 sj |
||
|
||
Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009)-Memorial Jun 21
|
|
|
Subject: Obit: Archie Green From: Mark Ross Date: 23 Mar 09 - 11:12 AM It is my sad duty to report that my old friend Archie Green passed away on Saturday. He was 92 years old and had been failing for a couple of months. The doctor told him that his heart and kidneys were wearing out, and Archie decided that it was time. He died at home in his sleep with his family around him. Archie had been a shipwright and carpenter who went into academia. He was the author of many books on the subject of working class culture, among them ONLY A MINER, and THE BIG RED SONGBOOK. He was also considered the Godfather of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. It was his lobbying efforts that helped push the legislation through to passage. I would calll him from time to time to ask a question or tell him a new story, or just to get his opinion on something or other. When the economy started to collapse last year I asked, "Archie, are you getting a feeling of deja vu?" He just laughed. Despite the asbestosis contracted from working in the shipyards many years ago he was tireless and indefatigible in his search for truth and insight. I will miss him. Mark Ross |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green From: Big Mick Date: 23 Mar 09 - 11:19 AM He will be missed. I ordered the Big Red Songbook as soon as it came out (from CAMSCO)and it is a treasure. This is why it is so important to collect all the knowledge you can from these living treasures. Then you have to pass it on. Rest well, Mick |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green From: Goose Gander Date: 23 Mar 09 - 11:29 AM Archie Green was a talented folklorist, an engaging writer and a great person. He gave me some sound advice when I was working on my MA thesis a few years back. He will be missed. |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green From: Art Thieme Date: 23 Mar 09 - 12:48 PM The University of Chicago Folk Festival---He and I were walking around the campus between festival sessions in 1961 or '62. I was real young--20 or 21 years old and I couldn't get the idea of what he was trying to tell me about how to write a paper with substance on a particular song. So Archie gave me a copy of one of his own papers on the Carter Family and their song "The Coal Miner's Blues." I'm holding it right now having just retrieved it from being inserted inside the voluminous book he wrote---ONLY A MINER. (University Of Illinois Press) That small pamphlet became a primer for me to look at when I was serious about writing any treatise on other songs. I have good memories of Archie Green. Definitely, he was important to me as an early influence. Thanks Mr. Green! Art Thieme |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green From: Michael S Date: 23 Mar 09 - 01:02 PM I feel a tremendous loss. I spoke to Archie for the last time about one month ago, and right now I'm very sorry that I did not check in every single day. He was a great intellect, a great friend, a great person, and he will be long remembered. I met Archie in the early 90s when I was living and practicing law in San Francisco. I was bored with work. I was already a "folk music fan" (broadly defined), and I was beginning a strange journey that involved (initially) self-education into more academic ideas of tradition and heritage. I met Ron Cohen, historian of the folk music revival, and he encouraged me to call Archie Green. "He lives 5 minutes from you and he's in the book." I checked Archie's first book, Only A Miner, out of the library, read it, and called him. For what, I don't know. To meet and learn from a cool guy. "Come over tomorrow morning," he said. I went over and we talked for three hours. Archie understood that I wanted to learn stuff he knew, and he said something like, "let's start with minstrelsy for the moment." Minstrelsy? What's this got to do with Phil Ochs? I learned, and we had many such meetings. Sometimes we drove to the SF Marina, sat on a bench, looked out at the Bay and Archie--a WW II era shipwright--told me about the boats. At his home, we'd talk for a long time and then Archie would get restless, and announce out of nowhere, "well, this has been a great talk, time to go," and I'd be on the steps in 30 seconds. I learned to read the signals. One day I saw the restlessness and began to take my leave, when Archie announced, "I'm starving. Let's see what's in the kitchen." He cooked us omelettes filled with veggies. I felt as if I'd crossed a barricade. A running gag among Archie's friends was, "have you seen the Archie Green doll? Wind it up and it introduces people to each other." He always wanted people to connect. He knew it made for better work and he just liked for people to be together. At an academic conference in North Carolina Archie grabbed me and introduced me to some grad student. He said "Michael, you have to talk to Joe here. Joe's doing great, cutting edge work." He then wandered off and left me