Administrative History
The project has its inspirational roots in the American Folklife Center's 1977 Chicago Ethnic Arts Project, as well as in the scholarly writings of sociolinguist Joshua A. Fishman. During the spring of 1982, the project was set in motion by Center staff member Elena Bradunas to "try to understand the complex nature of ethnic identity and delineate the cultural, historical, and social referents by which the group identifies itself." Twenty-one primary fieldworkers were selected, two of which had one co-worker assisting. All but two of these 23 have their curriculum vitae or resume on file (see Correspondence). Of the 22 groups, 14 are represented in the resulting book, Ethnic Heritage and Language Schools in America.
The fieldworkers, followed by their respective ethnic group focus, were: Scott Baird (Chinese), Carole O. Bell (Ukrainian), Elena Bradunas (Ethiopian and Lithuanian), JoAnn Bromberg (Armenian), Lee Davis (Hupa Indian), Susan Dwyer-Shick (Islamic), Jana Fast (Czechoslovakian), Burt Feintuch (Hebrew), Lydia Fish (Greek, NY), Timothy J. Kloberdanz (German-Russian), Lucy Long (Korean), Morton Marks (Urban Caribbean/Hispanic), Brenda McCallum (Lebanese and Greek), Margy McClain (Polish), Susan Nagy (Hungarian), Marsha Penti (Portuguese), Frank Proschan (Cambodian), Maurie Sacks (Turkish), Amy E. Skillman (Japanese), Ričardas Vidutis (Latvian), Phil Webber (Dutch). In addition to the aforementioned fieldworkers, Nancy Conklin assisted Brenda McCallum in studying the Lebanese and Greek schools in Birmingham, Alabama, and Mary-Louise Haas assisted Carole O. Bell with the study of the Ukrainian school.
Three individuals served as consultants to the project: Dr. Joshua A. Fishman, who was consulted regarding sociolinguistics; Ewa Hauser, who supplemented the study of the Polish school by conducting an independent study of Polish curriculum materials; Dr. Richard Hulan, who was consulted on ethnic schools in general.
Fieldwork consisted of a commitment of at least three site visits to a fieldworker's respective ethnic school over a three month period, between April and July 1982. While most of the fieldwork was finished by the summer of 1982, the final papers went through a series of editing up through September of 1986. Elena Bradunas left the project after the first round of editing, after which Brett Topping assumed the editing role. Long reports were shortened and standardized for the purpose of publishing. Both long and short versions of the fieldworkers' reports have been retained in both the microfilmed and unmicrofilmed format.
While the majority of the fieldworkers did their own photography, seven were assisted by one or two others. Supplementary photographers include: Rudy Arocho (Chinese), Peter Basa (Hungarian), Barbara Cech (Dutch), Frank Deak, Jr. (Hungarian), Carl Fleischhauer (Ethiopian and Lithuanian), Bob Gates (Hebrew), John Leung, Jr. (Chinese), Sandy Seipel (Hupa Indian), and Vicky Westover (Armenian).