Music Research at Library of Congress?

Subject: Music Research at Library of Congress?
From: harpgirl
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 02:52 PM

Nathan and I are taking our first trip to Washington, DC soon and I want to go to the Library of Congress. Can anyone tell me about music at the library? Thanks, hg

Subject: RE: Music Research at Library of Congress?
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 03:19 PM

soon? If your schedule permits, give a call, or come say hello. (and bring a 'harp!)

(Bruce O. may well answer your request, as he has done much research there....I have only been there a couple of times)

Subject: RE: Music Research at Library of Congress?
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 03:23 PM

I've spent a lot of time there. Go to the Performing Arts Reading Room (formerly Music). Card catalogs start at back right as you enter. 1st-Author/Composer, 2nd-Title, 3rd-subject. What are you interested in? I might have some tips for searching (18th century music is wretchedly cataloged, and in the card files some cards are out of alphabetical order). 'A collection of old ballads' turns out to be a collection of single sheet songs with music. Two manuscript collections have catalog cards that are identical except for the # of pages in the manuscript. There are two sets of McGlashan's 3 books of Scots tunes. One set is missing 1 of the 3 title pages, and of the 2 tps remaining, 1 is bound in at the front of the wrong book. Lots of little things to learn.

Subject: RE: Music Research at Library of Congress?
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 03:27 PM

PS: The Folkore Archive Reading Room is in the old main building across the street. Folger Shakespeare Library is to the right at the other end of the block (across from old main building)

Subject: RE: Music Research at Library of Congress?
From: harpgirl
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 07:33 PM

.....I have lots of questions. What metro stop do I use? What street is it on? What hours is it open?

I imagined I would want to look at and listen to books and recordings of old time American music. What part of the library did Joe Hickerson work in? Does the Folk Archive Reading Room have american folk music? Who might be good to talk to?

I have a cabin at Smallwood State Park for a few days and then I thought I'd find a B&B in the city. Nathan gets a week off from his school every year for a learning trip and this is what we decided we want to do.

Of course, I prefer to stay in the woods...I'm very open to advice about being in the Capitol and I always have instruments with me...hg

Subject: RE: Music Research at Library of Congress?
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 07:54 PM

Joe Hickerson has been retired for some time now, but still checks in once in a while. Find the Folklore archive on the Library of Congress website. You can listen to old field recordings there, and they have a lot of books and manuscripts. There's a metro stop a little south of it, but I don't know what it's called. I come from the opposite direction and have a long walk from Union Station. Ask someone where the Capitol is. LC is just a block to the east.

Subject: RE: Music Research at Library of Congress?
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 08:52 PM

here is the WWW site for Metro Metro Maps

....you can look at maps, get timetables...etc..

If you get a schedule figured out, there is always the 'possibility' of an impromptu music gathering, as we have MANY Mudcatters in the area (Getaway attendees...etc.)

sounds like a good trip for Nathan!...(The Smithsonian could easily consume you for weeks...the L of C for longer)...lots to see here.

Subject: RE: Music Research at Library of Congress?
From: GutBucketeer
Date: 19 Apr 01 - 11:22 PM

Ditto on Bill D's request above!!!

I have gone to the LOC several times during lunch.

The Folklife Center is in the 1st floor of the Jefferson Building.

When I went you had to enter the building from the back (2nd street) and then proceed immediately to the ID room to get your very own LOC Picture Library Card. It takes about 20 minutes. You then went further down the same hall and the FolkLife reading room was on the left.

There is also the general music and recording room in the Madison room. That is where you can request to see/hear many of the old song books that the LOC has on file. For example, I found a copy of the Steeleye Span Songbook there, as well as the Dylan Songbook that includes Wallflower.

Here is a link to a LOC campus map. It shows the location of the Capital South Metro station in the lower right hand corner. Also, Nathan would love the Air and Space and/or the Natural History Museum! Last, depending on when you are coming the Civil War Re-enactment season is startin. Though I don't participate as a re-enactor, I know there are events on May 4-5 in Northern Virginia. You should have fun!

