Portelli at AFS

Originally uploaded by appalachiancenter

On October 22-26 The American Folklore Society (AFS), the national organization for folklorists, held their annual meeting in Louisville, KY. The opening night key note speaker was Alessandro Portelli, an oral historian, from the University of Rome. Portelli has been doing research in Harlan County for around 10 years. Some of that research has been published in the online virtual tour of Harlan County called, “I Can Almost See the Lights of Home- A field trip to Harlan County, Kentucky. The web address for this presentation is http://www.albany.edu/jmmh/vol2no1/lightsportelli.html. Portelli was also one of the visiting artists during the Appalachian Program’s PACT Project (Partners Affirming Community Transformation).

This photo shows Portelli during a session at AFS called “Conversations with Alessandro Portelli. At this session audience members were able to ask him about his research in Harlan County as his work in Italy.

Theresa Osborne, folklorist and Program Facilitator for the SKCTC Appalachian Program, was among several hundred folklorists, community scholars, and people interested in documenting their own communities who attended AFS.

Benham Cemetery

Originally uploaded by appalachiancenter Last week Carol Shutt, a Kentucky Community Scholar, began her interviews for her project to document Harlan County Funerary Customs. She met with a variety of people around the county and visited several local cemeteries as shown in the picture.

Shutt said, “Our traditions are changing in regard to what we place at the grave to honor our loved ones. In recent years not only have we placed flowers and flags near the grave but also items that remind us of things that were important to the person buried there. Notice the wind chimes in this photo. These are found in cemeteries with increasing frequency. You can also see the bench, the squirrel statue and the angel in the photo. I wondered, what was their significance?”

Shutt will return for another week of interviews for this project in October. You are welcome to make a comment, or post some of your own family traditions and funeral customs here on our blog site. Or, if you would like to be interveiwed for this project you can contact Theresa Osborne, 589-3136, in the Appalachian Program Office on the SKCTC Cumberland Campus.

This project was made possible through a grant from the Kentucky Oral History Commission and the Kentucky Arts Council.

Hello historyphiles:

The Harlan County Historical Networking Society met last Tuesday evening 09 September at the Harlan County Library in Harlan.  The first portion of the meeting developed a list of potential projects the society could undertake once fully organized.  Furthering that process of becoming organized, the remainder of the meeting focused on creating a series of vision statements to help frame the societies mission statement.

Below you will find a list of the vision statements those in attendance fashioned.  Please feel free to comment, suggest revisions, or add to.  This is an organic process requiring input from everyone interested.  I strongly encourage you to take a moment to read through these statements, give them some thought,  and share your comments.

As an organization promoting the value, access to and preservation of the historical resources of Harlan County the HCHS/N:

•    Commits to preserving and sharing the history of Harlan County, its communities, and its people
•    Encourages pride in and appreciation of Harlan County History
•    Fosters connections between the County’s past, present, and future
•    Promotes accuracy and authenticity in the telling of the history of Harlan County
•    Maintains standards of excellence in developing and maintaining a historical network for Harlan County
•    Makes the historical record accessible to everyone
•    Supports Harlan County’s efforts to boost historical tourism
•    Encourages historical publication of research, pageants, and programs

Those in attendance:

Lydia Dykes
Phyllis Sizemore
James Greene
Luke Day
Kimberly Brown
Stephanie Smith
Roger Noe
Jeremy Williams
Pete Vowell
Michelle Dykes
Sid Douglass
Mark L. Ford
Cassie Robinson

Larry LaFollette