Scope and Content Note
Woody Guthrie was a prolific artist known for his achievements as a singer-songwriter and as an author. Guthrie toured and performed for a period of approximately twenty-five years, exhibiting a life-long dedication to social activism by playing his politically charged music for audiences around the nation. His output included nearly three thousand songs, several novels, and other writings in the form of articles, essays, poems, and letters. In addition, Guthrie also painted, drew cartoons, and often illustrated his writings.
From 1940 to 1950, Guthrie corresponded with staff at the Library of Congress. The most significant and frequent correspondence occurred between 1940 and 1942, when Guthrie wrote regularly to the Assistant in Charge of the Archive of American Folk Song, Alan Lomax. Their correspondence explores political issues, current events, career and recording issues, and includes personal exchanges. In addition, Guthrie sent Lomax prose pieces and other creative writings, some of which are reminiscent of journal or diary entries in their stream-of-consciousness nature. Some pieces are written on paper bags and tissue paper, some include doodles or sketches. In addition, Guthrie sent lyrics of his songs in several formats, including one large hand-bound set, smaller unbound sets, and single pages enclosed in letters. Most of these songs are ballads that used familiar melodies but addressed contemporary situations. Some of the manuscripts were written prior to 1940 and were subsequently sent to Lomax during their correspondence. In some cases Guthrie reworked or annotated old manuscripts before sending them.