Scope and Content
Papers, sound recordings, film, video, and photographs created by and documenting the careers of folksinger and folklorist, Jean Ritchie and her husband, photographer and filmmaker, George Pickow from the 1940s to 2000. Includes sound and video recordings of folk music, folk songs, folk tales, beliefs, conversations, and family stories of Jean Ritchie, her siblings, and extended family from Viper, Kentucky; Appalachian storytelling by Richard Chase, Cratis Williams and others; documentation of church services, sermons, and hymns in Kentucky. Includes documentation of Jean Ritchie's recording career at lectures, folklore seminars, festivals, concerts, and on radio broadcasts; Ritchie and Pickow's field recordings made in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Ireland of performers including Jeannie Robertson, Hamish Henderson, Seamus Ennis, Francis McPeake, Michael Cronin, Isla Cameron, A. L. Lloyd, Ewan MacColl, Sarah Makem, and others. Includes photographs and film taken at various locations in the United States by George Pickow and recordings of many American performers including Dave Sear, Sam Eskin, Oscar Brand, Bessie Jones, and many others. One of Jean Ritchie's dulcimers and materials from her memorial service, June 14, 2015, were donated by her son Peter Pickow in 2015. This dulcimer was made by J. Edward Thomas of Bath, Knott County, Kentucky, 1923 November 16; it is described in L. Allen Smith, A Catalogue of Pre-Revival Appalachian Dulcimers (Columbia and London: University of Missouri Press, 1983), no. E8, p. 85.