Research

TAUNY staff work with artists and professionals from across the North Country to develop and present programs that showcase the distinct identity of the region. Programs are held at TAUNY’s center in Canton and at other venues in Northern New York.

Research Folk Studies Publications & Recordings

TAUNY’s presentations of the customs and traditions of the North Country begin with research. Our staff and a network of scholars with whom we work travel around the region to study and document ongoing cultural practices in our communities. Traditional arts and artists are interpreted using new research and materials from the archives. Audio and video recordings, photographs, and field notes preserve a record of local life for later generations.

Publications – TAUNY – CLICK HERE!

Publication: One Rough Life

One Rough Life, Ted Ashlaw: Adirondack Lumber Camp and Barroom Singer

Robert D. Bethke, author

A TAUNY Publications in Regional Folkways book

This is the first book devoted to a northern New York State lumberjack who was an unaccompanied traditional singer of folk ballads and other songs. The author draws upon his interviews and audio recordings during the 1970s to establish the place of Ted Ashlaw among the likes of “Yankee John” Galusha and Lawrence Older in the Adirondacks

Good Food, Served Right

This 1st place winner of the Tabasco Community Cookbook Award features traditional recipes and essays about food customs in New York’s North Country. The book is divided into three sections: Nature’s Bounty (favorite North Country ingredients), Who We Are (ethnic groups living in the North Country) and Building Community (sharing meals at public events in the region.) Each chapter of recipes is preceded by an essay explaining the history and meaning of the dishes. The content of this book is evergreen, still the basis of food programs at TAUNY.

Author: Lynn Ekfelt, 2000.

Vietnam Remembered: The Folk Art of Marine Combat Veteran Michael D. Cousino, Sr.

Veteran Michael D. Cousino struggled with PTSD following his service in the Vietnam War. To cope, he began making dioramas at a 1:35 scale, depicting his experiences in Vietnam. In all he made more than 200. They are scenes of firefights, POW camps, torture pits, and ambushes. This book includes an introductory essay by TAUNY Founder Varick Chittenden, followed by 36 color plates of Cousino’s dioramas. Published by University of Mississippi Press. Author: Varick Chittenden, 1995.

Songs to Keep Songbook

This 40-page book of 16 Adirondack North Country songs from the Marjorie Lansing Porter. Spiral Bound.

This Collection of Ballads and Lore includes words, music, and background and history about Marjorie Lansing Porter, the music she recorded, and the 2013 project that brought those songs to light.

Register of Very Special Places

The Register of Very Special Places (RVSP) is a project undertaken by TAUNY to create an inventory or register of sites in communities throughout the North Country that are special to the life of those communities. Called “cultural landmarking,” with this project we encourage and train local citizens to nominate and document places such as diners, general stores, barber shops, Grange halls, and community gathering places that have special meaning to those who use them.

The Register of Very Special Places has been incorporated into TAUNY’s North Country Living Traditions Awards.

North Country Living Traditions Awards

Since 1993 tradition bearers throughout TAUNY’s region have been recognized through a Heritage Awards Program which in 2020 was reimagined as the North Country Living Traditions Awards Program. Field research through visits and interviews of tradition bearers, documentation of their stories for educational and archive purposes, and public celebration events associated with the North Country Living Traditions Awards Program were halted due to the pandemic with a plan to reactivate as resources allowed following the pandemic. Primary materials from research by TAUNY staff and folklore scholars who have worked in the region.

It currently is the home of four modules:

Tales of the River: Collected Stories from St. Lawrence River Communities
Good Food Served Right: Food Traditions in New York’s North Country;
Register of Very Special Places
“W is for the Woods”: Traditional Adirondack Music and Music Making