, art and dress. Culin played a major role in the development of ethnography, first concentrating his efforts on studying the Asian-Ameri ...

(1858-1929) *

Artur Hazelius Artur Immanuel Hazelius (30 November 1833 – 27 May 1901) was a Swedish teacher, scholar, folklorist and museum director. He was the founder of both the Nordic Museum (''Nordiska museet'') and the Skansen open-air museum in Stockholm. Back ...

(1833-1901) Leading senior scholar-practitioners in the field today include

Marsha Bol Marsha is a variant spelling of Marcia. Notable people with the name include: *Marsha Ambrosius (born 1977), former member of the English band duo Floetry * Marsha Arzberger (born 1937), Democratic politician * Marsha Barbour, first lady of the ...

, C. Kurt Dewhurst,

Rayna Green Rayna Diane Green (born 1942) is an American curator and folklorist. She is Curator Emerita, in the Division of Cultural and Community Life at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. Her research expertise is on American ...

Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (born September 30, 1942, in Toronto, Ontario) is a scholar of Performance and Jewish Studies and a museum professional. Professor Emerita of Performance Studies at New York University, she is best known for her int ...

, and

Marsha MacDowell Marsha is a variant spelling of Marcia. Notable people with the name include: *Marsha Ambrosius (born 1977), former member of the English band duo Floetry *Marsha Arzberger (born 1937), Democratic politician *Marsha Barbour, first lady of the U. ...

References

{{Reflist Folk museums Folklore studies Museology