Smithsonian Folkways Comics
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution, the national museum of the United States. It is dedicated to supporting cultural diversity and increased understanding among peoples through the documentation, preservation, and dissemination of sound. Folkways Recordings believes that musical and cultural diversity contributes to the vitality and quality of life throughout the world. Through the dissemination of audio recordings and educational materials, it seeks to strengthen people's engagement with their own cultural heritage and to enhance their awareness and appreciation of the cultural heritage of others. Smithsonian Folkways is part of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
Smithsonian Folkway’s mission is the legacy of Moses Asch, who founded Folkways Records in 1948 to document "people's music," spoken word, instruction, and sounds from around the world. The Smithsonian acquired Folkways from the Asch estate in 1987, and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings has continued the Folkways commitment to cultural diversity, education, increased understanding, and lively engagement with the world of sound.
In 2018, I worked at Folkways as on a Dumbarton Oaks Humanities fellowship and created graphic panels drawn from some of the stories of the 70 year history of Folkways. For my source material, I consulted biographies and books that had been written about the label, such as Worlds of Sound and Making People’s Music. More importantly, I got first-hand stories by speaking with people who had been around Folkways for a long time.