with "Joe." "How long have you known Archie?" I said. "I met him about an hour ago," said Joe. "He has no idea what I'm doing." When I told Archie I wanted to write a book about folk music, he didn't laugh or grimace, though the idea was preposterous. He asked what about, and then he read chunks of text that I'd send him. At the International Country Music Conference in Nashville, 2005, he cornered Judy McCullough, long time editor for the University of Illinois Press. "Judy, this is Michael," as he pulled me in front of her. "You have to publish his book." She squirmed, smiled, talked to me a bit, told me how hard the publishing business had become, and three years later, Illinois published my book. Archie's public intellectual life reached back to the 1950s. He led the Campus Folksong Club at the University of Illinois, was involved in the earliest University of Chicago Folk Festivals. As Mark wrote above, he led the effort to establish the American Folklife Center. He was a champion of the working man and the labor movement, and a staunch anti-communist leftie. He used to say that the organized left didn't understand that working people were more taken with Hank Williams than with Woody Guthrie. In our last talk, he told me he wanted to involve himself in efforts to make certain that the Obama arts policy included recognition of vernacular culture. He was calling people to make sure everyone he knew would get on board. He was a wonderful man, and a great man. Sorry for the length. Michael Scully Austin |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green From: Mark Ross Date: 23 Mar 09 - 01:15 PM Don't apologize, it's wonderful to hear from you. Archie was a force of nature. It was always a pleasure to be around him. I got him up to Butte Montana for the commemoration of the Speculator Mine disaster and dedication of a monument to that terrible tragedy. June, but it started snowing(it does that in Butte). Didn't faze Archie at all, though he was starting to get short of breath from the altitude and lack of oxygen(he had asbestosis). And back at the house he would interrogate me on what I was doing and where did all these people come from, and how did they make a living, etc. It was a memorable time. I also got him to autograph my copies of his books. He said he'd never had the chance to sign all of them at once for one person and he was tickled pink. Unfortunately, I would have liked to get his signature on THE BIG RED SONGBOOK when I would be in the Bay area in June, but I guess it's too late now. Mark Ross Ps.Michael, Is this your book? The Never-Ending Revival (ISBN: 0252033337 / 0-252-03333-7) Michael F. Scully Bookseller: Indoo.com (Avenel, NJ, U.S.A.) Book Description: University of Chicago press. |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green From: Michael S Date: 23 Mar 09 - 01:58 PM Mark-- that is my book. The last time I saw Archie -- maybe a year-plus since I'm no longer in SF--he gave me a bound reprint of his seminal article from the '50s on hillbilly music. I wish I had asked him to sign it. Did he sign your stuff in green ink? He sent me a few notes with that green signature-- an endearing affectation. Through a third party who's talked to Archie's son, I learned that the family understands the need to have some public memorial in the future. If you learn of that, would you post the info here or PM me, and I'll do the same for you. I hope this note hasn't gotten too personal for the Cat, but for those Catters who don't know of Archie, read his Wikipedia page and learn about an interesting guy. Cheers, Michael |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green From: Mark Ross Date: 23 Mar 09 - 02:05 PM Here's a link to Archies' entry on Wikipedia Archie Green Wikipedia Mark Ross |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green From: GUEST,DWR Date: 23 Mar 09 - 04:00 PM Oh, my. Archie Green was my first real introduction to what's behind the curtain. Of course, later on there was Dr. William K. McNeil, whom I knew personally and Charles K. Wolfe who I knew through Dr. Bill. Giants in the field. I never knew Archie except through his work and more's the pity. I know I would have liked him, too. All three of those men carried with them things we will never know. Yes, Giants. |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green From: Jack Campin Date: 23 Mar 09 - 04:50 PM Update of the Wikipedia piece by Tim Lloyd of the AFS: Archie Green (June 29, 1917 ? March 22, 2009) was a scholar of laborlore, defined as the special folklore of workers. He gathered and commented upon the speech, stories, songs, emblems, rituals, art, artifacts, memorials, and landmarks which constitute laborlore. After many years of tireless volunteer advocacy, he won Congressional support for passage of the American Folklife Preservation Act of 1976 (P.L. 94-201), which established the American Folklife Center. A Fellow of the American Folklore Society, he also received the Benjmain Botkin Prize for outstanding achievement in public folklore from the