Barbara Beauchamp
1999 Florida Folk Heritage Award
Barbara Beauchamp (1935-2008) was a longtime advocate of the Florida Folklife Program and the annual Florida Folk Festival. A participant in the first Florida Folk Festival, she worked alongside founders Lillian Saunders, Thelma Boltin, and Sarah Gertrude Knott. As a former staff member for the Stephen Foster Memorial Commission and the Bureau of Florida Folklife Programs, Beauchamp helped guide the Florida Folk Festival from the folk revival of the 1960s and 70s to its present incarnation as a celebration of Florida's diverse cultural heritage. After leaving the Folklife Program, she served as a board member of the Stephen Foster Citizens Support Organization and continued to volunteer for various special programs at the Stephen Foster State Folk Culture Center. Beauchamp dedicated over forty years to the documentation, presentation and preservation of the traditional culture of Florida.
