[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 55 (Thursday, May 1, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S3918]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO MARGARET MacARTHUR

 Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to 
Margaret MacArthur. Margaret has been selected to appear at the John F. 
Kennedy Center for Performing Arts on May 1, 1997. She will be 
appearing as the sole representative of Vermont in an annual 
celebration which will host artists from across the Nation.
  Margaret represents the very best of Vermont. Her talent and hard 
work have been recognized time and time again. In 1985, she was 
selected by the New England Art Biennial as a New England living art 
treasure.
  Margaret's repertoire consists almost exclusively of Vermont and 
other New England folk songs. She embodies the spirit of our Green 
Mountain State and has successfully shared its heritage, through music, 
with people throughout the country. Once again, I would like to extend 
my best wishes and congratulations to Margaret MacArthur.
  Mr. President, I ask the following article from the Brattleboro 
Reformer be printed in the Record.
  The article follows:

             [From the Brattleboro Reformer, Dec. 6, 1996]

             Local Folk Artist To Perform at Kennedy Center

                            (By Jared Bazzy)

       Marlboro.--Folk singer Margaret MacArthur has been selected 
     to appear at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts 
     in Washington, D.C., this spring, as part of the Vermont 
     State Day celebration.
       U.S. Sen. James M. Jeffords, R-Vt., picked MacArthur to be 
     the lone performer representing the Green Mountain State.
       Jeffords, who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Education, 
     Arts, and Humanities, said Thursday, ``Margaret represents 
     what's best about Vermont's history and culture,'' adding, 
     ``This is a wonderful opportunity for visitors from across 
     the nation to hear a true Vermont artist share our 
     heritage.''
       MacArthur said she was invited a few weeks ago, just after 
     she returned from performing at the Folk Song Society in 
     Washington, D.C.
       ``But I've never sung at the Kennedy Center for gosh sakes. 
     It's pretty exciting,'' she said in a telephone interview 
     from her home in Marlboro.
       The Kennedy Center annually celebrates all 50 states with a 
     performance by a local artist from each one. MacArthur will 
     perform May 1, 1997.
       Accompanying herself at different times on guitar, dulcimer 
     and harp-zither, MacArthur's repertoire consists almost 
     exclusively of Vermont and New England folk songs. She was 
     raised in the Ozarks of Missouri and moved to Vermont in 
     1948. She spends winters in Arizona. Therefore, she also 
     sings many songs from Missouri, nearby Kentucky and Arizona.
       She said that she will certainly take along her harp-
     zither, which was given to her by the family of Rawsonville 
     farmer Merle Landsman after it was found in his barn.
       She said she will perform songs from a collection of 7,000 
     Vermont songs compiled by Helen Hartness Flanders. Flanders 
     was the wife of the late Sen. Ralph Flanders, and MacArthur 
     enjoys the connection between their lives in Washington D.C. 
     and her performance at the Kennedy Center.
       ``This will give me a good opportunity to honor her and her 
     collection,'' she said.
       The New England Art Biennial, panel from the University of 
     Massachusetts, Amherst, chose MacArthur in 1985 as a ``New 
     England living art treasure.'' Her recording career spans to 
     the early 1960s, when she recorded ``Folksongs of Vermont'' 
     on Folkways records. She has since recorded eight more 
     albums, including several with members of her family, who 
     also live in Marlboro.
       Recent local performance ventures included the Brattleboro 
     Museum and Art Center, as part of a series on farming in 
     Vermont.
       She is currently completing her 10th recording, which is 
     being produced at Sound Design in Brattleboro and is entitled 
     ``Them Stars.''
       MacArthur believes it was her work as artist-in-residence 
     in schools throughout the state that brought her to Jeffords' 
     attention. As a visiting artist, she had children set local 
     folk tales to music which culminated two years ago with the 
     production of ``Vermont Heritage Songs.''

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