Archivist Jeff Place at Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion

September 07, 2011

The Birthplace of Country Music and Virginia Intermont College is pleased to welcome Jeff Place, Archivist for the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, to this year's Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion. On Friday, September, 16th at 2pm in the Cameo Theater he will share his experience working as an archivist and writer with the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and Folkways Recordings, in a talk geared toward those who work with arts organizations, cultural non-profits and academic institutions.

"Documenting Folklife: Fieldwork Methods for Festivals, Oral Histories, and Community Documentation Projects"
September 16, 2011 at 2:00 pm
Cameo Theatre, 703 State Street, Bristol VA

This event is sponsored by The Birthplace of Country Music and Virginia Intermont College and is free and open to the public. RSVPs are appreciated; please email events@bristolrhythm.com.

Place has been the archivist for the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections at the Center since coming from the Library of Congress American Folklife Center in 1988. He oversees the cataloging of the Center's collections. He has an M.A. in library science from the University of Maryland and specializes in sound archives. He was on the Preservation and Technology Committee for the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and is on the advisory board for the Woody Guthrie Archives. He has been involved in the compilation of thirty-eight CDs for Smithsonian Folkways including Woody Guthrie's Long Ways to Travel: The Unreleased Folkways Masters, which won him the 1994 Brenda McCallum Prize from the American Folklore Society, the Asch Recordings of Woody Guthrie, many of the Smithsonian Folkways Classic Series and the Lead Belly Legacy Series. Place has been nominated for four Grammy Awards and ten Indie Awards, winning two Grammys and five Indies. He was one of the producers and writers of the acclaimed 1997 edition of the Anthology of American Folk Music™ and the Best of Broadside, 1962-1988 (2000). He is also involved in the radio series Sound Sessions from Smithsonian Folkways. Place has overseen the recording of a number of regional folk festivals in addition to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. He was a member of the curatorial team for the traveling Woody Guthrie exhibition, This Land Is Your Land, and the co-curator of the 2003 Appalachia program at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. He has been a collector of traditional music for over thirty-five years.