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Meet the People, Know the Program

By John Wolford, Museum Assistant Professor
Anthropology Department, University of Missouri–St. Louis

Harper helps Burnett hammer scrolls
Ed Harper helps Matthew Burnett hammer scrolls.
photo: John Wolford

The first time I ever heard of the Missouri Folk Arts Program (MFAP), I was a doctoral student in folklore at Indiana University. Missouri’s program was famous for helping communities develop folk arts projects and for publicly recognizing the state’s folk artists. Names of the Missouri folk arts leaders at the time—Rusty Marshall, Amy Skillman, Julie Youmans, Dana Everts-Boehm—were names that all public sector folklorists in the nation knew. I wanted to be part of that, so, in 1993, I contacted Dana, then-director, as soon as I arrived in Missouri and asked what I could do.
Read the full article. (pdf)

The Work of Art

Don Graves carves dulcimer head. Rita Reed photo

Read about our traveling exhibit Work is Art and Art is Work: The Art of Hand-crafted Instruments, an American Masterpieces project funded by the National Endowment for the Arts:

The Work of Art 
(in pdf)

Exhibition Schedule