Administrative Information
Provenance
The Vance Randolph Collection began with the field recordings that the Archive of American Folk Song commissioned Randolph to make in 1941 and 1942. Randolph donated his personal papers to the Library of Congress in 1972; the two accessions have been combined.
Processing History
After the 1972 donation, Beverly W. Brannan prepared an inventory in 1977, and an evaluation of the Vance Randolph Collection. The collection was then preliminarily rehoused by Judith Gray. In 1996, Camila Bryce-Laporte and Norbert Sarsfield prepared a more detailed inventory. The 1977 and 1996 inventories are located in the Corporate Subject files in the Folklife Reading Room under "Randolph, Vance." In 1999, Clare Norcio began organizing and continued the rehousing of the collection. Katie Lyn Peebles finished organizing and housing the collection in the summer of 2000.
Location
The American Folklife Center holds custody of this collection; portions are housed in other divisions. The Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division (M/B/RS) has the original discs and preservation tape copies AFS 5236-5425 (LWO 3493, reels 14-26), AFS 6397-6464 (LWO 3493, reel 42), and AFS 6897-6904 (LWO 3493, reels 56-57). See the Collection Concordance by Format for more information. The Archive of Folk Culture holds a set of reference tapes. The Prints and Photographs Division holds 40 photographs (Lot 5580) from the 1941-1942 field trips.
Preferred Citation
Vance Randolph Collection (AFC 1941/001), Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress Washington D.C.