Margaret Anne "Peggy" Bulger is a

folklorist 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 ...

and served as the director of the

American Folklife Center The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. was created by Congress in 1976 "to preserve and present American Folklife". The center includes the Archive of Folk Culture, established at the library in 1928 as a repos ...

at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

from 1999 to 2011, when she moved to Florida to continue work on personal projects.

Education

A native of

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

, Bulger graduated from The Milne School in 1968 and she received her BA in Fine Arts from

SUNY at Albany The State University of New York at Albany, commonly referred to as the University at Albany, UAlbany or SUNY Albany, is a public research university with campuses in Albany, Rensselaer, and Guilderland, New York. Founded in 1844, it is one ...

in 1972; her MA in Folk Studies from

Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a quarter-century earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glasgow, Elizabethtow ...

in 1975; and her Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 1992. Her dissertation topic was on Florida folklorist, author, and activist

Stetson Kennedy William Stetson Kennedy (October 5, 1916 – August 27, 2011) was an American author, folklorist and human rights activist. One of the pioneer folklore collectors during the first half of the 20th century, he is remembered for having infiltrated t ...

("Stetson Kennedy: Applied Folklore and Cultural Advocacy"), (Dissertation available from

ProQuest ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, provid ...

AAI9227626
which was published as a book of the same name in 2017. It was the first comprehensive biography of Kennedy.

Career

Bulger began her professional career in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

by serving as Florida’s State Folk Arts Coordinator in 1975 and became administrator of the Florida Folklife Program from 1976 to 1989. As Florida’s first state folklorist, she was the prime creator of the Florida Folklife Collection, which later included the work of several prominent folklorists. The collection, today housed at the

State Archives of Florida The State Library and Archives of Florida is the central repository for the archives of state government for the state of Florida. It is located at the R.A. Gray Building on 500 South Bronough Street in Tallahassee, Florida, Florida's capital. M ...

, features many Florida folk artists such as singer-songwriter

Gamble Rogers James Gamble Rogers IV (January 31, 1937 – October 10, 1991) was an American folk artist musician and storyteller known for the recurring theme in his songs and stories about characters and places in a fictional Florida county. He was a 1998 i ...

basket A basket is a container that is traditionally constructed from stiff fibers and can be made from a range of materials, including wood splints, runners, and cane. While most baskets are made from plant materials, other materials such as horsehai ...

maker Lucreaty Clark,

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

performer Moses Williams, and painter Pharaoh Baker. After helping to establish the Florida Folklife Program, including apprenticeship programs and producing educational videos and publications, workshops, exhibits, and creating the Florida Folklife Collection. Bulger left in 1989 to work as the Folk Arts Director and Senior Program Officer for the

Southern Arts Federation South Arts, formerly the Southern Arts Federation, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is one of six not-for-profit regional arts organizations funded by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). South Arts creates partnerships and collaborations, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. In 1999, she was named director of

’

– the second person to hold that post, after the founding director Florida folklorist

Alan Jabbour Alan Jabbour (June 21, 1942 – January 13, 2017) was an American musician and folklorist, and the founding director of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Life and career Jabbour was born in Jacksonville, Florida. His gra ...

."Peggy Bulger Appointed Director of American Folklife Center"

, February 17, 1999. Bulger retired from her position as Director of the American Folklife Center (AFC) at the Library of Congress on December 31, 2011.

Publications and recordings

In addition to her public folklore administration work, Bulger is the author of ''South Florida Folklife'' (1994), with Tina Bucuvalas and

, and ''Musical Roots of the South'' (1992), as well as the producer of several documentary films, including ''Music Masters and Rhythm Kings''. She co-produced the double-album recording ''Drop On Down in Florida'' (1981), which is now re-issued by

Dust-to-Digital Dust-to-Digital is a record company that specializes in documenting the history of American popular music, including historical recordings of blues, gospel, and country music. Their method combines rare recordings with historic images, photograp ...

of Atlanta (2012). In addition, Bulger has contributed to numerous articles and presentations.

Honours

Bulger served as President 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 ...

in 2001. Bulger received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from

Goucher College Goucher College ( ') is a private liberal arts college in Towson, Maryland. It was chartered in 1885 by a conference in Baltimore led by namesake John F. Goucher and local leaders of the Methodist Episcopal Church.https://archive.org/details/h ...

in 2012. In 2015 she was named the American Folklore Society's Buckley Scholar."Dr. Peggy A. Bulger Named 2015 Buckley Scholar"

Selected publications

* Bulger, Peggy A (1991). ''Musical roots of the South''. Atlanta: Southern Arts Federation. . * Bulger, Peggy A (1992). ''Promoting Southern cultural heritage''. Bowling Green, Kent.: Western Kentucky University. . * Bucuvalas, Tina; Bulger, Peggy A. and Kennedy, Stetson 1994). ''South Florida Folklife''. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. . . * Bulger, Peggy A (2017). ''Stetson Kennedy: applied folklore and cultural advocacy''. . .

References

External links

Florida Folklife Collection (Florida State Archives)

Florida Memory Florida Memory or the Florida Memory Program (formerly known as Florida Photographic Digital Imaging Project and Florida Memory Project) is an LSTA-funded internet-based digital outreach program providing free online access to primary source mate ...

Florida State Archives

Biographies of Florida Folklorists
Florida Memory
An image of Bulger from 1980 (from the Florida Photographic Collection)
Florida Memory
Florida Folklife Program

Southern Arts Federation

American Folklife Center (Library of Congress)
*
Peggy Bulger
at

LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulger, Peggy American folklorists Women folklorists University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Presidents of the American Folklore Society