USU Libraries to Host Talks on Folk Song Archives, Community Memory

LOGAN, Utah — A series of public talks next week will examine how the mid-20th-century practice of "song catching" is being reimagined today through the Intermountain Song Trails project.

Special Collections & Archives at Utah State University Libraries will host a series of public talks by folklorist Derek Piotr and archivist Joe Kinzer across three Cache Valley locations March 19-21. The presentation series, “When Archives Talk to Each Other: Folk Song, Memory and Intermountain Song Trails,” is free and open to students, faculty and the public.

Drawing on materials from Piotr’s Fieldwork Archive and USU’s Fife Folklore Archives — founded by collectors Austin and Alta Fife — the talks trace how folk songs travel across regions and generations, and how community-submitted recordings speak back to earlier documentation efforts.

The presentations will consider how independent and institutional archives can collaborate to support shared stewardship, ethical reuse and community-centered approaches to memory and sound. Field recordings, community-submitted songs and archival materials will also be on display.

The event is hosted by Special Collections & Archives at USU Libraries in collaboration with the Derek Piotr Fieldwork Archive, with support from USU Libraries, the Utah Humanities Council, and the Utah Historical Society. No registration is required.

Talk Dates and Locations

• 6 p.m. March 19, Logan
• 1:30 p.m. March 20, Merrill-Cazier Library, Room
• 11 a.m. March 21, Smithfield