Smithsonian Voices

From the Smithsonian Museums

Elisa Hough

Elisa Hough is the editor and social media manager at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

Wooden shelves and counter filled with jars are lit by two oil lamps.

In Appalachia, Women Carry Traditions in Folk Magic and 'Granny Witchcraft'

Folk magic goes by many names in the Appalachian Mountains: root work, granny magic, kitchen witchery, Braucherei, witchcraft

A dining table set with more than a dozen dishes of food, including white rice, meat on skewers, stewed vegetables, and sliced cucumbers.

Top 5 Folklife Stories from 2023

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The History Behind Argentina’s Unofficial Anthem for the 2022 World Cup

Two men with long hair, one older and one younger, perform with eyes closed on stage. They each hold a painted rattle, and the older man in the foreground also holds a microphone.

A Kumeyaay Folktale Illuminates Why the Sun and Moon Shine at Different Times

Carolyn Smith collecting beargrass in Klamath National Forest, 2015. For beargrass to be supple enough for weavers to use in their baskets, it needs to be burned annually. Ideally, it is burned in an intentionally set cultural fire, where only the tops are burned, leaving the roots intact. Prescribed fires in the Klamath National Forest are few and far between, so weavers “follow the smoke” and gather, when they can, after wildfires sweep through the landscape. (Photo courtesy of Carolyn Smith)

How Indigenous Ecological Knowledge Offers Solutions to California’s Wildfires

Lisa Marie Thalhammer holds her original LOVE poster with her mural in the background. (Photo by Grant Langford)

This D.C. Muralist Finds Pride and Power in Public Art

인삼주 Insam-ju is a ginseng liquor made by preserving ginseng in alcohol above thirty proof. Korean people often make insam-ju at home and take a shot daily for its health benefits. It is also shared with special guests and is often paired with samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup). (Photo by Grace Dahye Kwon)

How Ginseng Connects Me to the Roots of My Korean American Community

(Photo courtesy of Masatsu “Masa” Kawamoto collection, Division of Work and Industry, Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History)

Cowboys in the Tropics: A History of the Hawaiian Paniolo

Chinese poetry carved on the wall of the Angel Island Immigration Station in the San Francisco Bay. (Text from Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940)

The Chinese Poetry Left at Angel Island, the “Ellis Island of the West”

Elizabeth Acevedo (Photo by Jonathan B. Tucker)

How Poet Elizabeth Acevedo Brings Sacred Monsters to Life

Barbara Dane with the Chambers Brothers at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. (Photo by Diana Davies, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives)

How Barbara Dane Carries a Proud Tradition of Singing Truth to Power

Black Banjo Reclamation Project founders Hannah Mayree and Carlton “Seemore Love” Dorsey, with banjos made by Brooks Masten of Brooks Banjos in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Avé-Ameenah Long)

A Quest to Return the Banjo to Its African Roots

Admas. From left, clockwise: Abegasu Shiota, Henock Temesgen, Tewodros Aklilu, and Yousef Tesfaye. (Photo courtesy of Frederiksberg Records)

Sons of Ethiopia: A Snapshot of Admas and D.C. Music in the 1980s

Zapotec weaver Porfirio Gutiérrez at work in his studio. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

How We Can Travel the World and Share Culture through Craft

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In Appalachia, Women Carry Traditions in Folk Magic and 'Granny Witchcraft'

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