Fairmont State’s Trunk of Traditional Tunes continues with Emily Hilliard

The Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center’s Trunk of Traditional Tunes continues Wednesday, March 16 at 7 p.m. with West Virginia native, Emily Hilliard. During her presentation, Hilliard will discuss folk music and collecting folklore. A Trunk of Traditional Tunes is a series dedicated to celebrating the traditional music of West Virginia, funded by the West Virginia Humanities Council through a CARES Act Emergency Relief Grant.

Hilliard is a folklorist, writer, media producer and a record label co-founder. She is the current Program Officer of Folk and Traditional Arts at Mid Atlantic Arts and the former West Virginia State Folklorist and Founding Director of the West Virginia Folklife Program. She is the Film and Video Reviews Editor for the Journal of American Folklore and an American Folklife Center Archie Green Fellow for a project documenting the occupational culture of rural mail carriers in Central Appalachia.

Her book, Making Our Future: Visionary Folklore and Everyday Culture in Appalachia will be published this year by the UNC Press. Her writing and media work have been published by NPR, Oxford American, Southern Cultures, The Bitter Southerner, among others.

“We are very much looking forward to welcoming Emily home to Fairmont State as she shares her stories during the next installment of the Trunk of Traditional Tunes series,” said Fairmont State University President, Mirta M. Martin. “As a center of culture for our region and the state, we strive to create programming that is entertaining and deeply rooted in the region’s cultural heritage. Fairmont State’s mission includes providing access to education to anyone who seeks it. Through The Trunk of Traditional Tunes project, we can uphold that mission and help keep those amazing cultural traditions alive for generations to come.”

The Trunk of Traditional Tunes will conclude for the semester with Mack Samples on Sunday, April 3 at 2 p.m. The events are open for free in-person public attendance at the Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center. In addition, each event will be livestreamed on the Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center’s Facebook page. Recordings of these events will be added to an online curriculum available to teachers, schools and other community organizations.

The Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center is in a historic barn on the campus of Fairmont State University. The Center’s mission is to preserve and perpetuate West Virginia’s rich cultural heritage. For further information, contact 304-367-4403.

Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife CenterTrunk of Traditional TunesEmily HilliardMirta Martin