Willard Rhodes papers
Scope and Content Note
Field notebooks, correspondence, publications, and photographs, related to Willard Rhodes' field expeditions to Native American communities between 1938 and 1952 on behalf of the Library of Congress and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The notebooks contain Rhodes' field notes, transcriptions, translations, and some musical notation, relating to audio recordings of Native American songs. Correspondence (1948-1979) relates primarily to the ten albums of Native American music recorded and edited by Rhodes in the Music of the American Indian series. Tribes recorded by Rhodes include Apache, Bannock, Caddo, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Chinook, Choctaw, Comanche, Creek, Delaware, Hopi, Kiowa, Klallam, Lummi, Navajo, Omaha , Paiute, Pawnee, Potawatomi, Pueblo, Quinault, San Ildefonso, Seminole, Shaker, Shoshone, Sioux, Skagit, Taos, Tewa, Tlingit, Tsaiyak, Ute, Washo, Wichita, and Zuni songs. The collections also includes 8 government and mission publications from Sioux communities.
Photographs of native peoples of Washington State were taken by Juel E. Lange in conjunction Willard Rhodes’ fieldwork. Selected photos were published in the booklet accompanying the original edition of Music of the American Indian: Northwest (Puget Sound) AFS L34. Photographs of Sioux and Pueblo children appear to have been taken by Willard Rhodes. Included in the collection are three 8 x 10 in. black-and-white photographic prints from the Bureau of Indian Affairs of BIA schools.
Dates
- Creation: 1938-1979
Language of Materials
In English and numerous Native American languages.
Access and Restrictions
Collection is open for research. To request materials, please contact the Folklife Reading Room at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/folklife.contact
Copyright Status
Duplication of collection materials may be governed by copyright and other restrictions.
Biographical Note
While working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs with equipment supplied in part by the Library of Congress, Willard Rhodes, professor of music at Columbia University recorded the music of fifty Native American tribes living primarily in the western United States. He documented, in addition to traditional genres, Christian hymns in native languages, songs with English words, and other music of recent composition. He undertook nine field surveys of Native American music between 1940 and 1952. The recordings included 260 audio discs (1940-1949) and 50 7-inch audio tape reels (1950-1952). The field projects, intended to document new music in Native American communities as well as the traditional music that was being performed, were sponsored by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Library of Congress issued ten LP recordings based on the collection through the cooperation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Arts and Crafts Board. Rhodes also edited two albums on Smithsonian Folkways Records. A selection of Native American music, recorded by Rhodes, was released on the Voyager Golden Record (1977).
Extent
140 items ; 2 containers ; .6 linear feet.
11 photographs : film negatives, black and white.
39 photographic prints : black and white ; various sizes.
1 photographic print : color ; 3 x 4 in.
16 field notebooks.
16 folders.
Abstract
Field notebooks, correspondence, publications, and photographs, related to Willard Rhodes' field expeditions to Native American communities between 1938 and 1952 on behalf of the Library of Congress and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The notebooks contain Rhodes' field notes, transcriptions, translations, and some musical notation, relating to audio recordings of Native American songs. Correspondence (1948-1979) relates primarily to the ten albums of Native American music recorded and edited by Rhodes in the Music of the American Indian series. Tribes recorded by Rhodes include Apache, Bannock, Caddo, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Chinook, Choctaw, Comanche, Creek, Delaware, Hopi, Kiowa, Klallam, Lummi, Navajo, Omaha , Paiute, Pawnee, Potawatomi, Pueblo, Quinault, San Ildefonso, Seminole, Shaker, Shoshone, Sioux, Skagit, Taos, Tewa, Tlingit, Tsaiyak, Ute, Washo, Wichita, and Zuni songs. The collections also includes eight government and mission publications from Sioux communities.
Arrangement
Collection is arranged in two series: Manuscripts and Visual Materials.
Additional Guides
Inventory is available in the Folklife Reading Room.
Catalog Record
Acquisition
Willard Rhodes; 1980.
Electronic Format
Additional formats include 3396 master digital files, scanned from the originals, 2018.
Source
- United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs (Creator, Organization)
- Rhodes, Willard, 1901-1992 (Creator, Person)
Subject
- Lange, Juel E. (Person)
- Rhodes, Willard, 1901-1992 (Person)
- Rhodes, Willard, 1901-1992--Correspondence. (Person)
- United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs (Organization)
Genre / Form
Topical
- Apache Indians--Music.
- Bannock Indians--Music.
- Caddo Indians--Music.
- Cherokee Indians--Music.
- Cheyenne Indians--Music.
- Chinook Indians--Music.
- Choctaw Indians--Music.
- Clallam Indians--Music.
- Comanche Indians--Music.
- Creek Indians--Music.
- Dakota Indians--Music.
- Delaware Indians--Music.
- Field recordings.
- Hopi Indians--Music.
- Indians of North America--Great Basin.
- Indians of North America--Great Lakes Region (North America)
- Indians of North America--Great Plains.
- Indians of North America--Middle Atlantic States.
- Indians of North America--Music.
- Indians of North America--Southern States.
- Indians of North America--Southwest, New.
- Kiowa Apache Indians--Music.
- Lummi Indians--Music.
- Navajo Indians--Music.
- Omaha Indians--Music.
- Paiute Indians--Music.
- Pawnee Indians--Music.
- Potawatomi Indians--Music.
- Pueblo Indians--Music.
- Quinault Indians--Music.
- Seminole Indians--Music.
- Shoshoni Indians--Music.
- Skagit Indians--Music.
- Songs, Hopi.
- Songs, Lummi.
- Songs, Navajo.
- Songs, Seminole.
- Songs, Tewa.
- Songs--Texts.
- Taos Indians--Music.
- Tewa Indians--Music.
- Ute Indians--Music.
- Washoe Indians--Music.
- Wichita Indians--Music.
- Zuni Indians--Music.
Uniform Title
- Title
- Guides to the Collections in the Archive of Folk Culture
- Subtitle
- AFC 1980/041
- Author
- Prepared by Kelly Revak
- Date
- March 2019
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
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