Would love to see/meet you in 3-D. From the threads it sounds like you know a lot of old string and jug band tunes that I am becoming very interested in. Would love to help out a fellow AnnArborite in any way I can. Send a PM.

JAB

Subject: RE: Music Research at Library of Congress?
From: harpgirl
Date: 20 Apr 01 - 09:51 AM

Hi Jim. I forgot you changed your name! It would be great to meet you and Bill and Ferrara and anyone else in the area who wants to get together. I have a tentative plan to get together with another mudcatter but since I have to focus on Nathan's trip journal and I have no earthly idea what Washington DC is like, I don't know what the week will be like. We will be arrrving at SSP on April 29th.

Subject: RE: Music Research at Library of Congress?
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 20 Apr 01 - 10:11 AM

Harpgirl, if you do go to the the Performing Arts [Music] Reading Room you have to sign in at the guest register. Look at it to see if Clairsach [harpist], sometimes known as Cynthia Cathcart, is there. She makes frequent use of it. [She's on a Scots newsgroup, and lives in this area, but I've never met her. There are better known harpists that live in this area.]

Subject: RE: Music Research at Library of Congress?
From: Brian Hoskin
Date: 20 Apr 01 - 10:42 AM

I had a great time in the Folklife Center back in 1997, doing some research for my PhD. I met Joe Hickerson who was exceedingly helpful, as was Jennifer Cutting who went out of her way to offer help (Anyone know if she's still there?)I think that they were particularly impressed that I'd come all the way from the University of Wales, Lampeter, to visit the archive - it was worth it!

Brian

Subject: RE: Music Research at Library of Congress?
From: KathWestra
Date: 20 Apr 01 - 11:05 AM

Hi Harpgirl,
The Archive of Folk Culture is a tremendous resource, and there are lots of knowledgeable people there who can help you find stuff. Jennifer Cutting is still on the Folklife Center staff. Joe Hickerson, while retired, still comes in almost every day when he's in DC (he's dividing his time between DC and Chicago these days). His incredible knowledge of the collections in the archive is not to be missed, if you're lucky enough to be there on one of the days he's in town.

If you're looking for particular kinds of material, it might be a good idea to give the Archive a call before you come, to tell them what you're looking for and to let them know you'll be in on a particular day. This is especially important if you want to do any listening. The reference desk phone number is [phone].

If you're still looking for a B&B near DC, send me a PM and I'll give you a great lead of a not-too-expensive place in nearby Takoma Park. (Its owner also owns a terrific handcraft store next to the House of Musical Traditions in Takoma Park, which is the heart of DC folk territory.) Takoma Park has a Metro stop that will take you to Capitol Hill, so you can leave your car and instruments behind (a VERY good idea, since parking is at a premium near the Library, and limited to 2 hours).

Looking forward to hearing from you. Kathy

Subject: RE: Music Research at Library of Congress?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 20 Apr 01 - 09:14 PM

Harp,

I just e-mailed Joe H. in hopes he might look in at this discussion and give you the benefit of his input.

Have fun there. I spent the summer of 1964 there doing some blues research for Delmark Records. '64 was Joe's first year there. Fond memories...

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Music Research at Library of Congress?
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 20 Apr 01 - 10:12 PM

Joe Hickerson now does a monthly blurb in the FSGW Newletter. This month's is on p. 22. It's for 35 year ago, April 1966. He tells what folk music concerts were given in the DC area, and who did research or visited at the Folk Song Archive at the Library of Congress. Since he mentioned me about a year or so ago, I must have first visited about 1964-5. I don't remember doing any research that long ago, and can't remember how I wandered into there. Maybe I just got lost, or thought that was to door to the john.

Subject: RE: Music Research at Library of Congress?
From: harpgirl
Date: 21 Apr 01 - 02:52 PM

Hi Kathy, With your clues I tracked down the Blue Cottage Inn and although Jan is away until Monday, I have requested lodging for the 2nd,3rd and 4th of May with your kind help. If this works we will have fine accomodations in the woods at the Smallwood State Park the 29th, 30th and 1st and in Takoma Park for the rest of the week. I am very excited.

