Documentary Field Research
Conducting fieldwork is of key importance to the mission of the Folklife Program. Fieldwork means locating and documenting people who practice these traditions. We do this through tape-recorded interviews, photography, and detailed notes called fieldnotes. Specific fieldwork projects have included a survey in a 15-county region in northwest Georgia; the South Georgia Folklife Program in collaboration with Valdosta State University; the Coastal Georgia survey; the Metropolitan Atlanta Folklife Project; and documentation in host cities and surrounding counties of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games.

Archive
Archive of field recorded data (negatives, slides, photographs, audio recordings) comprising a unique and important record of Georgia's ever-changing folk cultural heritage.

Products
"Georgia Folk: A Sampler of Traditional Sounds" - Fiddle and banjo, mouth bow and harmonica, shape notes and ring shouts, hambone and blues guitar - these are some of the traditional sounds to be found throughout Georgia. Listeners to this sampler of secular and sacred music will experience the a capella gospel quartets of Atlanta's churches, the shape-note singing of rural congregations, the old-time string bands of the Georgia Piedmont, the religious ring shouts of coastal Georgia blacks, the counting-out rhymes of Sea Islands children, the unaccompanied ballad singing of European origin, and much more.

This sampler has been culled from vintage 78s and recent field recordings made by individual collectors, by folklore societies, and by regional folk festival presenters. This collection of 22 songs includes blues, string band, gospel songs and more.

Available only on audio cassette ($8). Make check payable to: Georgia Council for the Arts, 260 14 Street N. W., Suite 401, Atlanta, GA 30318-5360