Administrative Information
Provenance
Gift of the Seeger family. Between 1940 and 1978, Charles Seeger donated his manuscript music and that of his wife, Ruth Crawford Seeger, to the Music Division. In 1982, Mike Seeger and Penny Seeger Cohen, as executors of their parents' estates, donated the Charles and Ruth Crawford Seeger materials held by their father at his death. In 1991, Pete Seeger donated a group of his father's writings and publications. In 2008, Mike Seeger donated correspondence between Ruth and Charles Seeger and other family materials. Peggy Seeger began donating her materials in 1998 and continued to make periodic donations through 2010.
Claudia Whitman donated Crawford family correspondence and photographs in 2020 and sermons by Clark Crawford in 2021.
The directors of Ewan MacColl Ltd. donated the Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger Archive formerly at Ruskin College, Oxford in 2021. These materials were originally donated by Peggy Seeger to the Ruskin College Archives after Ewan MacColl's death in 1989. Peggy Seeger added items to the collection over the intervening three decades. A format- and topic-based listing of the materials was created by Ruskin College Archives staff beginning in 1992 and regularly updated as late as 2006. A copy is appended to the finding aid as Appendix C. In 2021 the MacColl/Seeger Family decided to move the archive from Ruskin College and transfer it to the Library of Congress Music Division to become a part of the Seeger Family Collection.
Peggy Seeger donated additional files in 2023 that focus on the period following her return to England in 2010.
Accruals
Further accruals are possible.
Processing History
Library of Congress staff partially processed elements of the Seeger Family Collection as donations came in between the 1980s and 2010.
In 2019 the processing archivist created the current series structure to accommodate all post-1998 accruals – particularly the correspondence between Charles Seeger and Ruth Crawford and between Ruth and her family. The collection arrangement was refined to reflect these additions; the Peggy Seeger series was added to incorporate that extensive donation.
The Composers’ Collective subseries of the Charles L. Seeger series was previously processed as the Workers Music League Collection in 2009. Research indicated that these materials belong in the Seeger Family Collection.
Anita M. Weber and Emily Baumgart processed the Seeger Family Collection in 2019-2020 and coded the finding aid in 2020.
Melissa Capozio Jones, Shantel Lambert-Hardy, and Anita M. Weber processed the MacColl/Seeger series and coded the finding aid in 2022-2023.
After examining the MacColl/Seeger materials, the processing archivists detemined that wherever possible, the general organization of the materials and the folder titles applied at Ruskin College would remain intact. The series structure was mostly retained, but the hierarchy was rearranged and some folders relocated between or within series for greater usability. Obviously duplicative material was removed. Books and periodical publications already held by the Library of Congress special and general collections were removed. An inventory of this material is available in the Music Division's collection file.
Anita M. Weber processed the Whitman additions and coded the finding aid in 2023.
Anita M. Weber and Shantel Lambert-Hardy processed the Peggy Seeger additions and coded the finding aid in 2023.
Maya Lerman updated the finding aid to include digital files in 2024.
Transfers
Seven hundred seventy-seven audiovisual items from the MacColl-Seeger accession of the Seeger Family Collection, including CDs, audio cassettes, film reels, open reel tapes, DVDs, VHS tapes, and supporting ducumentation, were transferred to the Library of Congress American Folklife Center (AFC) in 2022. Forty-nine serial titles were transferred to AFC in 2024. An inventory of these materials are available in the Music Division's collection file.
Commercial audio recordings and moving image materials (LPs, CDs, video tapes, and DVDs) created by or about Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger from the MacColl/Seeger series of the Seeger Family Collection are expected to be transferred to the Library of Congress's National Audio-Visual Collection Center where they will be identified as part of the MacColl/Seeger series of the Seeger Family Collection. An inventory of this material is available in the Music Division's collection file.
Ten volumes from the MacColl-Seeger accession of the Seeger Family Collectionwere transferred to the Library of Congress Rare Books and Special Collections Division in 2023. An inventory of this transferred material is available in the Music Division's collection file.
Three artworks and one photograph from the Peggy Seeger addition accession of the Seeger Family Collection were transferred to the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division in 2024. An inventory of this transferred material i s available in the Music Division's collection file.
Other Repositories
The Southern Folklife Collection, University of North Carolina, houses the Mike Seeger Collection, 1923-2012 (bulk 1955-2009). The Charles Parker Archive in the Library of Birmingham’s Archives, Heritage, and Photography section contains materials related to Parker's work with Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger.
Related Material
The Library of Congress holds several collections related to the Seeger family, both within the Music Division and in other special formats divisions.
Music Division
- Sidney Robertson Cowell Collection
- Vivian Fine Music Manuscripts
- Luiz Heitor Corrêa de Azevedo Papers
- Joint Army and Navy Committee on Welfare and Recreation, Sub-Committee on Music papers
- Milton Okun Musical Arrangements
- Harold Spivacke Collection
- Louise Talma Papers
American Folklife Center
- Karen Cardullo Collection on Ruth Crawford Seeger, 1940-1979 (AFC 1988/008)
- John Cohen Collection, 1953-2011 (AFC 2011/059 FT MEADE)
- Sidney Robertson Cowell Collection, 1901-1992 (AFC 1959/004)
- Duncan Emrich Manuscript Collection, 1933-1977 (AFC 1977/007)
- Herbert Halpert 1939 Southern States Recording Expedition (AFC 1939/005)
- Resettlement Administration Recordings Collection (AFC 1939/016)
Manuscripts Division
Microfilm
Music in the Ruth Crawford Seeger series of the Seeger Family Collection was microfilmed by the Library of Congress in 1984 and 1985. A microfilm edition of these materials is available on 6 reels that are shelved as Microfilm 84/20216. These materials are described in the finding aid and may be requested using the call number and reel number listed with the item. To promote preservation of the originals, researchers are required to consult the microfilm edition.
Digital Files
Digital files were received as part of the Seeger Family Collection and have been assigned the digital ID numbers Seeger_001 through Seeger_039. The following digital IDs contained blank media or system files and were deleted: Seeger_012; Seeger_013; Seeger_016 through Seeger_019.
Use the digital ID numbers to request access copies of the files. Access to this digital content may be available onsite only in the Performing Arts Reading Room and requires advance request. Consult reference staff in the Performing Arts Reading Room for more information.
Technical Requirements
The digital files in this collection represent a wide array of formats, including .doc, .xls, .jpg, .pct, .wav, .mp3, and .bmp.
Preferred Citation
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [item, date, container, reel, or digital ID number], Seeger Family Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.