The American Folklife Center (AFC) is a division of the Library of Congress (LOC) that is dedicated to preserving and promoting the diverse cultural traditions of the United States. The AFC collects, preserves, and makes available for research a wide range of materials that document the traditional expressive culture of the United States, including folklore, music, dance, oral history, and traditional crafts.
The AFC was established by Congress in 1976 and is located in the Library of Congress's Thomas Jefferson Building in Washington, D.C. It has one of the largest collections of folklife materials in the world, with more than five million items in its collections, including field recordings, photographs, manuscripts, films, and other materials.
The AFC is a research library and is open to the public. It offers a variety of services and resources to researchers, including access to its collections, educational programs, and research fellowships. The AFC also works to promote the study and understanding of folklife through its publications, exhibitions, and public programs.