Search Results

1. W.P.A. California Folk Music Project collection, 1936-1991

   7 boxes 4.5 linear feet.. manuscripts: 115 folders.. 239 sound discs (35 hours) : analog, 78 rpm, mono. ; 12 in.. 170 photographic prints : black and white ; various sizes.. 24 drawings.. -- American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

   Summary:

   The California Folk Music Project of the California Work Projects Administration (WPA) was conceived and directed by Sidney Robertson Cowell and co-sponsored by the Music Department of the University of California, Berkeley, and the Music Division, Library of Congress from 1938 to 1940. Additional support was provided by the New Music Society of California and the Society of California Pioneers. The resulting collection of sound recordings, photographs, correspondence, field notes, and drawings documents the musical culture, including religious music and folk song, of many ethnic and English-language performers in northern California. The collection includes the documentation of the music of Anglo Americans, Armenians, Assyrians, Basques, Croatians, English, Finns, Hungarians, Icelanders, Italians, Norwegians, Russian Molokans, Scots, Portuguese, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Spaniards and Spanish Americans from 1938 to 1940. The sound recordings were deposited in the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress in 1940. The collection also includes a few instantaneous sound discs made by Sidney Robertson Cowell in Missouri and Iowa for the Farm Security Administration in 1936-1937, and includes folk music research, writing, photographs, and technical drawings and sketches of the musical instruments, generated by Cowell and by the WPA staff who worked for her, plus related documents to 1991.

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   Access restrictions apply.

2. John A. Lomax and Alan Lomax papers, 1907-1969

   approximately 4900 items; 14 boxes; 5.6 linear feet.. -- American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

   Summary:

   Collection of correspondence, research notes, transcripts, sheet music, manuscript music transcriptions, song texts, song books, maps, and administrative documents dating primarily from the tenure of John A. Lomax and his son Alan Lomax at the Archive of American Folk Song, Library of Congress, from 1932-1942, but with a few items dating to the 1960s. Correspondents include various staff at the Library of Congress, in particular, Harold Spivacke; and folklorists, musicians, writers, academics, film directors, and others, including Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter and Woody Guthrie; various government agencies including the Works Progress Administration, Federal Writers' Project, and War Department; broadcasting and record companies; publishers; and fans of Alan Lomax's radio shows, who sent in contributions of folk songs and folklore from their childhood and communities. Documents include drafts of speeches, lectures, articles, and drafts of their books for publication.

3. Rae Korson papers, 1937-1982

   approximately 1787 items. 5 containers. 2.5 linear feet. approximately 1774 sheets. 13 photographic prints : black-and-white ; various sizes. -- American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

   Summary:

   Collection of correspondence, Library of Congress-related personnel documentation, and ephemera related to Rae Korson's tenure at the Archive of Folk Song. Correspondents include: Jan Brunvand, Sidney Robertson Cowell, Archie Green, Alta Fife, Austin Fife, Helen Hartness Flanders, Frank Gillis, Wayland Hand, Herbert Halpert, Joe Hickerson, Charles Hofmann, Charles Iler, Sandy Ives, Bruce Jackson, Maud Karpeles, George List, Judith McCulloh, Peter Nabokov, Bruno Nettl, Willard Rhodes, Ralph Rinzler, Ruth Rubin, Charles Seeger, Francis Lee Utley, Naomi Ware, Frank Warner, Dick Waterman, D.K. Wilgus, Henrietta Yurchenco, and others.