Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, 1938

In 1938, the Library of Congress dispatched Alan Lomax to conduct a folklife survey of the Great Lakes region. He traveled in a 1935 Plymouth sedan, toting a Presto instantaneous disc recorder and a movie camera. He returned nearly three months later, having driven thousands of miles on barely paved roads, with a cache of 250 discs, 8 reels of film, notebooks, driving mileage records, letters, and photographs detailing his journey. These document the incredible range of ethnic diversity, expressive traditions, and occupational folklife in the Great Lakes region.

This project contains Finnish, Hungarian, Polish, and French. Please insert letters with the correct accents for the relevant language. Visit History Hub to find out how.