American Folklore Society. In August 2007 he received the Living Legend award from the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress. Born Aaron Green in Winnipeg, Manitoba, he moved with his parents to Los Angeles, California, in 1922. He grew up in southern California, began college at UCLA, and transferred to the University of California at Berkeley, from which he received a bachelor's degree in 1939. He then worked in the San Francisco shipyards and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He was a member of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America for over sixty-seven years and was a Journeyman Shipwright. Green enrolled in graduate school in 1958, earning an M.L.S. degree from the University of Illinois in 1960 and a Ph.D. in folklore from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968. He combined his support for labor and love of country music in the research that became his first book, Only a Miner. Green joined the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1960, where he held a joint appointment in the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations and the English Department until 1972. Working as a senior staff associate at the AFL-CIO's Labor Studies Center in the early 1970s, he initiated programs presenting workers' traditions at the Smithsonian Institution's Festival of American Folklife on the National Mall. He became known for his work on occupational folklore and on early old-time music recordings. In 1975 he joined the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin. He was awarded the Bingham Humanities Professorship at the University of Louisville in 1977, and was a Woodrow Wilson Center fellow in Washington, DC, in 1978. His articles have appeared in Appalachian Journal, Journal of American Folklore, Labor's Heritage, Musical Quarterly, and other periodicals and anthologies. He retired from the University of Texas at Austin in June 1982, and established an archive for his collected materials in the Southern Folklife Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In retirement from teaching, Green continued to write and publish the results of years of research. He completed books on tinsmiths' art, using examples from northern California (Tin Men, 2002); a monograph on millwrights in northern California over the twentieth century (2003), and a collection of essays on the Sailor's Union of the Pacific (2006). Most notable has been the 2007 publication of The Big Red Songbook, featuring the lyrics to the 190 songs included in the various editions of the Industrial Workers of the World's Little Red Songbooks from 1909 to 1973. Green inherited the project from John Neuhaus, a machinist and Wobbly who devoted years to collecting a nearly complete set of the IWW songbooks and determining what music the songs had been set to. When Neuhaus died of cancer in 1958, he gave his unique collection of songbooks, sheet music and other materials to Green, who vowed to carry on Neuhaus's vision of a complete edition of IWW songs. Green deposited Neuhaus's original materials in the folklife archive at the University of North Carolina. At home in San Francisco, Green served as secretary of the nonprofit Fund for Labor Culture & History. Founded in July 2000, the Fund has worked with the National Trust for Historic Preservation to identify labor landmarks in San Francisco and install commemorative plaques, supported the publication of books on , labor songs and historic labor landmarks, prepared guides to films on skilled union craftsmen, and helped the United Mine Workers restore the Ludlow Monument in Colorado. Books by Archie Green: Only a Miner: Studies in Recorded Coal-Mining Songs (University of Illinois Press, 1972) Wobblies, Pile Butts, and Other Heroes (University of Illinois Press, 1993). Songs About Work (Indiana University Folklore Institute, 1993). Calf's Head & Union Tale (University of Illinois Press, 1996). Torching the Fink Books & Other Essays on Vernacular Culture (The University of North Carolina Press, 2001). Tin Men (University of Illinois Press, 2002). Millwrights in Northern California, 1901-2002 (Northern California Carpenters Regional Council, 2003). Harry Lundeberg's Stetson & Other Nautical Treasures (Crockett, CA: Carquinez Press, 2006). Co-editor, The Big Red Songbook (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Co., 2007). |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green From: Michael S Date: 23 Mar 09 - 05:58 PM This article, discussing Archie's work with The Big Red Songbook is, to me, a bit livelier than the also informative Wiki entry. Michael Scully Austin |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: Art Thieme Date: 23 Mar 09 - 11:59 PM In the book, Archie had some very nice things to say about tapes I made of then 93 year old Wobbly named Paul Durst in 1961. It was great to see Paul get his due---or at least some of it. Art |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: GUEST,MaryJoy Date: 24 Mar 09 - 10:15 AM Mentor, inspiration, friend — I will miss him more than words can say. Archie was the wind behind these last years of my long research for a biography of Vincent St. John. Archie and his dearest pal, Henry, loved "Vint" as much as I. We three discussed and plotted and planned — and in the end I had hoped to have the book completed so Archie could read it. His eyes were failing, but his spirit was brighter than ever. I'm coming in close to the finish line... but Archie took flight. He will remain my inspiration and take me to the sky, for he would never want any of us to keep our feet on the ground in sorrow, although our hearts ache with his absence. Gentle, laughing, guiding, delightful spirit -- Archie will be with us always. The biography is dedicated to him and to Henry. Let your wings reach the sun, Archie! MaryJoy |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: Mark Ross Date: 24 Mar 09 - 11:07 AM MaryJoy, As a long time member(38 years)of the IWW, I would appreciate if you would e-mail me at; markross@epud.net to talk about this book. I was also a friend of Archies'. Mark Ross |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: GUEST,from tokyo,japan Date: 24 Mar 09 - 11:36 AM i have his beautiful book " ONLY A MINER " thanks. kiyohide at tokyo folklore cener |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: GUEST,Bill Bishop Date: 24 Mar 09 - 01:23 PM Here is an obit from The Daily Yonder: http://www.dailyyonder.com/archie-green-1917-2009-called-labor/2009/03/24/2015 |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: Mark Ross Date: 24 Mar 09 - 01:38 PM Here's a blue clicky; http://www.dailyyonder.com/archie-green-1917-2009-called-labor/2009/03/24/2015 |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: GUEST,Bob L. Cox Date: 24 Mar 09 - 02:07 PM I too am deeply sadden by the passing of my friend, Archie Green. He wrote the Afterword to my Fiddlin' Charlie Bowman book a couple years ago. I will never forget in 2005 when I nervously stood up to deliver the International Country Music Conference Keynote Address at Belmont University in Nashville seeing an older gentleman come in just as I started speaking and then sit down in a chair right in front of my podium. He laughed all through my presentation and even wiped tears from his eyes a few time. It was Archie Green. When it was his time to lead a panel discussion, he did so with such power and magnetism. He was truly a country music scholar and a gentlemen. He interviewed Charlie Bowman in Atlanta and his brother, Elbert Bowman (with Ed Kann) in Johnson City in the early 1960s. Family members still talk about his visits. I feel I have lost a true friend. Way to go, Archie! |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: GUEST,Ruth Jordan Date: 24 Mar 09 - 02:34 PM "Another man done gone!" How sad to lose this terrific human being and scholar. I worked with Archie during the Bicentennial Folklife Festival and treasure a photo I have singing at one of the "Workers in America" stages with Archie, Joe Glazer and a group of workers. Joe is also gone, but the struggle continues and so do the songs. His "Only A Miner" is one of the best books on the history of the American working song. His work helped preserve and continue the working person's song tradition. |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: GUEST,Bill C. Malone Date: 24 Mar 09 - 03:10 PM It's hard to contemplate a world without Archie Green. I know that in my own case he has been present in everything that I've done. He read and critiqued just about everything that I ever wrote, including "Country Music, USA" back in 1967. When I last saw him about a year ago in San Francisco, his vigorous and endlessly-inquiring mind was still churning out ideas about books that should be written and forums that should be organized. I've never met anyone else who was so genuinely interested in the entire world of the working folk. His observation that working people were more captivated by the music of Hank Williams than by that of Woody Guthrie was all the validation I needed. It will be sad to attend the Laborlore conference in May, knowing that Archie's not there, but the meeting will be a testament and memorial to the enduring work that he has done. |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: Mark Ross Date: 24 Mar 09 - 07:39 PM NPR finally got around to mentioning him,but he doesn't make it to the website for Tuesdays' show. Mark Ross |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: Don Firth Date: 24 Mar 09 - 09:13 PM I'm sorry to hear this. I didn't really know Archie Green, but I met him at the 1964 Berkeley Folk Festival. He was involved in a number of workshops I attended, and following one workshop, about a half-dozen of the attendees adjourned to a nearby lounge where the discussion continued, but widened out and became more general. We had a chance to sit around and chat with Archie and with Charles Seeger. An unforgettable experience! Don Firth |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: GUEST,Deborah Robins Date: 