I spoke with one of the guests and he says the food is great so Nathan will be happy! Now I can go to the Library of Congress without too much anxiety about getting around! Thanks everyone for the help and tips! harpgirl

Subject: RE: Music Research at Library of Congress?
From:
Date: 21 Apr 01 - 03:29 PM

If I remember rightly, a number of Helen Creighton's early work was done under the auspices of the Library of Congress.

There should be copies of the field recordings there which she made, some 70 years ago.

Subject: RE: Music Research at Library of Congress?
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 21 Apr 01 - 04:58 PM

The Library of Congess has many collections of field recordings, e.g., the 'Folksongs out of Wisconsin book' is only to top part of the collection. The Library of Congess has a duplicate of the whole collection, including field recordings. Many from these collections have been on 78s and LP's for a long time. AAFS 1 to 59 are the LPs. I have Rae Korson's undated catalog of these, c 1960.

Subject: RE: Music Research at Library of Congress?
From: harpgirl
Date: 21 Apr 01 - 06:00 PM

Thanks Bruce. I'm writing all this down! Abby

Subject: RE: Music Research at Library of Congress?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Aug 06 - 05:40 PM

For anyone who might be interested:

A HISTORY OF THE ARCHIVE OF FOLK SONG AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS
PETER THOMAS BARTIS, University of Pennsylvania

Abstract

The Archive of Folk Song, renamed the Archive of Folk Culture in 1981, has provided over fifty years of special service to scholars in the fields of folklore, folklife, and ethnomusicological studies. Yet in spite of its extraordinary impact upon academic and popular social movements, few scholars are aware of its complex history and the role which the Library of Congress has played in the documentation and preservation of traditional culture in the United States. The dissertation provides a detailed history of the Archive's activities from its founding in 1928 to its fiftieth anniversary in 1978. It does so by analyzing correspondence, annual reports, memoranda, and a broad range of archival acquisitions and it presents accounts of the Archive's activities in key chronological chapters representing natural divisions in its growth and development.

Special emphasis is placed on the folk song collection expeditions of renowned collectors associated with the Archive, as well as the special projects and activities of its Heads, Robert W. Gordon, John and Alan Lomax, Benjamin Botkin, Duncan Emrich, Rae Korson, Alan Jabbour, and Joseph C. Hickerson. In addition, it examines the significant coordinative role which the Archive served for W.P.A. programs and other activities relating to the Radio Research Project, formation of the Library's Recording Laboratory, and its recording series.

The latter part of the study discusses more recent developments at the Archive in relation to the rise of the preservation movement in the United States and the development of other federal programs concerned with folklife studies.

Using the Archive as an example, the study concludes that the manifestation of folklife studies in the public sector has had a serious impact upon academic directions. As such it clarifies a facet of governmental involvement in folklife studies and it provides a substantial foundation upon which folklorists may build and consider the new and rapidly expanding role of folklorists in the federal and public sectors.

---

American Memory Collection (Music), Library of Congress

Subject: RE: Music Research at Library of Congress?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 06 Aug 06 - 05:03 AM

Does that mean there is now a 'Folk Music Industry'?

Subject: RE: Music Research at Library of Congress?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 06 Aug 06 - 05:49 PM

A nice abstract, Joe, but they want $35 (US) to let you download the report (pdf images - probably more for text?).

(At least that's what they told me.)

John

Subject: RE: Music Research at Library of Congress?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Aug 06 - 09:45 PM

Oh.
I couldn't get the PDF page to ciome up yesterday, and I figured it was just my slow connection. Many libraries and most college libraries give their patrons access to services such as this. Mine gives access to some paid services, but not this one.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Music Research at Library of Congress?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 07 Aug 06 - 12:35 AM

I'm not sure what might have happened if I'd lied and said I had a "university connection" on the query page leading up to the download page; but for an "unassociate" they did want money. It's a rather large pdf file - several MB. I believe it said it's 66 pages; but "pdf images only," which explains the large file size. The "images only" also means you'd have to OCR it to make it searchable.

Maybe after someone (with academic credentials) reads it and tells us it's great I'll look for some academic who's posted it elsewhere? Maybe the author will be proud enough to post it as text on his own website eventually?

John