Scope and Content
Collection of field recordings, studio recordings, and dubs and production masters of performances by blues guitarist Mississippi John Hurt, from the time of Hurt's initial meeting with Tom Hoskins, at Hurt's home in Avalon, Mississippi in March 1963 through various sessions and events from 1963-1965. The collection resulted from Tom Hoskins' relationship with Mississippi John Hurt over the next few years and includes Hoskins' interviews and photographs of John Hurt and his home; includes original letters from John Hurt and Jessie Hurt, with Hoskins' collection of various published articles and ephemera about Mississippi John Hurt, dated 1963-1999. John Hurt and his family moved to Washington, D.C. and he became a popular performer in the blues revival, coffeehouse, and folk music circuits. The collection includes an interview and performances by John Hurt recorded in the Coolidge Auditorium at the Library of Congress, in Washington, D.C. over several days in July, 1963. John Hurt and his family returned to Mississippi in 1966 and Hurt died soon after, on November 2, 1966. A selection from the March 1963 field recordings was issued in 2011 as the album Discovery: The Rebirth of John Hurt, March 3, 1963. Spring Fed Records.