History and Mission of New York Folklore Society

The New York Folklore Society:

We have our part in building this nation's knowledge of itself, a task which seems to us as important for a whole people as for an individual.

—NYFS founder Louis C. Jones, 1945

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New York State is the site where some of the Old World cultures were first established and where those legacies continue to thrive. At this moment new refugee and immigrant groups are resettling in many of our cities and regions. Without Voices there will be no record of the formative cultural fermentation as it occurs and no one to celebrate our tradition bearers.

—Faye McMahon, Research Associate Professor of Anthropology, Syracuse University

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“Most often the living artists of everyday life, people who do not come to the attention of the larger society, and who thus do not attain fame or notoriety, are actually the primary active carriers of culture and are therefore of central importance, whether they come to our attention or not.”
—Barre Toelken, Journal of American Folklore 116 (2003)

Read interview with NYFS Director Ellen McHale: “Q&A: Head of Folklore Society is a champion of oral histories” By Bill Buell, Daily Gazette, Schenectady, February 10, 2008

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New York Folklore Society
P.O. Box 764
Schenectady, NY 12301
518/346-7008
Fax 518/346-6617
nyfs@nyfolklore.org

About the New York Folklore Society

WHO WE ARE — OUR VISION, VALUES, MISSION, AND HISTORY

Vision Statement

The New York Folklore Society recognizes and celebrates the extraordinary in everyday life, bringing focus to the traditions of our state’s diverse peoples. NYFS is the leading resource for folklore and folklife by disseminating research and information throughout the state.

Core Values

The New York Folklore Society values the rights and needs of all New Yorkers to express and practice the traditions that have always been a part of New York’s story.
All people are welcome to utilize our programs and services.
New York Folklore Society is committed to providing services with integrity, in a manner that conveys respect for the dignity of the individuals and the communities NYFS serves and their cultures, including ethnic, religious, occupational, and regional traditions.
NYFS seeks to foster respect for, and interest in, folklore and to promote cross-cultural understanding.
NYFS strives to support folklorists, tradition bearers, and community scholars and to cultivate the general public’s interest in these traditions.
NYFS advocates with policymakers to embrace the study and practice of folklore.
NYFS actively promotes the continuation of our folklife to ensure our cultural vitality, now and in the future.

Mission

The New York Folklore Society fosters the study, promotion, and continuation of folklore and folklife of New York’s diverse cultures through education, advocacy, support, and outreach.

History

Read NYFS Director Ellen McHale’s commentary on the history of NYFS and its current status in the Spring-Summer 2009 Voices

The New York Folklore Society was founded in 1944, with a populist orientation and a strong membership base among people interested in folklore. The purpose of the Society and its journal, the New York Folklore Quarterly, was, as co-founder Louis Jones said, "to plow back" into the community the folklore collected by scholars and lay people throughout the state. A friendly, ragged-edged journal published through 1974, and still available in back issues, the Quarterly gave voice to luminaries in the field such as Ben Botkin and Louis Jones and to people who created the lore.

As folklore developed as an academic discipline in the 1960s and '70s, the Society, too, became more academic in its orientation. In the mid-1980s, with funding from the Folk Arts Programs of the National Endowment for the Arts and New York State Council on the Arts, arts councils, historical societies, libraries, and museums started hiring folklorists and other cultural specialists to research and present in public settings the folk arts and traditional ways of life of their communities. With a dynamic new constituency to serve, the New York Folklore Society strengthened its connections with folklorists, folk artists, folk arts enthusiasts,and people working in other areas of the arts and culture.

In 1990, NYFS hired its first full-time executive director and opened an office in Ithaca, a small city in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. In 1999, the Society relocated to Schenectady, New York in New York’s Capital District. Over the last ten years, the Society has become a leader as a statewide service organization for the field of folk and traditional arts.

Now, with the new membership magazine, Voices: Journal of New York Folklore, a series of workshops, and this web site, we are exploring new ways to introduce people to the folklore in their lives and in communities all over the state.

We have a small but dedicated staff and a dynamic board of directors whose members are active in other organizations throughout New York.

If you would like to get to know us better and perhaps support our work, please consider membership in the New York Folklore Society, and feel free to contact us with your questions and comments. You may make a tax-deductible donation on-line (see sidebar for "Make a Donation" button) via Paypal using your credit card.

If you would prefer, you can visit ChooseYourCharity.net, the donor education and information website of the Council of Community Services of New York State, Inc. (CCSNYS) to make an on-line donation.

You can download our Form 990 here for:

2002

2003

2004

2005