Smithsonian Folkways Recordings acknowledges the existence of harmful content within its collection. As a repository of sound that has been collecting widely since the 1940s, the items in the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (SFR) collection have come from a variety of sources, contexts, and time periods. As historical documents, some of these recordings contain language, imagery, and ideas that are now—and were perhaps at the time—considered offensive and unacceptable. Some records contain racist, sexist, homophobic, ableist, and even violent language and imagery that reflects the biases of their recordists, songwriters, liner-note-writers, publishers and/or other contributors. Others contain inaccurate and outdated terms or descriptions that can cause harm to the people and communities they describe. Additionally, some of the recordings that Folkways released may have been collected in a manner that has caused harm or benefitted from unequal power relationships between recorder and performer.

SFR is working to provide context, corrections, and to document reactions to harmful recordings and liner notes. While the harmful content in SFR’s collections goes against the values our institution holds today, we have chosen to retain it. Rather than erase past practices from the historical record, we see an opportunity to transparently correct, contextualize, and respond to content in a way that we hope can create dialogue around these past practices while committing to a more inclusive future. If you see records with inappropriate language or content that you think SFR should review, please contact us at CFCH-SharedStewardship@si.edu. Please include as many details as possible regarding the language or content which requires our attention such as the catalog number or the permalink to the record.

- Anna Kate Cannon (Dumbarton Oaks Fellow 2021–22), Christine Pash (intern 2022), Logan Clark, and the members of the SFR Ethics Working Group contributed to the research and writing of this acknowledgement.