From deer hunters to drag performers, Vermont is full of unique characters and stories — and sharing them is the goal of VT Untapped, a new podcast from the Vermont Folklife Center. The podcast draws on the organization's massive archive of ethnographic research and oral histories.
Mary Wesley is a community program coordinator at the Vermont Folklife Center, and she's the host of VT Untapped.
Listen above to Mary Wesley's conversation with VPR's Mitch Wertlieb about the Vermont Folklife Center's podcast.
Wesley told VPR the Folklife Center has been recording Vermonters since the mid-1970s, and now has an archive of around 6,000 interviews.
"Our mission is to document, sustain and present the diverse cultures of Vermont — so that means we like to talk to people about their lives and their experiences," Wesley said.
According to Wesley, the podcast is just "the tip of the iceberg" as far as what the Folklife Center’s archive holds. Future episodes will feature more diverse voices from around the state, Wesley said, including recordings of Franco-American music and culture.
“The more that we can kind of see and understand our neighbors and other people who are living in our communities and in our state, the more connected we can feel and the more understanding can be created,” Wesley said.
Update 2:59 p.m. This post has been updated with the correct stylization of the podcast title.
