Rhode Island Folk collection

The Rhode Island Folklife Project was initiated in 1979 to document, preserve, interpret, and foster understanding of Rhode Island’s traditional cultural expressions. Under the leadership of Director Michael E. Bell, Ph.D., program staff and volunteers pursued these goals through a variety of formats, including: interviewing informants, documenting events, researching primary and secondary sources, crafting exhibits, drafting school curricula, hosting workshops, giving lectures, putting on festivals and performances, creating media productions, and disseminating information through publications.
For nearly thirty years, the Rhode Island Folklife Project documented a variety of folk groups and folklife genres. Documentation included folk groups based on ethnic or national heritage, occupation, and place of residence. Genres of folklife investigated were likewise diverse, and included folk arts and crafts, foodways, legends, customs, practices, and beliefs.
The projects and programs of the Rhode Island Folklife Project were funded by a variety of local, state, and federal grants from such organizations as the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, the Rhode Island Historical Society, the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, the Rhode Island Heritage Commission, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts. On certain projects, the Rhode Island Folklife Project collaborated with other area organizations, including historical societies, universities, museums, religious and ethnic organizations, and governmental divisions.


Michael E. Bell, Ph.D.
Dr. Michael Edward Bell as born on June 28, 1943 in Louisville, Kentucky. He received his Bachelor of Arts in anthropology and archaeology from the University of Arizona- Tucson before going on to study folklore at the University of California- Los Angeles and Indiana University- Bloomington. He received his Ph.D. in folklore at Indiana in 1980 after writing the dissertation, “Pattern, structure, and logic in Afro-American hoodoo performance.”
In 1979, during his final year at Indiana University, Bell was hired as a fieldworker for the fledgling Rhode Island Folklife Project, a program sponsored by the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Upon graduating, Bell took over as director of the Rhode Island Folklife Project, a position he would hold for nearly thirty years.
Dr. Michael E. Bell is the author of numerous journal and newspaper articles, as well as the book Food for the Dead: On the Trail of New England’s Vampires (Wesleyan University Press, 2011). Now retired, Bell lives in Cranston, Rhode Island. He continues to actively write, speak, and educate his community about the importance of folklife.