Scope and Content
While Sam Eskin's interests were broad in scope, his multi-format collection of manuscripts, published materials, sound recordings, and still images concentrates and builds upon his early interests in American folk music.
The collection centers around field recordings Eskin made in the United States from 1938 to 1966. Not only are these recordings the source material for a number of his original song notations and transcriptions, certain performers' names reappear in his correspondence, business records, notes, and photographs. Another topical connection between the manuscript and audio portions of the collection is bawdy humor. From the beginning, Eskin marked risque field recordings with a Greek delta symbol, and created a Humorous subdivision for his bawdy song transcriptions. He also maintained a healthy file of limericks that mirror the tone and intent of his "delta" recordings.
The manuscript portion of Sam Eskin Collection contains original and printed material, broken into eight main categories: 1) administrative records related to the transfer and acquisition of the collection; 2) clippings/articles related to folk music; 3) Eskin's correspondence with other enthusiasts, performers, and scholars; 4) Eskin's notes and drafts for lectures, presentations, and radio interviews; 5) mailings and advertisements from societies and studios, including festival programs and newsletters; 6) ideas, notes, quotations, and song lists jotted or typed onto slips of paper; 7) a collection of bawdy limericks; and 8) a comprehensive collection of song notations and transcriptions. The last category includes the majority of the manuscript items. Many of these notations were taken directly from original disc and reel-to-reel field recordings and remain in subdivided categories organized by Eskin. It should also be noted that, while a handful of these manuscript items are related to traditional Mexican music, the majority of these manuscripts are directly related to folk music in the United States.
Prominent individuals Eskin corresponded with include: Jorge Luis Arriola, Sidney Robertson Cowell, Arthur Kyle Davis, E.L. Doctorow, J.D. Elder, Alta and Austin Fife, Jim Geary, Bess Lomax Hawes, Joseph Hickerson, Joe Helmer, George List, Seymour B. Liebman, Alan Lomax, Ben Gray Lumpkin, Dorothy Mehrton, Archie Leroy Musick, Tom Paxton, Pete Seeger, Irwin Silber, and Margaret Valiant.
The audio portion of this collection consists of disc and reel-to-reel field recordings, duplicates, and commercial recordings. A complete list of commercial recordings transferred to the Motion Picture, Broadcast, and Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress is available in the Folklife Reading Room. Even more than the manuscript series, these sound recordings reflect Eskin's diverse musical interests, his exploration into different genres, and his experimentation with field recording techniques. Although Eskin did not keep formal records of field recording sessions, information regarding songs, locations, and performers are noted on disc sleeves, reel-to-reel boxes, and select items located in the manuscript portion of the collection. While a few of the American performers in these recordings were prominent artists at the time, Eskin made a number of recordings with artists who did not achieve commercial recognition until much later in their careers. Some of Eskin's recordings are performed by unidentified artists.
Eskin's first field recordings were made on discs, which he used from 1940 to 1949. During this time, his many cross-country trips from New York to California were spent recording American folk music. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Eskin made audio copies of these field recordings on 16-inch preservation discs. Concerned over the viability of magnetic tape, he also made 16-inch discs of reel-to-reel field recordings made from the early 1950s, and transferred a small selection of commercial jazz and blues songs, commercial releases of international music, radio broadcasts, and miscellaneous recordings onto the 16-inch disc format. The 12-inch discs included in this collection appear to be given to Eskin by an unidentified collector.
Eskin switched to reel-to-reel tape in 1949. When it was clear that magnetic tape had become a recording standard, Eskin migrated his disc recordings onto tape, and began duplicating of his own tapes, other collectors' recordings, and commercial songs or albums. While he continued making field recordings in the United States, beginning in 1950 Eskin collected music during his more frequent travels abroad. His visits to Mexico, Israel, Spain, and the British Isles yielded a respectable cache of field recordings, which are supplemented by recordings he made in the Middle East, the Caribbean, and East Asia. Also included in AFC 1999/004 are two sets of commercial recordings containing songs performed by Eskin: Sam Eskin Songs and Ballads (four 10-inch discs, 2 sets) and Vistas of Israel (four 16-inch discs).
In 1952, Eskin duplicated thirty-one of his reel-to-reel tape field recordings for the Archive of Folk Song (AFS 10,501-10,506). Eskin also collaborated on a second duplication project to make copies of his earliest disc field recordings for the Archive of Folk Song in 1960 (AFS 11,712-11,719). Additional original recordings used in these duplication projects are included in this collection.
The graphic images in this collection consist of 55 black-and-white prints of various sizes, one color print, two negatives, and a handful of unused postcards depicting views of instruments and instumentalists. Two thirds of the photographic subjects have been identified as field recording performers.
The remaining subjects, while unidentified, are also assumed to be performers. The database created for this collection contains listings and locations for the graphic images and musical transcriptions and notations, as well as searchable title, performer, and descriptive fields pertaining to Eskin's instantaneous discs, reel-to-reel tapes, and original field recordings. This database is available in the Folklife Reading Room.