Artisan Ancestors
By Jon Kay
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Podcast Description
Artisan Ancestors is the podcast where we explore ways to research and understand the past. Whether you’re a local historian, genealogist or just interested in learning about the everyday creative lives of people and the things they made, this program is for you. Folklorist Jon Kay hosts this entertaining and educational podcast.
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CleanEpisode 25: The Promise of Oral History | In this episode, I talk about the problems facing researchers who do oral histories. In recent weeks attention has focused on Boston College and the UK subpoena of oral history materials. While I don't speak directly about this court case, I discuss what I think the meaning of the recent court ruling will be for scholars and how it impacts researchers who promise to keep oral history materials sealed. My take is that sensitive materials can not be kept private if it is in a public archive. I also discuss the importance of consent forms and deeds of gift forms for anyone collecting materials that might be of interest to an archive in the future. I outline the contents, limitations and purpose of Oral history consent forms. | 6 7 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 24: Resurrecting Voices or Finding Forgotten Home Recordings | An expert in early sound recordings, Patrick Feaster talks about his personal collection of home recordings captured on wax cylinders in this episode. While many genealogists and local historians may have tracked down photographs of ancestors and others from the late Nineteenth Century, few would imagine that they might hear the voice of that person. However, Feaster explains that this medium,while not universally available, were very common in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Patrick works to raise awareness about this old technology and helps salvages some of these long forgotten remnants of the past by digitizing them. Much of the audio information stored on these old wax cylinders is lost forever, in part due to poor storage condition and years of neglect; however, wax cylinder enthusiast, may also be to blame for this vanishing medium. Today, many hobbyist enjoy making their own recordings using this early DIY medium, and some buy old cylinders on eBay and shaving them so they can rerecord on the vintage media. Because of this and other forces, the audio legacy from this earliest form of popular home recording is quickly disappearing. In this episode, Patrick talks about his discoveries, and shares a few of the treasures in his collection. Patrick hosts the website Phonozoic where he answers questions and helps reunite people with the voices of their ancestors.Patrick received a Grammy nomination along with his collaborator David Giovannoni for their Historical Album Debate '08: Taft and Bryan Campaign on the Edison Phonograph in 2008. (photo by Ronda L. Sewald) | 16 6 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 23: The African Diaspora and an American Pottery Tradition | In today's show, I talk with Chris Fennell about his multi-prong archaeological study in Edgefield, South Carolina. His research combines archaeological discoveries with archival research and scientific analysis. He works with students from the University of Illinois in this field school where they explore both the Remains of a pottery production facility as well as the dwellings of both enslaved and free African-American potters. Fennell explains that due to slave traders smuggling in laborers, the pottery of this region has a distinctive style influenced by the arts of West Central Africa. I was excited to hear about this project, because I feel that this type of long-term, multifaceted study is the future of the new humanities. | 10 6 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 22: Why the Creative Commons with Folklorist Jason Baird Jackson | In this episode, I sit down and talk with my friend and fellow folklorist Jason Baird Jackson to discuss the topic of the “Creative Commons.” Jason’s research touches upon issues of intellectual property and heritage making in native communities in the United States. He points out that the work of the commons tries to provide a greater number of options for rights holders. So why should listener’s to the Artisan Ancestor podcast care about intellectual property rights? Whether you are recording oral histories, writing a family history or sharing your photographs, the Creative Commons allows you to protect your work and while still making it available to the world. In this conversation, we talk about how this approach to sharing your creative and scholarly work. In addition to being an associate professor in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University, he is the editor of Museum Anthropology Review, a digital journal for museum professionals and material culture scholars. He is also the author of the ethnography Yuchi Ceremonial Life. | 25 5 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 21: National Heritage Fellow-Milan Opacich | In this episode, I talk with Milan Opacich a National Heritage Fellow, tamburitza musician and luthier. We discuss his life’s work of collecting artifacts, instruments and ephemera related to tamburitza in the United States. Writing for the ethnic magazine, Serb World USA, he has chronicled the history of this often-overlooked genre of music. Opacich received the prestigious National Heritage Fellowship in 2004, along such notables as Koko Taylor and Jerry Douglas. From the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery as well as the Roy Acuff Museum in Nashville, Milan has exhibited his instruments. Though well into his eighties, he continues to make tamburitzas for musicians in the Serbian and Croatian communities of Indiana’s Calumet region. While many of the old luthiers were secretive about their trade when Milan was learning, Opacich is an open and supportive teacher having taught hundreds of enthusiasts to make their own instruments. Also in this