Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009)-Memorial Jun 21

Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009)
From: SaulBro
Date: 02 Apr 09 - 11:41 AM

The url for the Univ. of Illinois Campus Folksong Club didn't seem to appear in my previous post, so here it is:
http://www.library.uiuc.edu/edx/folklore/cfc.htm

Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009)
From: Michael S
Date: 02 Apr 09 - 12:06 PM

Better late than never, Archie's death finally noted by the San Francisco Chronicle, the town where he owned a home (for 59 years) and did much of his work. There's little new here, but I think the Chronicle's obit should have a home in this thread.

Aaron "Archie" Green, folklorist of labor, dies
John Coté, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, April 2, 2009

Aaron "Archie" Green, the former San Francisco shipwright who became an author, folklorist, university professor and labor historian credited with creating the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, has died of renal failure.

Dr. Green was 91 when he died March 22 in the upper Castro house he and his wife bought in 1950, when the neighborhood was filled with blue-collar families.

He had a kind of folksy energy that was impossible to ignore, whether it was at a union hall, a San Francisco Port Commission meeting or in the corridors of Congress.

Hailed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the Congressional Record and awarded the Library of Congress' Living Legend Award, Dr. Green leaves behind a coast-to-coast legacy of chronicling the lives of workers and the term he coined to describe it: "laborlore."

He was a pioneer who inspired others to do the same.

"I never in my life dreamed I would write a book," said Michael Munoz, a retired Oakland pile driver and union archivist who met Dr. Green in 1982. His prodding compelled Munoz to write the book "Pilebutt" on the efforts of the laborers who did the tough work of anchoring bridges, dams and skyscrapers.

"All I was doing was collecting the material in the union hall and putting it in a cabinet," Munoz said. "Archie decided I needed to write a book."

And when Dr. Green decided something needed to happen, it usually did, such as when he lobbied Congress to support the American Folklife Preservation Act, which passed unanimously and was signed by President Ford in 1976.

The act created American Folklife Center, an archive of more than 4,000 collections of photos, documents and recordings ranging from American Indian song and dance to tales of "Bruh Rabbit," told in the Gullah dialect of the Georgia Sea Islands.

Born in 1917 in Winnipeg, Canada, to Ukrainian Jewish immigrants, he moved to Boyle Heights in Los Angeles with his parents in 1922.

He graduated in 1939 from UC Berkeley with a degree in philosophy and began working on the San Francisco waterfront in 1940. He served in the Navy's legendary Seabees Construction Battalion during World War II and then returned to the shipwright's trade and carpentry while raising a family in San Francisco.

"When he wasn't working on the job, he was working around the house," building a den, fixing up the back porch, adding another room, recalled his son, Derek Green.

In 1958, Archie Green returned to academia, earning a master's degree from the University of Illinois in 1960. He went on to earn a doctorate in folklore from the University of Pennsylvania. His first book, "Only a Miner," published in 1971, combined his support for labor and love of country music. He would go on to publish at least eight books, including "The Big Red Songbook" in 2007, featuring lyrics from editions of the Industrial Workers of the World's "Little Red Songbooks" dating back to 1909.

In 1975 he was hired as a folklore professor at the University of Texas. He retired from the university in 1982 and donated his collected materials to the Southern Folklife Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He returned to San Francisco, wrote and delved into labor issues, most recently the ongoing effort to preserve the five-story Islais Creek Copra Crane at Pier 84. Laborers used the crane, built in the early '70s, to unload dried coconut.

Dr. Green is survived by his wife Louanne, sons David Green of San Francisco and Derek Green of Montara, daughter Debra Morrisof Boone, Iowa, four grandchildren and sister Mitzi Zeman.

A public memorial service is being planned.

The family suggests memorial contributions go to an educational institution of the donor's choice or to the Fund for Labor Culture & History in San Francisco (www.laborculture.org).

E-mail John Coté at [e-mail].