24 Mar 09 - 11:12 PM So sad to lose our dear friend, Archie Green. I interviewed Archie a few years back for our PBS television series, THE MUSIC OF AMERICA:History Through Musical Traditions, and found that the customary two-hours on-camera were just enough to scratch the surface. An interesting fact that I don't see mentioned here about Archie, is that he made charming sculptures out of found objects, particularly old toasters, funnels, kitchen implements-- real vernacular art. I believe he published a book with images of these creative pieces. The last I saw Archie was last summer, on July 4th, at Chris Strachwitz's annual bash, held at Down Home Music. Archie and Chris were sitting happily in the garden, chatting away, Archie in his regulation knit watch cap, khaki pants, and sweat shirt. It was my privilege to bring them both a beer. Utah Phillips and Archie Green, two great men who understood the value of the working people's culture, both gone within a year of each other. It's a sad day. Deborah www.themusicofamerica.org |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: babypix Date: 24 Mar 09 - 11:14 PM Sorry, forgot to "sign in" before I made my comment (above). Hope this doesn't cause a problem. Kind regards, Deborah Robins Nut Hill Productions, Inc. www.themusicofamerica.org |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: babypix Date: 24 Mar 09 - 11:20 PM For anyone who's interested in Archie Green's work with vernacular sculpture, here's some information about his book, TIN MEN... Tin Men Author: Archie Green Paper 978-0-252-07375-5 $20.00 Pub Date: 2007 Pages: 224 pages Dimensions: 7 x 10 in. Illustrations: 102 Black & White Photographs The art, craft, and social history behind tin men. For centuries, the history and lore of tinkers, tinners, tinsmiths, and their contemporary counterparts--sheet-metal workers--have been represented through the creation of figurative sculptures known as tin men, crafted from sheet metal and scraps into likenesses that include clowns, knights, cowboys, and L. Frank Baum's Tin Woodsman of Oz. In this vibrant exploration of tin men and their creators, labor folklorist Archie Green interviews craftspeople, gallery owners, collectors, and Sheet Metal Workers' International Association officials, linking tinsmith artistry to issues of craft education, union traditions, labor history, and social class. Enhanced by numerous illustrations, the volume also includes an inventory of tin men located in sheet metal shops, galleries, and museums. "Green's writing, a blend of ethnography and autobiography, is well suited to a craftsman who labored alongside workers and then devoted a second career to interpreting their anonymous contributions."--California Folklore Society "Tin Men opens a new chapter in material culture studies and folk art research. Connoisseurs may collect and venerate their favorite tin-man pieces, but Archie Green reclaims all these objects for the trade."--Julia Ardery, author of The Temptation: Edgar Tolson and the Genesis of Twentieth-Century Folk Art Archie Green is the author of Calf's Head and Union Tale: Labor Yarns at Work and Play and many other books. Subjects: Folklore / Labor Studies / Art / Architecture / Landscape Arch / Popular Culture |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: Mark Ross Date: 25 Mar 09 - 09:21 AM NPRs' Morning Edition did a nice tribute this morning. Here's a link; REMEMBERING ARCHIE GREEN Mark Ross |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: Stilly River Sage Date: 25 Mar 09 - 10:26 AM You beat me to posting that link, Mark. It was a great story. SRS |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: Mary Katherine Date: 25 Mar 09 - 11:20 AM Mark R. or anyone else who knows: If there is going to be a public memorial for Archie Green, could you please post the information here? Thanks! |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: Suzy T. Date: 25 Mar 09 - 11:26 AM I feel so lucky to have known Archie Green -- what an amazing person. I'm sure everyone who met him had this experience -- whenever I saw him, within one minute we were deep into an intellectual, philosophical and politicial discussion. Someone has mentioned how he was a genius about connecting people with each other (Chris Strachwitz said the same thing last night -- he told a long story about how Archie was the one who really got him connected up with the Mexican musicians and folklorists) but he also had a terrific way of re-thinking various things within new frameworks. He could articulate things about connections between music and politics that I felt were true instinctually, without ever being didactic. Plus he was so enthusiastic, being around him always made me feel I could and should go out there and accomplish something good and I can see he had this effect upon everyone. He understood, too, the subtle effects that traditional music can have upon people in terms of changing their political viewpoints without the music itself being explicitly political. There is a tiny snippet