Millie Rahn Collection
Born on August 5, 1951, in Lebanon, Pennsylvania to Herman F. and Clara I. Rahn, Mildred “Millie” Rahn graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (BA, American Studies) and Memorial University of Newfoundland (MA, Folklore). As a Boston-based folklorist and ethnographer, Rahn used her skills in foodways, oral histories, university teaching and public programs. A writer and reviewer on many topics related to folklife and traditional music, she developed projects and events involving living cultural traditions for cultural and educational organizations, government and economic development agencies and the tourism and heritage industries. For many years, Rahn directed the Foodways stage for the Lowell Folk Festival in Lowell, Massachusetts. She curated exhibits for many regional folk festivals, including the American Folk Festival in Bangor, Maine, the Boston Cultural Heritage Festival and the Working Waterfront Festival in New Bedford, MA. Rahn was active in preserving the history of Club 47, a folk music coffeehouse in Cambridge, Massachusetts and performed fieldwork for the Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History, University of Maine.
The Millie Rahn Collection contains her thesis on the history of Club 47, a report she prepared as a cultural consultant entitled, Newfoundland and Labrador & “The Boston States,” and audiovisual materials including GIRO Studio of Video, ASCAP Foundation Celebrates Eric Von Schmidt, Don’t Look Back Tapes, Passim 50th Anniversary.