W.Va. Folklorist Receives Highest National Honor

Gerald “Gerry” Milnes of Elkins, West Virginia, has been named a 2026 National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow. It’s the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.  

Milnes is a folklorist, author, filmmaker, musician and educator known for his lifelong documentation of traditional Appalachian culture. 

Eric Waggoner, executive director of the West Virginia Humanities Council, emphasized the importance of Milnes’ career. “Without Gerry’s dedicated work,” Waggoner said, “many of West Virginia’s songs and stories might otherwise have been lost.” 

Milnes moved to West Virginia in 1975 and began recording and studying local musicians, craftspeople and folk practices.  

In 1988, he joined the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins as Folk Art Coordinator. Over the next 25 years, he created a major archive, including thousands of recordings and photographs documenting music, crafts, customs and daily life.  

“The hundreds of folk artists I have been privileged to know, document and learn from speaks to the strength of our state’s traditional arts,” Milnes said.  

A longtime mentor and performer, he established the West Virginia Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program at Augusta (1989-2009) to help pass on traditional arts. Milnes later participated in the Humanities Council’s West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship program to impart traditional fiddle techniques, tunes and stories to his apprentice Annick Odom.  

He also contributed to projects like John Sayles’ feature film Matewan and the PBS documentary The Appalachians.  

“Gerry is a role model,” said state folklorist Jennie Williams. “When I started my work, I sought out Gerry for guidance, and I have since deeply valued his stories and our friendship.”  

Milnes is only the seventh West Virginian to receive this recognition. The others were Nimrod Workman (1984), Melvin Wine (1991), Ellie Mannette (1999), Dorothy Thompson (2000), Hazel Dickens (2001) and John Morris (2020). 

Milnes’ work stands out among this year’s fellows as he is receiving the Bess Lomax Hawes National Heritage Fellowship. Named after an influential educator and advocate for the folk and traditional arts, this distinction annually recognizes one person nationally who has made significant contributions to the excellence, vitality and public appreciation of the folk and traditional arts. “This award is Gerry’s,” Waggoner added, “and is well-earned. But it is also a tribute to the tradition bearers who trusted him to listen and to learn, and a boon to the young folk artists and scholars who will help create and document the next generation of West Virginia’s arts and culture.”  

These lifetime awards are given in recognition of both artistic excellence and efforts to sustain cultural traditions for future generations. 

The other 2026 National Heritage Fellows are Juan Díes and Victor Pichardo, Mexican folk musicians of Chicago; Belen Escobedo, a Conjunto Tejano fiddler from San Antonio, Texas; Giovanni Hidalgo, a Latin percussionist from Ocoee, Florida.; Lloyd Kumulā‘au Sing, Jr. and May Haunani Balino-Sing, Hawaiian twined basketry artists of Wahiawā, Hawaii; Patrick Olwell, flutemaker of Nellysford, Virginia.; Frank Rabon, CHamoru dancer and choreographer of Hagåtña, Guam; Cary Schwarz, saddlemaker and leather artist of Salmon, Idaho. 
 
A public reception honoring Milnes will be held on May 21, 6 to 8 p.m., at the Humanities Council’s headquarters, 1310 Kanawha Blvd E, Charleston, WV 25301. 

Read more about Milnes’ career on e-WV.