program, Milan and I discuss our concerns about proposed changes to the National Heritage Awards in Washington DC and its potential affects to the ongoing well-being of our countries diverse cultural arts and traditions. | 10 5 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 20: Connecticut Needlework | Studying historic needlework offers a perspective into the complex lives of women often not present in the written records of the 18th and 19th centuries. Material culture scholar Susan Schoelwer authored Connecticut Needlework: Women, Art, and Family, 1740–1840, which included pieces from the Connecticut Historical Society’s rich Collection of period needlework. In my conversation with Dr. Schoelwer, she explains how needlework from bed rugs to samplers provides a more complete accounting of the values, aesthetics and lives for women in Connecticut. Schoelwer received her Master of Arts from the University of Delaware’s Winterthur Program in 1978 and she completed her PhD in American studies from Yale in 1994. Today, she is a museum curator at one of the most prominent historic sites in the United States, George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate. | 6 5 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 19: Old Gravestones and New Technology | In this episode I talk with Yang Cai about his research work doing 3-D scanning of gravestones and rock art. This new technology allows scholars to reveal information and patters thought lost to the ages by setting a laser line on a stone and measuring the refraction of this line, which allows the researchers to measure depth and reveal patters that might not be noticeable to the naked eye. A Senior Systems Scientist at CyLab, Dr. Cai is founder of Visual Intelligence Studio at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also a dedicated artist and stone carver, which has attracted him to scanning both historical and prehistorical stone carvings. Since Dr. Cai's professional research interests include image understanding and ambient intelligence, he married his interest in in stone carving with his science to produce a useful tool and system, which he hopes will be made available to the public some day. While his 3D scanning does reveal faded data, he cautions that in order for this system to work some residual data must be present. This caution coupled with the recent escalation of erosion and damage to many stones from acid rain, makes this avenue of great interest to me as a material culture scholar and gravestone enthusiasts. | 24 4 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 18: The Artisan of Ipswich | Robert Tarule makes reproductions of 17th Century joined furniture. In his book The Artisan of Ipswich, he crafts a story that centers around a chest made by Thomas Dennis in the Massachusetts village of Ipswich in the mid 1600s. Robert narrates Dennis’ use of tools, techniques and styles. In this interview, I talk with Tarule about the connection between making objects and understanding historical processes and contexts. The author also talks about his work at Plimoth Plantation where he was the Curator of Mechanick Arts before he retired. | 22 4 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 17: The Case of the Photo Detective with Maureen Taylor | Maureen Taylor, the “Photo Detective" is a genealogist and photo researcher who helps researchers unlock mysteries from the past. From the PBS series Ancestors to the popular magazine Martha Stewart Living, this photo researchers has helped others recognize the importance of family photographs and encouraged them to preserve and annotate their family collections. Maureen is the author of several practical books on photographic images and the history surrounding them. She writes articles for several popular magazines and is currently a contributing editor for Family Tree Magazine. Maureen’s most recent book, Finding the Civil War presents portraits and pictures from Civil War years and encourages readers to discover their own families stories from this decisive moment in history. She is also working on a a follow up text to her work The Last Muster, which explores the images and stories of people from the Revolutionary War. | 8 4 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 16: Found Images and Research Methods with Rich Remsberg | An Emmy Award-winning archival image researcher, Rich Remsberg assists documentary film makers locate the necessary archival footage and still photos that they need to visually tell their stories. From scouring collection at the National Archive to tracking down rare one of a kind materials held in personal and family collections, he prides himself on uncovering images, even the most ardent scholars have never seen. He is also the author of the new book, based upon images from the Farm Security Administration (FSA) Archive, Hard Luck Blues. The book pulls together an amazing collection of images featuring musicians recorded by the FSA in the 1930s. He is also the curator of “Found in the Archives” an NPR series that features archival films, and found images uncovered by Rich. His work can be found online at Atlas Films. | 1 4 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 15: Computational Folkloristics | Folklorist Tim Tangherlini employs a research approach he calls, "computational folkloristics" which uses data-mining to reveal new information, once thought lost to the past. He deploys computers to plot, compare, store and assist in the analysis of data from various archival holdings from around the world. His method places historical individuals in richer cultural, social and behavioral context than can be done from just reading the information contained in decontextualized documents. This episode represents a departure for the Artisan Ancestors Podcast in that we look at the narrative aspects of expressive culture from the past, rather than focusing on material culture. I chose to do this impart because I think that Tim's approach could be applied to material culture studies, and that it provides another approach at learning about the creative lives of