Stephen Collins Foster, born July 4, 1826, and died January 13, 1864, supposedly never saw the dark, tannic waters of the Suwanee River that he immortalized in his 1851 composition "Old Folks at Home," but when he shortened the three-syllable "Suwannee" to the two-syllable "Swanee," history was made. At a convention of the National Federation of Music Clubs in White Springs in 1952 at the Colonial Hotel, the federation's president, Mrs. Ada Holding Miller of Rhode Island, suggested that the Stephen Foster Memorial Commission consider producing a folk festival featuring the diverse cultures and music of Florida. In early May 1953, with the ring of an old school bell and the call of a town crier, the Florida Folk Festival opened against a backdrop of huge pines and moss-draped oaks and magnolias. By sunset two and a half days later, the festival had presented Minorcans, Seminole and Miccosukee Indians, Greek-Americans, Jewish-Americans, Czech-Americans, Spanish-Americans, African-Americans, and Florida Crackers. Sarah Gertrude Knott, director and founder of the National Folk Festival, directed the Florida Folk Festival in 1953 and 1954. In 1955, Thelma A. Boltin of Gainesville, Florida, became Director of Programming at the Stephen Foster Memorial and held that position until 1986. After the Florida Department of State established the Bureau of Florida Folklife Programs in White Springs in 1976, it coordinated the festival until 1995. In 2002, the Florida Park Service assumed full responsibility for coordinating and producing the Florida Folk Festival.