"There was singing; there was always singing" — Martha Pellerin

Martha Pellerin (1961-1998) was a dynamo, both a practical nuts-and-bolts person who got things done, and a visionary. For her, cultural heritage was an active resource for creating meaning. She drew on her heritage as a basis for creating new forms that were relevant to contemporary life, and envisioned tradition as a living entity evolving constantly in response to a changing world.

Nearing the end, Martha asked Vermont Folklife Center folklorist Greg Sharrow to assume responsibility for a last, unfinished project – the publication of the vast archive of songs she had documented. This in a sense is her magnum opus, and a project she was loath to leave unfinished. This database, the Martha Pellerin Collection of Franco-American Song, is an effort to help achieve this dream.