New York Folklore Society's Publications

VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore

the membership magazine of the
New York Folklore Society

Dedicated to publishing the content of folklore in the words and images of its creators and practitioners

Become a subscriber today! Join NYFS!

The New York Folklore Society offers publications of its own and distributes several titles from other publishers. Visit our on-line gallery bookstore to order any of the titles on this page.

Become a MEMBER of NYFS at the same time and you will receive a discount on your order.

We accept Mastercard and Visa.

Self- Management for Folk Artists :
A Guide for Traditional Artists and Performers in New York
by Patricia Atkinson Wells

Folklore in Archives:
A Guide to Describing Folklore and Folklife Materials
by James Corsaro and
Karen Taussig-Lux
A companion to
Working with Folk Materials in New York State
Order both from our on-line gallery bookstore.

New York Folklore Quarterly cover

Island Sounds cover

Folk Arts Programming cover

The Sauna in New York cover

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

NYFS Publications

Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore features articles, stories, interviews, reminiscences, essays, folk poetry and music, photographs and artwork from people in all parts of New York State, Voices is the Society’s membership magazine. The magazine also publishes peer-reviewed, research-based articles, written in an accessible style, on topics related to traditional art and life, including ethnic culture. Join NYFS today to receive this new membership magazine!

Look inside our recent issues of Voices

I consider Voices one of the most interesting publications I receive. I am especially glad to read of the many different forms that folklore takes throughout our state. The articles are always well written and well illustrated.
—Patricia Park, retired school librarian, Geneseo, New York

Also available on-line:

New York Folklore Society Newsletter: Excerpts are available for 1998 and 1999 issues. Previous issues are available as PDF versions.
New York Folklore: You can search the contents of past issues of the Journal, published 1975-1999
New York Folklore Quarterly: You can search the contents of past issues of the Quarterly, published 1946-1974.

Visit our on-line gallery bookstore to purchase back issues.

We encourage contributions of original articles, news items, photographs, and any other materials relating to folklore and folklife in New York State for possible inclusion in Voices.

Copy deadlines are: November 1 for the Spring/Summer issue; and May 1 for the Fall/Winter issue.

Articles should be submitted both in paper form and on disk using Microsoft Word for Windows or compatible software. For more information about submissions, check out guidelines for authors here or contact our editor, Eileen Condon, from this site or e-mail her at econdon@ctmd.org.

Special issues of New York Folklore still available include the following:

2000	*Through African-Centered Prisms*
1995	Proceedings from "Folklore and the People," the 50th Anniversary Conference
1993	Prejudice and Pride: Lesbian and Gay Traditions in America
1989	Folk Arts in New York State: A Public Forum
1988	Folk and Traditional Music in New York State
1987	Folk Arts in Education
1987	The New Nomads: Art, Life, and Lore of Migrant Workers in New York State
1986	Marketing Folk Art

For more than sixty years, the journal of the New York Folklore Society has been a singular voice advocating for the grassroots artistry of a creative populace. From the days of Ben Botkin, it has encouraged professional folklorists and cultural mavens to document and present their work and to use their work to make a difference in the lives of New Yorkers. Although the discipline of folklore has a variety of academic journals, and there is no shortage of journalists interested in folklore, Voices plays a unique role in offering an accessible venue to disseminate the best documentation of our cultural life—upstate, downstate, and beyond—and to utilize that documentation to enhance our lives.
—Steve Zeitlin, Director, City Lore

Other Publications
Working with Folk Materials in New York State: A Manual for Folklorists and Archivists, John Suter, ed. (New York Folklore Society, 1994). This 200-page, prize-winning manual is designed to:

introduce folklorists and archivists to each others’ purposes, methods, and concerns;
make the work of collecting and documenting folk culture easier and more productive;
encourage documentary practices and archival treatment that will facilitate the care of folklore materials in secure and accessible archives.

Produced in an attractive looseleaf binder, the manual includes chapters that introduce the reader to the fundamentals of folklore and archives, clarify terms and concepts that may cause confusion when folklorists and archivists meet, and provide guidance in the management of folklife materials. It also includes glossaries and terms for both disciplines, lists of organizational resources, and sample collecting forms, release forms, and contracts.

Folklore in Archives: A Guide to Describing Folklore and Folklife Materials, by James Corsaro and Karen Taussig-Lux (New York Folklore Society, 1998). This 156-page manual is the companion piece and sequel to Working with Folk Materials in New York State: A Manual for Folklorists and Archivists. Working with Folklore offers a basic introduction to the fields of folklore and archives and explores some of the key issues archivists and folklorists face as they begin to work together. Folklore in Archives is the essential tool for the archivist who must arrange and describe folklore collections.

Self-Management for Folk Artists: A Guide for Traditional Artists and Performers in New York by Patricia Atkinson Wells (New York Folklore Society, 1999). This 148-page manual is designed to assist traditional artists in managing and marketing themselves by providing information on writing biographical materials, assembling press kits, starting and business, and expanding audiences. This volume also provides an extensive lists of contacts and resources, and a select bibliography for the self-employed folk artist.

Island Sounds in the Global City: Caribbean Popular Music and Identity in New York, Ray Allen and Lois Wilcken, eds. (New York Folklore Society and the Institute for Studies in American Music, Brooklyn College, 1998) Distributed by University of Illinois Press. Island Sounds is a collection of case studies by top scholars that chronicle the richness of musical activity within the Puerto Rican, Dominican, Trinidadian, and Haitian communities of New York City. The authors are Ray Allen, Paul Austerlitz, Gage Averill, Juan Flores, Ruth Glasser, Donald Hill, Philip Kasinitz, Peter Manuel, Les Slater, and Lois Wilcken.

Publications we distribute:
Folk Arts Programming in New York State: A Handbook and Resource Guide, Karen Lux (Regional Council of Historical Agencies, 1990) This book is written for people working in cultural institutions of all sizes that are considering or producing folk arts programming. Its purpose is to show the potential of folk arts presentations and provide the information necessary to carry out a responsible and successful folk arts program.

The Sauna in Central New York, Melissa Ladenheim (DeWitt Historical Society of Tompkins County, 1986). This publication was a companion piece to the exhibit, "Sauna: Finnish Influence on the Landscape." It is both a description of the vernacular architecture of the sauna as well as the immigration experiences of the Finnish in Central New York.

To order any of these titles, vist our on-line gallery bookstore. For your convenience, we accept Mastercard or Visa.