John Cohen collection, circa 1939-2019

Access restrictions apply. Some or all content stored offsite.

Collection Summary

Title	John Cohen collection, circa 1939-2019
Inclusive Dates	circa 1939-2019
Call No.	AFC 2011/059
Creator	Cohen, John, 1932-2019
Extent (whole collection)	approximately 32,630 items
Extent (whole collection)	37 linear feet
Extent (manuscripts)	83 containers ; 17,300 sheets
Extent (graphic materials)	121 photographs : film negatives, black-and-white and color ; 35 mm
Extent (graphic materials)	approximately 1750 photographic prints : black-and-white and color
Extent (graphic materials)	1,271 photographs : digital, TIFF files
Extent (graphic materials)	70 posters : black-and-white and color ; 24 x 33 in. and smaller
Extent (graphic materials)	379 paintings and drawings : black-and-white and color ; 22.5 x 28 in. and smaller
Extent (graphic materials)	10 oil paintings, watercolor and mixed media pieces : color ; 15 x 18 in. and smaller
Extent (sound recordings)	223 sound cassettes : analog
Extent (sound recordings)	107 sound wire reels : analog
Extent (sound recordings)	575 sound tape reels (5 in., 7in., 10 in.) : analog
Extent (sound recordings)	456 sound discs : analog, 45 rpm ; 7 in.
Extent (electronic media)	34 sound discs (CD-R) : optical ; 4 3/4 in.
Extent (electronic media)	20 sound discs (DVD-R) : optical ; 4 3/4 in.
Extent (electronic media)	11 floppy disks : digital ; 3 1/2 in.
Extent (electronic media)	43 floppy disks : digital ; 5 1/4 in.
Extent (electronic media)	922 text and image files from CD-R, DVD-R, floppy disks : digital
Extent (electronic media)	1 hard drive with 7,520 moving image, audio, still image files : digital
Extent (moving images)	approximately 1800 film elements in 900 containers from 16 finished films
Extent (moving images)	16 films reels : color ; 16 mm
Extent (artifacts)	1 banjo ; 5 string
Language	Collection materials in English and Quechua.
Location	American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Finding Aid Permalink	Cite or bookmark this finding aid as: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/eadafc.af020003
LCCN Permalink	LC Catalog record: https://lccn.loc.gov/2014655562
Summary	Collection of manuscripts, sound recordings, graphic images, and moving images created and collected by John Cohen. The materials document Cohen's parallel careers as a musician (member of the New Lost City Ramblers) and writer during the 1960s American folk music revival, and his celebrated work as a documentary photographer and filmmaker, producer, and artist from the 1950s to the present. Includes interviews made by Cohen with John Hartford, Harry Smith, Roger McGuinn, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Gary Davis, John Summers, Cousin Emmy, Roscoe Holcomb, Charlie Higgins, Wade Ward, Friends of Old Time Music, High Atmosphere, and photographs of these and others including E. C. Ball, Clancy Brothers, Elizabeth Cotten, Willie Dixon, Jack Elliott, Woody Guthrie, Mary Frank, Lilly Brothers, Alan Lomax, Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, Mike Seeger, Stanley Brothers, Belle Stewart, Stony Mountain Boys, Merle Travis, Muddy Waters, Doc Watson and many others. The collection includes documentation of Greenwich Village and Harlem, New York City; Cohen's travels to Paris and Spain in the 1950s; and later to England, Wales, Scotland, Germany, Italy and Japan, and other countries. Notable is his research for his master's thesis on Peruvian textile weaving, and subsequent fieldwork in Peru. Subsequent projects in Peru incorporated sound recordings of Andean music, and films as well as books about weaving, music, festivals, and dance. The majority of Cohen's Peru photographs were taken during his first three trips there and focus primarily on indigenous Andean people in the Q'ero region.