people from the past. | 25 3 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 14: Catawba Pottery in South Carolina (Part 3) | In this final installment of our series on Catawba Pottery in South Carolina, I talk with Stephen Criswell a folklorist and director of the Native American Studies program at the University of South Carolina at Lancaster. Much of his work focuses on conducting oral history with Catawba potters and tradition bearers who work to conserve the Catawba language and culture. He discusses his program and how it came into existence. He also talks about the projects that he and his students have worked on in collaboration with the Catawba Indian Nations. ( There are some issues right now with my feed, which is keeping this episode from linking to Itunes. Until I get it resolved with my host, it might only be available from the website; Sorry). | 22 3 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 13: Catawba Pottery in South Carolina (Part 2) | Brent Burgin is the archivist and director of the Native American Studies Archives at the University of South Carolina at Lancaster, an institution that holds one of the largest and most impressive collection of Catawba pottery. He has worked with scholars such as Thomas Blumer and Stephen Criswell to help preserve and archive important documents and artifacts about Southeastern Pottery Traditions. The Archive at USC Lancaster helps raise awareness and improve access to information about the South Carolina’s rich Native American cultures and their histories. | 14 3 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 12: Catawba Pottery in South Carolina (Part 1) | In this episode, we start to explore pottery produced by artisans from the Catawba Nation in South Carolina. This is part one of a three part series on this age old art. In part one of our exploration of this earthenware tradition. I talk with Bill Harris, a Catawba potter who learned to make this soft Native American redware from his grandmother Georgia Harris. He talks about his grandmother, who was recognized with a National Heritage Fellowship in 1996. Bill explains that his Catawba genealogy can be traced through pottery and the artisans who kept this skill in continual practice for thousands of years. In the follow-up podcasts I will interview an archivist and a researcher, who have worked to study this beautiful and distinctive art form, and are working to raise awareness and understanding about this ancient craft. | 25 2 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 11: Searching for a Slave Potter | What would you do if you found out that your ancestors were slaveholders who owned one of the most talented folk potters in South Carolina? When Leonard Todd found himself in this situation, he committed himself to a six-year journey of discovery about the Life and work of an enslaved artisan named Dave. In this episode, I talk with Leonard about his research and his book. He shares how he collected oral histories, combed through family papers and studied pots while researching his book, Carolina Clay: The Life and Legend of the Slave Potter, Dave. | 21 2 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 10: Genealogical Next Steps with Curt Witcher | In this episode, I talk with Curt Witcher, the Senior Manager for Special Collections at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana. His work includes leading The Genealogy Center, which is a world-class research center for family and local history research.In this interview, Curt and I discuss general research strategies in using the Center’s collections and resources. As well as the benefits and shortcoming in using internet databases and other digital resources. This useful conversation included Curt’s hearty invitation for researchers to make use of the library's holding and to consult with his dedicated team of librarians, genealogists and assistants, who have a strong public service ethic. Curt Witcher is a member of the Genealogy Committee of the American Library Association, a past chair of the association’s History Section, a former president of both the Federation of Genealogical Societies and the National Genealogical Society, and the founding president of the Indiana Genealogical Society. He was honored in May of 2007 with the National Genealogical Society’s P. William Filby award for outstanding, life-time contributions to genealogical librarianship. | 26 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 9: Brandt Zipp’s Search for Forgotten African American Potters | In this episode I talk with Brandt Zipp a young pottery scholar, who grew up around antique American stoneware in his family’s antique auction business, The Crocker Farm, Inc. Zipp shares his research findings, as well as his techniques for discovering important information about free African American artisans working in New York, prior to 1850. He discusses his techniques for triangulating census records, city directories and material objects to reveal hidden stories of American stoneware potters. | 21 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 8: The Quilts of Prince Edward Island | In this episode we talk with Sherrie Davidson a quilt research, who recently completed her book, the [amazon_link id="1551097680" target="_blank" ]Quilts of Prince Edward Island[/amazon_link]. We talk with her about the quilt survey and subsequent archival research she did to trace the origins and development of this traditional art. She shares how she tracked down a maritime quilt from 1810, and chronicled the story of an artisan who was an early settler of this Canadian island. Host: Jon Kay Guest Sherrie Davidson Music: Martin Simpson (www.martinsimpson.com) | 18 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 7: Laurel Horton’s Textile Research | In this episode Jon Kay talks with Laurel Horton a folklorist and quilt and textile researcher. Horton has studied and made quilts since 1975. She recently published the book Mary Black's Quilts: Memory and Meaning in Everyday Life, which blends historical and genealogical methods with a behavioral approach