A non-profit organization in Memphis, Tennessee, originally run by Judy Peiser and William R. Ferris. They had shot some film of some folks in the Mississippi Delta, mostly poor black folks, and decided to become folklorists. This was a pretty new idea at the time, and (of course) it caught on big with the liberals in DC and up on the East Coast.
"Oh, how nice. These nice people will document the lives of the poor Negroes."
Working there was great for several reasons.
You could learn how to shoot movies, mix the sound for movies, edit movies, record and produce albums, etc.
When Ronald Reagan cut a lot of the federal funding for these sorts of cultural deals, the activities of the Center were diminished. That put me out of a job at the time, but now I see that he was correct: The Federal Government had no business being in that business in the first place.
It still exists, in a fashion, down on Beale Street, but it certainly is not the place I remember. We had all these liberal East Coast colleges with actual "Folklore Departments" which would send interns down to work for college credit. (Clinton ain't the only who ever shagged an intern. We rednecks, however, were not married at the time. My disclaimer is complete.)
The really funny thing was watching these liberal do-gooders, Bill and Judy, absolutely rape and pillage these poor blacks. They would pay them as little as possible and plot to make real money off of their efforts.
I guess the epiphany for me was one night when Judy was throwing a party for her big money sources and she had gotten a fife and drum band from the Delta to drive up and provide live entertainment. Live indeed. One old guy in the band dropped dead during the performance. You should've seen her little Jewish mind plotting how to keep the party going while avoiding any litigation.