Then and Now: Public Folklore and the Folklorist in Missouri

Once, at an annual conference of the American Folklore Society (AFS), I took the opportunity on the hotel elevator to introduce myself to Bess Lomax Hawes (1921–2009), the first director (1977–92) of folk and traditional arts at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). After skimming copies of old AFS conference programs, I am reminded that the year was likely 2003, when AFS convened in Albuquerque and the theme was “Folk Culture and the Public Domain.” At that time, I had been working my dream job as director of the Missouri Folk Arts Program (MFAP) for four years,