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Smithsonian Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage

alt="An elder woman with dark skin and short white hair holds up a framed twelve-inch gold record, smiling. Behind her is a seated crowd under a festival tent."

A Century of Ella Jenkins: Tributes to the First Lady of Children’s Music

To celebrate Ella Jenkins on her hundredth birthday in August, we asked a group of musicians how Ella has inspired them.

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'Dressing Like a Human' to Honor Uzbekistani Art and Identity

Uzbekistani artisan and businesswoman Lola Sayfi is hopeful for the future of artisans

A young girl pulls strands on an oversized, multicolor basket.

The 2024 Smithsonian Folklife Festival Guide for Kids and Families

Dive into sports, crafts, and more!

Two children and an adult sit on three swings in a dry landscape with trees in the background.

Filmmaker Billy Luther Explains How Frybread Face and Me Was a Labor of Love

Luther’s narrative feature debut opened the 2024 Mother Tongue Film Festival at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

Five adults dressed in white dresses, robes, and veils pose along a forest path. One carries a lit lantern, and another carries a white flag.

This Elven Choir in Sweden Sings Tolkien’s Middle-earth to Life

Happy Tolkien Reading Day! On this day, we're celebrating the Eldandili Fantasy Choir.

In the foreground, a lineup of mannequins each with colorful embroidered garments. At the end of the line, out of focus, a woman dresses a mannequin.

A Global Tapestry of Craft: Championing Women Artisans of Central Asia in a New Lookbook

On Friday, March 8, marking International Women’s Day, we shared the result of a year-long collaboration.

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How I Visit with Houma Relatives in the Smithsonian’s Archival Collections

When I visit the Smithsonian’s National Anthropological Archives, I always try to view the same item: NAA.PhotoLot.76, Houma collection.

From behind, a person walks through a street filled with gray rubble, toward run-down buildings with graffiti in Turkish on the walls.

How Living Heritage Heals the Invisible Fractures of the Soul in Eastern Türkiye

On February 6, 2023, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake fractured the lives of over 13.5 million people across ten eastern provinces in my home country.

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Finding Balance Is a Global Experience at the 2024 Mother Tongue Film Festival

In a world that often feels on the edge of instability, the 2024 Mother Tongue Film Festival theme is profoundly resonant.

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The Millville Rose: Artifacts of Whimsy and Art in Industry

The “Millville Rose” represents the refined skills of factory glassblowers who toiled in an industry in which they had little say in what they made.

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