Elisa Hough

Elisa Hough is the editor and web content manager at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

Stories from this author

Performers wave, forming a ring around a red, circular stage, with a packed audience and rigging hanging above.

Let’s Clown Around! The Circus Comes to the Smithsonian This Labor Day Weekend

Grid of six black-and-white photographs of a crowded outdoor event.

These Photos Visualize the Legacy of Peter Spencer, Founder of America’s First Independent Black Church

Several pieces of textiles, pottery, and other artwork arranged in an altar.

At the Smithsonian’s Almaty Artisan Retreat, Kazakhstani and Native American Artists Connect through Stories, Copper, and Clay

A man with short white hair, moustache, and glasses plays a wooden flute. Behind him, slightly out of focus, is a young woman with long dark hair in a bun and a black tank top.

With Birchbark and Breath, Sierra and Hawk Henries Bring Intergenerational Artistry to the ‘Dawnland’

Thousands of people assemble on the green grass of the National Mall to form a sunburst shape, the Smithsonian logo. The red-brick Smithsonian Castle rises in the background.

The Smithsonian Has 6,724 Staff Members With a Mission to Increase and Diffuse Knowledge. Hear How They Work ‘For the Common Good’

Two men in blue shirts, blue jeans, leather belts, and white cowboy hats pose in front of a brown horse.

In Eastern Idaho, the Blackfoot Ranch Rodeo Celebrates Cowboys, Craftsmanship, and Community

Detail of album cover with black print of a warrior figure in profile wearing a feathered crown and armor.

A Journey to Right the Wrongs on Smithsonian’s ‘Anthology of Central and South American Indian Music’

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For Hawaiian Artist Roen Hufford, Making Kapa Bark Cloth Embodies an Exchange with Nature and a Way of Life

Six elder Black women pose on a grassy hillside, each holding an enlarged black-and-white photo of a schoolhouse, protestors with signs, and a class photo.

The Mothers Who Marched for Equality in Hillsboro, Ohio

The face of a smiling young woman with face paint wearing beaded earrings against a colorful backdrop. Text: Mother Tongue Film Festival. February 19 to 22, Washington, D.C. 2026.

Your Invitation to the Smithsonian’s Mother Tongue Film Festival

A group of people crouch and stand in front of a wall mural depicting desert plants.

A Catalyst for Culture in the Tucson Mall

In the courtyard of a wooden home with tiled roof and carved doorways, strings of orange persimmons hang from a bamboo pole hung along an eave.

Our Director Reflects on “Culture of Everyday Life” and K-Culture after Visiting South Korea

In a warmly lit room, a woman in a floral dress tells a story, both hands outstretched, for a small seated audience that watches her and smiles.

Top Five Folklife Stories of 2025

Film still of an elder woman and a young man, both in wheelchairs, facing each other in conversation and smiling in a warmly lit living room. A man sits to the side, next to a laptop, also smiling.

A Glimpse at 'The Ride Ahead' and a More Inclusive Future With Filmmaker Samuel Habib

A man wearing glasses, white headwrap, and apron holds a metal object to a flame in a forge, sparks flying toward the stone walls.

The Reappearing Art of Metalworking in Mukhrani, Georgia

Map of North America with several points across the continent marked with a blue pinpoint.

Explore Native American Films in the Mother Tongue Story Map

A woman in a yellow dress and long braids skateboarding on a half-pipe

On International Day of Indigenous Women, Meet Native Women Skaters Making Space in the Sport

Close-up on a pair of hands removing multicolored dried corn kernels into a woven basket.

The Journey of Myaamia Native Corn to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival (A Photo Essay)

Timelapse photo of a bright pink night sky with the trails of stars creating concentric white circles. Tops of trees are lit up yellow at the bottom of the photo.

Finding Hope in Sidewalk Astronomy, From a Neighborhood Near You to a Galaxy Far, Far Away

A collection of twelve custom-made, metallic signs is displayed against a dark background. The signs are arranged in three rows of four. The signs are a mix of gold and silver colors with various fonts and designs.

Indonesian Artists of SWEDA Build a Brand—with a Silver Lining

Backshot of two men work together to pin blueprints of a building design to a corkboard wall.

In Charleston, American College of the Building Arts Educates the Next Generation of Craftspeople

A woman with long dark hair and dark outfit plays a white electric guitar on a dimly blue lit stage. She and her guitar are slightly blurry.

A Q&A With Musician Gretchen Gonzales Davidson on Arts and Advocacy

Wooden shelves and counter filled with jars are lit by two oil lamps.

In Appalachia, Women Carry Traditions in Folk Magic and 'Granny Witchcraft'

A dining table set with more than a dozen dishes of food, including white rice, meat on skewers, stewed vegetables, and sliced cucumbers.

Top 5 Folklife Stories from 2023

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The History Behind Argentina’s Unofficial Anthem for the 2022 World Cup

Two men with long hair, one older and one younger, perform with eyes closed on stage. They each hold a painted rattle, and the older man in the foreground also holds a microphone.

A Kumeyaay Folktale Illuminates Why the Sun and Moon Shine at Different Times

Carolyn Smith collecting beargrass in Klamath National Forest, 2015. For beargrass to be supple enough for weavers to use in their baskets, it needs to be burned annually. Ideally, it is burned in an intentionally set cultural fire, where only the tops are burned, leaving the roots intact. Prescribed fires in the Klamath National Forest are few and far between, so weavers “follow the smoke” and gather, when they can, after wildfires sweep through the landscape. (Photo courtesy of Carolyn Smith)

How Indigenous Ecological Knowledge Offers Solutions to California’s Wildfires

Lisa Marie Thalhammer holds her original LOVE poster with her mural in the background. (Photo by Grant Langford)

This D.C. Muralist Finds Pride and Power in Public Art

인삼주 Insam-ju is a ginseng liquor made by preserving ginseng in alcohol above thirty proof. Korean people often make insam-ju at home and take a shot daily for its health benefits. It is also shared with special guests and is often paired with samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup). (Photo by Grace Dahye Kwon)

How Ginseng Connects Me to the Roots of My Korean American Community

(Photo courtesy of Masatsu “Masa” Kawamoto collection, Division of Work and Industry, Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History)

Cowboys in the Tropics: A History of the Hawaiian Paniolo

Chinese poetry carved on the wall of the Angel Island Immigration Station in the San Francisco Bay. (Text from Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940)

The Chinese Poetry Left at Angel Island, the “Ellis Island of the West”

Elizabeth Acevedo (Photo by Jonathan B. Tucker)

How Poet Elizabeth Acevedo Brings Sacred Monsters to Life

Barbara Dane with the Chambers Brothers at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. (Photo by Diana Davies, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives)

How Barbara Dane Carries a Proud Tradition of Singing Truth to Power

Black Banjo Reclamation Project founders Hannah Mayree and Carlton “Seemore Love” Dorsey, with banjos made by Brooks Masten of Brooks Banjos in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Avé-Ameenah Long)

A Quest to Return the Banjo to Its African Roots

Admas. From left, clockwise: Abegasu Shiota, Henock Temesgen, Tewodros Aklilu, and Yousef Tesfaye. (Photo courtesy of Frederiksberg Records)

Sons of Ethiopia: A Snapshot of Admas and D.C. Music in the 1980s

Zapotec weaver Porfirio Gutiérrez at work in his studio. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

How We Can Travel the World and Share Culture through Craft