of him in the upcoming NLCR film, it was filmed in 2007 when he was about 89 and he looks at least 15 years younger than that. I know that he had a good long full life -- he is already sorely missed. Suzy Thompson |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: GUEST,Kristine Enea Date: 25 Mar 09 - 12:13 PM Archie starred in this short video in support of City Landmark status for a former Shipwright's Cottage at 900 Innes Avenue in Hunters Point, San Francisco: Landmark 900 Innes! http://vimeo.com/3846617 His testimony at the SF Board of Supervisors Land Use Committee was an inspiring tribute to San Francisco's working class. In May 2008, the cottage at 900 Innes became San Francisco City Landmark #250, in large part thanks to Archie. |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: Michael S Date: 25 Mar 09 - 12:16 PM There's been some question about a memorial. I will pass on what I learned from another list. Peggy Bulger, the director of the American Folklife Center, has spoken to Archie's son, Derek. He told her that the family has not had a chance to consider the details, but that he anticipates a memorial/celebration in San Francisco after a month or so. Peggy added that the AFC would hold a similar event in DC, after the family event. If I learn of either of these, I will post it here, unless someone beats me to the punch, which would be great. Michael Scully |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: GUEST Date: 25 Mar 09 - 12:51 PM I knew Archie. One of my favorite quotes says exactly what Archie stood for. It was written 152 years ago and some 60 years before Archie was even born. It was written by a man who dedicated himself to the struggle to abolish an unjust practice, the practice of owning human chattel. I've heard Archie talk of the labor struggle with the same vigor that I read in this quote. Archie truly was one of those special forces of individual who appear on the scene to guide us toward justice for all of mankind. "If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation…want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters…. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will." Frederick Douglass |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: GUEST,Rachel Goodman Date: 25 Mar 09 - 01:54 PM http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5764742 Here is a link to a story I did about Archie three years ago. He was a giant and will be sorely missed. I got to visit with him in his apartment in San Francisco twice, and both will remain in my memory as moments out of time and place. |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: GUEST,Bruce Hector M.D. Date: 25 Mar 09 - 02:46 PM I met Archie in 1962 when he was the faculty advisor to the Univ. of Ill. Campus Folksong Club. Over the next several years he encouraged my participation in the club that lead to my becoming the concert committee chairman bringing artists like Son House and cowboy singer Glenn Ohrlin to the Champaign-Urbana campus. He even encouraged me to do field recording of Robert Pete Williams, a Louisiana blues singer who, like Leadbelly has sung his way out of jail. I spent an evening with Robt. Pete recording "master-slave" stories donating the tape to the archives. We traveled to Beanblossom, Indiana to hear Bill Monroe and Arkansas for a folk festival. Like others I experienced the infectious enthusiasm of Archie who pushed me to be better and do more. Over the years when in San Francisco we would visit, he'd speak of the changing Castro district and its history but even at 89 still had a gleam in his eye and had lost little of his wit and observational skills. His effect on my life has been significant and he will always be fondly remembered. Bruce Hector M.D. |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: GUEST,Bob Coltman Date: 25 Mar 09 - 05:03 PM A fine scholar and a fine man who was always genial and helpful to me in my fledgling efforts at folk scholarship. His contributions stand higher every year as we see how hard he is to match in knowledge of the field and love for it. I will miss him greatly. Bob |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: GUEST,GUEST Henry Anderson Date: 25 Mar 09 - 07:52 PM As a fast friend of Archie Green's the last 22 years of his life, I am moved by the swelling of respect and affection shown him by your members and guests. Of course he will be missed, in a literal sense. In a larger sense, he, even more surely than Joe Hill, will never die. There are today thousands of persons carrying his influence in your field of folk music, in mine of labor history, in ethnic studies, cultural anthropology, and on and on -- most importantly, in the real world of day-to-day working. Only the most exceptional of human beings are able to create a new universe of discourse, a new way of looking at everyday activity and experience. Laborlore will live, and, with it, Archie Green. Tributes to Archie seem incomplete without mention of his vision of the good society, and his passion for action