Administrative Information
Online Content
Selections from this collection are available in an online presentation entitled: Woody Guthrie and the Archive of American Folk Song: Correspondence, 1940-1950, an online resource compiled by the National Digital Library Program of the Library of Congress. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/collafc.af000013.
Acquisition
The materials were acquired through Woody Guthrie's correspondence and personal aquaintance with Alan Lomax, who was assistant in charge of the Archive of American Folk Song from 1937-1942. The majority of the materials, mostly Guthrie's writings dating from 1935 to 1950, were accessioned between 1940 and 1951.
Preferred Citation
Woody Guthrie Manuscript Collection (AFC 1940/004), Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Related Material - Woody Guthrie Manuscript Collections at the American Folklife Center
Ken Lindsay Collection of Woody Guthrie Correspondence
AFC 2005/006. Ken Lindsay (1923-2001) was a founding partner of the Challenge Jazz Club in London, England, and worked for the International Bookshop, London, at the time of this correspondence, 1952 to 1953, in which he encouraged Guthrie's writing projects and invited him to consider touring in Europe; 29 items.
Alan Lomax Collection
AFC 2004/004. Woody Guthrie correspondence within the Alan Lomax Collection dates from 1940 to 1953, most written by Woody Guthrie to Alan Lomax, whose friendship with Guthrie continued after Lomax left the Library of Congress in 1942. Also included are collections of songs, essays, clippings, a birth announcement for Arlo Guthrie, and issues of the Woody Guthrie Newsletter, 1960-1966, which documents Guthrie's activities and failing health up to the time of his death in 1967; circa ten linear inches in 3 boxes, including oversize.
Related Material - Woody Guthrie Sound Recordings at the American Folklife Center
Alan Lomax Collection of Woody Guthrie Recordings
AFC 1940/007. Recorded March 21, 22 and 27, 1940, at Radio Broadcasting Division of the Department of Interior, Washington, D.C. Seventeen 12-inch discs: 4 hours, 27 minutes duration. Conversation, songs, stories, and life story or autobiography as told by Woody Guthrie to Alan and Elizabeth Lomax. Recorded by Nev. Rumble.
Alan Lomax CBS Radio Series Collection
AFC 1939/002, AFS 4507. American School of the Air radio broadcast aired April 2, 1940, from New York, Columbia Broadcasting System. One 16-inch disc: 14 minutes duration (5 minutes feature Guthrie). Part I of the 22nd American School of the Air "Folk Music of America" series segment, "Poor Farmer Songs." Features Alan Lomax, the Golden Gate Quartet, and Woody Guthrie.
Alan Lomax CBS Radio Series Collection
AFC 1939/002, AFS 4508. American School of the Air radio broadcast aired April 2, 1940, from New York, Columbia Broadcasting System. One 16-inch disc: 15 minutes duration (13 minutes feature Guthrie). Part II of the 22nd American School of the Air "Folk Music of America" series segment, "Poor Farmer Songs." Features Alan Lomax, the Golden Gate Quartet, and Woody Guthrie.
Alan Lomax CBS Radio Series Collection
AFC 1939/002, AFS 13498-99. American School of the Air radio broadcast aired April 23, 1940, from New York, Columbia Broadcasting System. One 16-inch disc: 27 minutes duration (3 minutes feature Guthrie). The final broadcast of "Folk Music in America" for the 1939-1940 season, featuring Alan Lomax with the Golden Gate Quartet, Woody Guthrie, and Leadbelly.
Leadbelly Radio Audition
AFC 1991/018. One 16-inch disc: 15 minutes duration. Leadbelly performs for NBC radio on June 9, 1940, with narration by Woody Guthrie.
Alan Lomax CBS Radio Series Collection
AFC 1939/002, AFS 4510. Aired August 19, 1940, from New York, Columbia Broadcasting System. One 16-inch disc: 30 minutes duration (12 minutes feature Guthrie). The pilot broadcast of "Back Where I Come From," on the topic of "Weather," featuring Clifton (Kip) Fadiman, host; Len Doyle, "The Expert"; the Golden Gate Quartet, Woody Guthrie, Burl Ives, Willie Johnson, and Josh White.
Mike Seeger Collection
AFC 1995/004 and dub numbers 14A5-14A9; recorded circa 1940 in New York. One 7-inch reel copied from a disc recording: 10 minutes duration. Woody Guthrie performs with Pete Seeger.
Songs by Woody Guthrie
AFC 1941/031 recorded January 4, 1941, in the Recording Laboratory at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. One 16-inch disc: 28 minutes duration. Seven songs performed by Woody Guthrie; each song includes spoken introduction. Recorded by Alan Lomax and John Langenegger.
Almanac Singers Recording
AFC 1942/013. Recorded January 1942 in New York. Two 10-inch, four 12-inch discs: 18 minutes duration. The Almanac Singers and Alan Lomax, John A. Lomax, and Earl Robinson.
Woody Guthrie Concert and Conversation, April 14, 1951
AFC 1991/003; recorded April 14, 1951, at St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland. Cassette copy of a wire spool recording: 24 minutes duration. Guthrie performs in concert at St. John's College. There are very few recordings of Guthrie concerts; this recording is the last known recorded concert performance.
Related Materials at the Library of Congress
Other divisions of the Library of Congress have additional archival materials pertaining to Woody Guthrie. The Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division holds 12 hours of sound recordings and one 20-minute film; the Music Division holds microfilmed manuscript material; and the Prints and Photographs Division holds 33 items in the form of photographic prints and printed materials.
For further details on the materials in these divisions, visit:
Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division at http://www.loc.gov/rr/mopic/
Music Division at http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/
Prints and Photographs Division at http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/