West Virginia Folklife at New Story in Lewisburg, May 31-June 1

This spring, the West Virginia Folklife Program is partnering with the WV Community Development Hub‘s New Story to showcase our West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program! Learn more about our inaugural apprenticeship program– which supports master traditional artists and their apprentices in a year-long in-depth apprenticeship– here. On May 31- June 1 at the State Fairgrounds in…

Field Notes: Carol Dougherty

Carol Dougherty is an elder in Wheeling’s Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Church. She was born in Wheeling, WV in 1938 and was raised by her grandparents, who were immigrants from Lebanon. She is a traditional Lebanese home cook, a member of Our Lady of Lebanon Women’s Society, and will be teaching a folk dance and dubke class for children at Our Lady of Lebanon’s 84th annual Mahrajan Festival in August 2017.

Field Notes: Cora Hairston

Cora Hairston is a musician and writer from Logan County, West Virginia. Hairston is the author of two novels, Faces Behind the Dust and Hello World Here Comes Claraby Rose, both fictionalized accounts based on her childhood growing up in a black coal camp. Here are some excerpts from our interview.

Field Notes: Accordionist Tom Zielinsky

Tom Zielinsky is an accordionist and member of Weirton, West Virginia’s Sacred Heart of Mary Polish Parish. Zielinksy was born in Steubenville, Ohio and raised in New Cumberland, West Virginia, where he attended a one-room Polish Catholic church. He plays regularly at the Sacred Heart of Mary Polish Festival, their bi-annual polka mass, and other…