to material culture studies. She also discusses an ancestral counterpane piece that was passed down within her family and how she is working to better understand this interesting early American textile and what it might say about the maker as well as the family who values this woven artifact from the past, if the researcher keeps asking questions. [amazon_link id="1570036101" target="_blank" ]Mary Black's Family Quilts: Memory and Meaning in Everyday Life[/amazon_link] | 6 12 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 6: The Tennessee Sampler Survey | In this episode, Jon Kay interviews Jennifer Core the folklorist and a founding researcher of the Tennessee Sampler Survey, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of Tennessee's needlework heritage. Jennifer's research includes documenting Tennessee samplers made prior to 1900 and as of May 2010, she and her research partner Janet Hasson have located 215 samplers, 159 of which have been proven to be from the Volunteer State. Currently the two scholars are curating and exhibition of Middle TN samplers for the James K. Polk Home in Columbia, TN, which will open on December 17, 2010. This podcast should be available for download by December 12, 2010. Host: Jon Kay Guests: Jennifer Core, Guest (www.tennesseesamplers.com) Music: Martin Simpson (www.martinsimpson.com) Press Release: http://www.jameskpolk.com/new/press%20release.asp | 24 11 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 5: The Saddle Tree Museum | In this episode we talk with historic preservationist John Staicer, who helped save the last 19th century saddletree factory in the United States. John not only helped place this vernacular treasure of Madison, Indiana on the National Register Historic District, but he and several other professionals and volunteers worked to maintain the site as much like it was when the operation shut down in 1972. In our program we will talk about the Ben Schroeder Saddletree Company, which produced wooden frames for saddle makers throughout the United States and Latin America by the 1000's. We will also discuss how John researched the factory's production process as well as the above ground archaeological methods used to better understand this site where artisans worked. If you are interested in a hands on approach to researching history this podcast will be right up your alley. Host: Jon Kay Guests: John Stacier (http://www.historicmadisoninc.com/saddletree_museum.htm) Music: Martin Simpson (www.martinsimpson.com) [slickr-flickr tag="Saddle Tree Factory"] | 22 11 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 4: Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions | In this podcast, I talk with Ralph Lee Smith, who is an authority on the history of Appalachian or mountain dulcimer's history. For nearly four decades he has research this distinctly American Instrument and its European antecedents. He is the author of two books on the topic: The Story of the Dulcimer and Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions. We also talk with LaVern Miller, a coffin maker for Amish families in the Shipshewana community. Host: Jon Kay Guests: Ralph Lee Smith (www.ralphleesmith.com) Music: Martin Simpson (www.martinsimpson.com) [amazon_link id="0810874113" target="_blank" ]Appalachian Dulcimer Traditions (American Folk Music and Musicians)[/amazon_link] | 7 10 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 3: Alabama Folk Pottery | In this episode we talk with folklorist Joey Brackner, the manager of the Alabama Arts Council's Folklife Program and the Director of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture. He co-produced "Unbroken Tradition" a documentary on Alabama folk potter, Jerry Brown, which Brackner produced with Appalshop. A native of Fairfield, Alabama, he recently authored Alabama Folk Pottery, a book that traces Alabama's historic pottery making traditions and explores the mixing of various ethnic and regional styles, which produced the diverse and dynamic stoneware traditions of that state. The book is the culmination of more than 20 years of research, and employs the skills and techniques of genealogy, archaeology and oral history. We will also visit the archive and hear Muncie instrument maker Eli Jackson talk about how he learned to build folk instruments. Host: Jon Kay Guests: Joey Brackner (http://www.arts.state.al.us/actc/index-folkarts-actc.html); Eli Jackson Music: Martin Simpson (www.martinsimpson.com) | 17 9 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 2: Researching Harmonist Pottery | In this episode we meet with historical archaeologist Mike Strezewski and talk about his excavation of the Harmonist kiln site in New Harmony, Indiana. We will also meet with Tom Wintczak, a redware potter who made plates, strainers and pitchers, inspired from the broken shards and pieces from the excavation site. We also will learn about Alf Lookabill, a Civil War veteran and gourd artist who gained quite a reputation for his work. Host: Jon Kay Guests: Mike Strezewski and Tom Wintczak (www.beetreepottery.com) Music: Martin Simpson (www.martinsimpson.com) | 20 8 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 1: In the Beginning | Welcome to the pilot episode of Artisan Ancestors. I think we have an interesting program for you today. In our feature segment, I will be talking with Geoff Davis, a third generation ukulele player, and discuss how he discovered and researched Indiana’s lost history of ukulele building tradition. Also, in today's program we will hear about a model train builder in the 1920s, who converted his day job into a hobby of miniatures when he retired in 1927. In addition, I will review a wonderful book about a Pueblo potter and the revival of a tradition that her life spawned. That is what we have in store for you on Episode One of Artisan Ancestors. Jon Kay, Host Theme Music by Martin Simpson (MartinSimpson.com) Guest: Geoff Davis, Noblesville, IN (BluestoneFolkSchool.org) | 25 7 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 25 Episodes |
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