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/02/BACH16Q9K0.DTL

This article appeared on page B - 6 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009)
From: GUEST,Peggy Bulger
Date: 05 Apr 09 - 02:10 PM

I have just read this incredible thread . . . thanks to Saul Brody for being the "link" between this list and "Publore", the listserve for about 700 folklorists across the country. I just wanted to say that at the American Folklife Center we are creating a "presentation book" for Archie's family with all of the tributes that have been posted to Publore, and I would like to include these posts also. I am hoping that will be OK with everyone? If not, just email me at [e-mail] and we can adjust. Also, we are hoping to do a DC-based memorial/celebration of Archie's life, after the family memorial has happened. Since Saul is the link here, he can post the information to you all when we post it to Publore.

Archie was so amazing that we are overwhelming with his wide-ranging connections that will bind us forever . .

Peggy A. Bulger
American Folklife Center
Library of Congress

---

e-mail sent. Joe Offer

Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009)
From: Mark Ross
Date: 05 Apr 09 - 03:45 PM

I don't see why anyone here in 'Catland would have any objection to their inclusion in a presentation book. Archie was dear to many of us and will be missed. He was the shortest giant I ever met.

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009)
From: Franz S.
Date: 09 Apr 09 - 09:12 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009)
From: GUEST,from tokyo,japan
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 08:40 PM

i saw "us public folklore" the watershed years .
thanks.

kiyohide at tokyo folklore center

Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009)
From: Michael S
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 09:35 AM

CELEBRATE THE LIFE AND WORK OF ARCHIE GREEN
Hosted by the Labor Archives and Research Center (415-564-4010)

June 21, 2009
1:00PM to 4:00PM

McKenna Theatre, Creative Arts Building
San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94123

Musical Tribute by Hazel Dickens, Mike Seeger, Elaine Purkey

RSVP Derek Green -- derekgreen--at--att.net

---Michael Scully
---Austin, TX

Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009)
From: Mary Katherine
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 12:36 PM

Michael, thanks very much for posting the info re the memorial. However, when I tried to email Derek to RSVP, his email bounced as "account suspended."
I'll try again every now and then, but will definitely be there!

Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009)
From: Michael S
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 12:51 PM

Regarding the memorial, I screwed up the RSVP line in the announcement. Talk about doing more harm than good. I apologize to everyone. The correct RSVP is:

derekgreen--at--att.net

And of course, substitute the @ symbol in the appropriate place.
Sorry folks.
It would be great if a Mudcat leader can correct this in the original announcement.

Sorry.
Michael Scully

---

Fixed it, Michael. -Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009)-Memorial Jun 21
From: Mary Katherine
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 10:19 AM

Lovely, if belated, obituary for Archie has just appeared (!) in the Guardian (UK), written by old time music scholar Tony Russell.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jul/01/obituary-archie-green-folklorist

Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009)-Memorial Jun 21
From: Waddon Pete
Date: 01 Jan 12 - 04:42 PM

I've added Archie to the Memorial Thread.

Best wishes,

Peter

Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009)-Memorial Jun 21
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Jan 12 - 10:05 PM

Excellent thread. I have just obtained a copy of this book, but have not had a chance to read it yet:

Archie Green: The Making of a Working Class Hero.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009)-Memorial Jun 21
From: GUEST,Charlie Frederick
Date: 09 Mar 12 - 10:02 PM

Archie was a great educator and promoter of folklore and music. I had the distinct pleasure in knowing and cominicating with Archie whne I was in Los Angeles. My song "Twenty-Nine More Men" was included in the album "Work's Many Voices" an album compiled by Archie and distributed by JEMF. The world lost a great man and inspiration for all who love old music and its historical implications. RIP Archie....

Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009)-Memorial Jun 21
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 16 Mar 12 - 10:48 AM

The Mind of Labor's Champion - a lengthy review by Herbert Reid of the Sean Burns's biography, "Archie Green: The Making of a Working Class Hero", on the website Daily Yonder.

The opening:

"Imaginatively, we reach under the melting pot to retard its flame." This is how Archie Green (1917-2009) once described the work of public folklorists.

Sean Burns highlights the comment in drawing his fascinating and insightful yet measured study of Green to a close. The statement is indeed key to Archie's approach and underlies his commitments both to cultural pluralism in general and to authentic expressions of regionally specific arts in particular – music especially.

Recordings and documentation of traditional performers were among many amazing trails Archie blazed. Now we have a book that traces his work through the dense forest of cultural politics without losing us at the first turn.

~ Becky in Long Beach