- Peggy Bulger
Peggy Bulger is afolklorist and the director of theAmerican Folklife Center at the (Library of Congress ).A native of
Albany, New York , she received her BA in Fine Arts fromSUNY at Albany in 1972; her MA in Folk Studies fromWestern Kentucky University in 1975; and her PhD in Folklore and Folklife from theUniversity of Pennsylvania in 1992. Her dissertation topic was on Florida folklorist, author, and activistStetson Kennedy ("Stetson Kennedy: Applied Folklore and Cultural Advocacy"). She began her professional career inFlorida by serving as Florida’s State Folk Arts Coordinator in 1975 and became administrator of theFlorida Folklife Program from 1976 to 1989. As Florida’s first state folklorist, she was the prime creator of theFlorida Folklife Collection , which later included the work of several prominent folklorists. The collection, today housed at theState Archives of Florida , features many Florida folk artists such asThelma Boltin ,Gamble Rogers ,Don Grooms ,basket makerLucreaty Clark ,blues performerMoses Williams , and painterPharaoh Baker .After helping to establish Florida’s folklife program, including [http://www.flheritage.com/preservation/folklife/apprenticeship/ apprenticeship programs] , educational videos and publications, workshops, exhibits, and creating the
Florida Folklife Collection , Bulger left in 1989 to work as the Folk Arts Director and Senior Program Officer for theSouthern Arts Federation inAtlanta . In 1999, she was named director ofLibrary of Congress ’American Folklife Center – only the second person to hold that post since the Center’s creation in 1976. (Florida folkloristAlan Jabbour was the founding director).In addition to her public administration work, Bulger is the author of "South Florida Folklife", with
Tina Bucuvalas andStetson Kennedy , (1994) and the editor of "Musical Roots of the South" (1992), as well as producing several recordings including "Deep South Musical Roots Tour" (1992) and "Drop On Down in Florida" (1981), and has contributed to numerous articles and presentations. She also served a term as president of theAmerican Folklore Society .External links
* [http://www.floridamemory.com/Collections/folklife/index.cfm Florida Folklife Collection (Florida State Archives)]
* [http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/barm/ Florida State Archives]
* [http://www.floridamemory.com/Collections/folklife/folklorists.cfm Biographies of Florida Folklorists]
* [http://www.floridamemory.com/Collections/folklife/images/bulger.jpgAn image of Bulger from 1980 (from the Florida Photographic Collection)]
* [http://www.flheritage.com/preservation/folklife/ Florida Folklife Program]
* [http://www.southarts.org/ Southern Arts Federation]
* [http://www.loc.gov/folklife/ American Folklife Center (Library of Congress)]
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