• It is a non-profit, educational, membership organization dedicated to the discovery, collection, publication, and preservation of folklore and traditional culture in Virginia and to furthering the understanding, appreciation, and performance of the traditional arts and crafts of this State. Founded on April 17, 1913, the Virginia Folklore Society is one of the oldest state folklore societies in the country.
  
  
• The Society's early membership was composed mainly of teachers interested in folklore and folksong materials, both for classroom use and for their value as perceived traits of a common national, cultural identity. Up until the mid 1970s, the Society met annually in conjunction with the Virginia Education Association (VEA) meetings in Richmond, Virginia.
  
  
• The Society was incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia on April 2, 1974, and since that time has hosted an annual meeting and published periodic newsletters and an occasional journal, Folklore and Folklife in Virginia.
  
  
• In 1989, the Virginia Folklore Society executive board, in cooperation with state agencies and funding from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, was instrumental in the establishment of the Virginia Folklife Program in the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy, Charlottesville. Some of the Program's accomplishments under the direction of its first Folklife Coordinator, Garry W. Barrow, may be viewed on the Virginia Folklife Program webpage.
  
  
• Today the Virginia Folklore Society serves a broadly based public interest in folklore and tradition and includes among its members, academic & public sector folklorists, teachers, students, and interested lay & professional people having a wide range of backgrounds and experience. All are welcome.
  
  

The Virginia Folklore Society,
University of Virginia
Department of English
219 Bryan Hall
PO Box 400121
Charlottesville, VA
22904-4121

Copyright © 1997. All rights reserved.

  December 5, 2001. Contact person for this site is: Nancy J. Martin-Perdue