New York Folklore

New York Folklore was founded in 1944 as an offshoot of the New York State Historical Association to provide an opportunity for individuals interested in folklore in New York to share their collecting activities and their scholarship, and to provide a vehicle for continued folklife activities in the state. Early members included students of founders Harold Thompson and Louis Jones, as well as folklore scholars and enthusiasts, several of whom were also involved in progressive education experiments and early civil rights activism. The Society began publishing its journal in 1945. The journal, first named New York Folklore Quarterly, was later titled New York Folklore (1977) and now is known as Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore (since 2000). New York Folklore hired its first Executive Director (John Suter) in 1991 who developed the Society into a service organization providing professional development and technical assistance to professional folklorists, community scholars and grassroots organizations, and folk and traditional artists. Today, New York Folklore has a close partnership with the Folk Arts Program of the New York State Council on the Arts to provide technical assistance to the field in New York State. New York Folklore is a membership organization, open to all, concerned with furthering cultural equity and strengthening the understanding of the role of folk and traditional arts in our lives.