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Fife Folklore Archives: Home

This guide will help you find Utah State University's Special Collection and Archives (including the Fife Folklore Archives), search their website and access their resources.

Fife Folklore Archives

The Fife Folklore Archives (FFA) is one of the largest repositories of American folklore in the United States. Housed within Utah State University’s Special Collections and Archives, it is also home to the American Folklore Society Manuscript Collection

Established in 1972, the FFA plays a vital role in USU’s cultural studies landscape, supporting the university’s Folklore program and other academic disciplines. Named after folklorists Austin E. and Alta S. Fife—pioneers in the field who worked to preserve the folk expressions of the American West—the archives hold a vast array of folklore and folklife materials, including student fieldwork collections, oral histories, and contributions from leading folklorists.

The FFA specializes in collecting folklore and cultural expressions from the Intermountain West, along with global comparative traditions of cowboy and ranching culture. Music and song are an essential part of these traditions, and the archives include extensive collections of folk, country, and cowboy songs, as well as field recordings of traditional music. In addition to its archival mission, the FFA actively conducts fieldwork, particularly in oral history, to document the lived experiences, music, and folklife of the region.

Collage of images including: two hands weaving colorful strands of fabric, a parade scene with motorcyclists carying flags including a prominently displayed rainbow flag, black and white photo of women wearing cowgirl hats, traditional indigenous baskets, a black and white photo of a man and a woman looking in the distance, a woman in a crowd holding a chicken being blessed, a sweat lodge dwelling, a colorful Native American dress, a man in a cowboy hat and denim sitting beside a woman in a pink top and denim with recording equipment, a ski slope and read and white beaver logo reading "Beaver Mountain oral history project,” a black and white photo of refugees with personal items, a woman singing into a microphone next to a man playing guitar, grey haired woman with short hair smiling while holding a plucked double bass musical instrument, a man smiling while holding a fiddle and bow, and three portrait photos of dark skinned men under a sign reading: “Voices: Etitrean Refugees in Cache Valley, Utah.

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