The Center for Folklore Studies is pleased to announce that The Columbus Foundation donated $5,000 to support preservation, digitization, and collection development in the Folklore Archives. The Columbus Foundation previously donated $100,000 to support the creation of the Ohio Field Schools initiative, which is now entering its third year of collaboration with community partners in Scioto County.

The Folklore Archives is a joint creation of the Center for Folklore Studies and the Department of English. Established in 1960 to coordinate the diverse research in folklore and ethnographic studies undertaken in the department and university-wide. The collections of the archives are available to folklore scholars and students. The Archives houses more than 10,000 cataloged student and faculty projects that span over four decades of research at Ohio State, and includes a wide variety of audio and visual materials, such as audiotapes, videotapes, and more than 5,000 slides and photos.

The Folklore Archives is an integral part of the teaching and research activities of the Center for Folklore Studies at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. The archives comprises extensive collections of Ohio folksongs and music, local and Midwest folk narratives, oral history, folk customs, beliefs and practices, and documentation of material culture. This is a remarkable resource and is based on the contributions of students, faculty and other researchers for over 20 years. Graduate students are encouraged to discover its value through their work as archival assistants, and by conducting their own research with its materials.

Photo: Roderick Wilson scans his family photographs at the Center for Folklore Studies' mobile archiving table at the North End Super Reunion, July 2017, Portsmouth, Ohio.