Middle Atlantic Folklife Association

The Middle Atlantic Folklife Association and the New York State Folk Arts Roundtable will come together this year in Cooperstown, New York to present Collections, Collections, Collections, April 10 - 13, 2008. Our colleagues from throughout the region will join with us in a convening devoted to the topic of collections.

The conference will utilize the exceptional resources of the Cooperstown Graduate Program (CGP), New York State Historical Association and Farmers’ Museum. Our special joint meeting marks the largest gathering of folklorists in Cooperstown since the days of the American Folk Culture Program, and we are greatly excited by the opportunity to connect more closely to our Cooperstown colleagues and the students at CGP.

Conference Overview
On Thursday, early arrivals are encouraged to attend Cooperstown’s annual Bruce Buckley lecture, which will be delivered by Amanda Dargan and Steve Zeitlin of City Lore, a New York City based cultural heritage association.

On Friday, the annual meeting will begin with a workshop where you will learn what you need to know when planning the digitization of your audio and visual collections. It will provide essential information about how to prepare to make materials you’ve collected more enduring and widely accessible through digitization. Later that day there will be a presentation on laws and ethics relating to archives, sessions providing an overview of NYSHA’s major collections of New York State folklore and folklife, and a presentation of how archival collections are being made more widely accessible through the web and other methods.

On Saturday morning, we will discuss readings about Louis Jones and Cooperstown’s contributions to folklife studies, followed by a behind-the-scenes tour of the Farmer’s Museum and a discussion of issues relating to outdoor living museums. In the afternoon, you will have a choice of behind the-scenes tours at various locations.

There will be plenty of fun time for socializing and partying including a spring celebration home-style dinner with live music and liquid refreshments in a local church. The meeting will conclude with a wrap-up session on Sunday morning.

Full Conference Schedule with session details and the registration form with pricing and payment information are attached below and can be downloaded.