How do culture workers construct public arts and culture projects that are effective and transformative? How do we create public humanities projects of the community, for the community, and with the community? How can culture work make a concrete difference in the quality of life for communities, and lead to the creation of a more just world? Why do the public humanities matter? Culture Work explores these questions through real-world examples of cultural and public humanities projects. The innovative case studies analyzed in the book demonstrate the vast numbers of creative possibilities in culture work today—in all their complexities, challenges, and potentialities.
 
Thematically arranged chapters embody the interconnected aspects of culture work, from amplifying local voices to galvanizing community from within, from preservation of cultural knowledge to its creative repurposing for a desired future. These inventive projects provide concrete examples and accessible theory grounded in practice, encourage readers to embark on their own public culture work, and create new forward-looking inspiration for community leaders and scholars in the field.

Tim Frandy is an assistant professor of folk studies at Western Kentucky University and the editor and translator of Inari Sámi Folklore: Stories from Aanaar.
B. Marcus Cederström is the community curator of Nordic-American folklore in the department of German, Nordic, and Slavic at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is the coeditor and translator, with Thomas A. DuBois, of Songs of the Finnish Migration: A Bilingual Anthology.

Contents
Acknowledgments
 
Introduction
Tim Frandy and B. Marcus Cederström
 
Public Folklore, Cultural Equity, and the Wisconsin Idea of Folklore
From a Potato Hole, Part 2: Collaboration, Repatriation, and Cultural Equity
James P. Leary
The National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowships: A Reflection on the Roots and Impact of a National Cultural Heritage Honorific Program
Cheryl T. Schiele
The Lion’s Side: DiscoverME/RecoverME and the Utilization of Storytelling for Emotional Transformation
David Olawuyi Fakunle
Notes from the Field: Activism, Folklore Research, and Human Rights on the South Carolina Sea Islands in the 1960s
Mary Arnold Twining
Prison Landscapes and the Wisconsin Idea: Shaping the Study of a Public Occupational Culture
Claire Schmidt
Revitalizing Franco-American Song
Carmen Bombardier, Kim Chase, Robert Desrosiers, Andy Kolovos, Lisa Ornstein
 
Beyond Preservation and Conservation
Securing a Future for the Nation’s Folklore Documentation Heyday
Nicole Saylor
Collections: Opportunities and Responsibilities
Terri Van Orman
“We Have All Been Neighbors Here”: Preservation, Access, and Engagement with the Arnold Munkel Collection
Nathan D. Gibson and Anna Rue
Running the Show: Documenting and Exhibiting Wisconsin Folk Art
Robert T. Teske
The Bobbing Boat: Lasting Impressions, Rejuvenated Memories, and Intriguing Prospects
Janet C. Gilmore
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival Model as Transferable Technology for Cultural Heritage Craft Tourism in Local Museums
Diana Baird N’Diaye
 
Amplifying Local Voices
Songs of the Finnish Migration: Amplification and Revitalization
Thomas A. DuBois and B. Marcus Cederström
The Down Home Dairyland Story
Richard March
Then and Now: Public Folklore and the Folklorist in Missouri
Lisa L. Higgins
Applying Ethnicity: The Case of Olga Edseth’s Hot Pink Rosemaled Pumps in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin
Jared L. Schmidt
“Let the Blood Roses Grow”: Workers’ Worldviews in the Music of Oren Tikkanen
Hilary-Joy Virtanen
 
Creating Community
Stacking Brooms: Curling Camaraderie and Folklore in a Time of Transition
Anne Pryor
“We Wanted to Save Something While There Was Still Something Left”: Restoration and Cultural Maintenance at The Oulu Cultural and Heritage Center
Mirva Johnson
“A Growing Art”: Traditional Arts and Heritage Rediscovery in Northern Minnesota Scandinavian Communities
Sallie Anna Steiner
The Art of Survival on the Iron Range: Economic Strategies after the Iron Is Gone
Rhonda R. Dass
A Fish Sandwich for All
Yvonne R. Lockwood
Grocery Stores as Sites for the Study of Material Communication: Ethnographic Guidelines
Ayako Yoshimura
 
Engaging with the Past
“The Wisconsin Historical Society Gave Me Your Name”: Doing Out-(and In-)reach on Campus, in Wisconsin, and Beyond
Troy Reeves
Shoemaker, Frey, and Yoder and the Pennsylvania Dutch Idea
Mark L. Louden
Finding Tradition in the Archives: Craft as Research and Research as Craft
Rebecca J. Keyel
Hoaxes, History, Legends, and the Circulation of Stories: The Wisconsin Historical Society and Wisconsin’s Petrified French Explorer
Jennifer Gipson
Re-animating the Past: Traveling through Michigan with Alan Lomax’s 1938 Films
Guha Shankar
Translating Context with Digital Media in Medieval Icelandic Literature: Hrafnkels saga and the eSaga Project
Colin Gioia Connors
 
Creating the Future Out of the Past
“I Need to Make a Dollar”: On the Road with Working-Class Protest Songs
Bucky Halker
A Business Model for Folklore: Profitable, Wholehearted, and Cinematic
Jamie Yuenger
“Did Ole Really Say That?” Linguistics, Folklore, and Heritage Languages
Joseph Salmons
“Este Lugar Tiene Muchas Historias”: Alternative Forms of Archiving and Community Engagement in Oaxaca, Mexico
Hilary Morgan V. Leathem
Haunting Acknowledgment: Archiving Women’s March Folklore and the Political Potential of Care Ethics
Christine Garlough
 
Works Cited
Contributors
Index