toward that destination. He called himself a "left-libertarian," like one of his heroes, Jefferson, swearing "eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man," and like Wobblies swearing hostility to every form of economic injustice. To him, the best -- perhaps the only -- means to the good society was a democratic labor union movement. His last words might have been "Don't waste time mourning. Organize!' Berkeley, California |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: Michael S Date: 26 Mar 09 - 11:31 AM Archie's Washington Post obituary |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: GUEST,Dani Date: 26 Mar 09 - 11:34 AM 2 thoughts: 1 ~ not again! How did I not know of this man before NOW, before he DIED? And if I don't know, how many of our kids don't know?! Folks, we have GOT to do a better job educating ourselves and each other about these important people doing important work in the world. 2 ~ welcome, all! Though sometimes it feels crowded here at mudcat, it's wonderful and refreshing to see the new and worthy participants as it grows and changes. Dani |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: Mary Katherine Date: 27 Mar 09 - 01:21 PM Can anyone confirm the correct spelling of Archie's wife's name (for an obit, so want to be sure it's right)? Is it: Lou Ann Louann Lou Anne or Louanne? Many thanks for any help. |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: GUEST,Mary Katherine Date: 28 Mar 09 - 11:36 AM The New York Times March 29, 2009 Archie Green, 91, Union Activist and Folklorist, Dies By WILLIAM GRIMES Archie Green, a shipwright turned folklorist whose interest in union workers and their culture transformed the study of American folklore and who single-handedly persuaded Congress to create the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, died last Sunday at his home in San Francisco. He was 91. The cause was kidney failure, his son Derek said. Mr. Green, a shipwright and carpenter by trade, drew on a childhood enthusiasm for cowboy songs and a devotion to the union movement to construct a singular academic career. Returning to college at 40, he began studying what he called laborlore: the work songs, slang, craft techniques and tales that helped to define the trade unions and create a sense of group identity. "He countered the prevailing, somewhat romantic notion that folklore was isolated in remote, marginal groups," said Simon Bronner, who teaches folklore at Pennsylvania State University. "He showed that each of us, in our own work lives, have a folklore that we not only perform but that we need." At the same time, Mr. Green energetically promoted the idea of public folklore — that is, that folklorists should work outside the academy to gather, preserve and publicize local cultures through government agencies, museums, folk festivals and radio stations. His signal achievement in this area was the lonely lobbying campaign he conducted for nearly six years to create a national folklife center, which became a reality when Congress, by a unanimous vote, passed the American Folklife Preservation Act, signed into law by President Gerald R. Ford in January 1976. "By his energy, determination and enthusiasm he was able to impart his passion to members of Congress," said Peggy Bulger, the director of the American Folklife Center in Washington. "Without Archie, there would be no American Folklife Center." Mr. Green was born Aaron Green in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His father had fled Chernigov, in present-day Ukraine, after taking part in the failed 1905 revolution in Russia. When he was a small boy, the family moved to Los Angeles, where he listened to cowboy songs on the radio, absorbed socialist politics from his father and developed a passionate dedication to the labor union movement and the New Deal. After earning a degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, Mr. Green decided to throw in his lot with the working class. He joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, working as a road builder and firefighter along the Klamath River and became a shipwright and union activist on the San Francisco waterfront. For the rest of his life, he identified himself first and foremost as a worker and a union member. Besides his son Derek, of Montara, Calif., he is survived by his wife, Louanne Bartlett, whom he married in 1944; another son, David, of San Francisco; his daughter, Debra Morris of Boone, Iowa; a sister, Mitzi Zeman of Tarzana, Calif.; and four grandchildren. After serving as a Navy Seabee during World War II, Mr. Green returned to the waterfront and later switched to carpentry. But as the union movement lost some of its energy, he went back to academia, enrolling at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, to become a labor historian. There, as an adviser to the campus folk music club, he sent students out into the field to record the indigenous music of central and southern Illinois and wrote a seminal article, "Hillbilly Music: Source and Symbol." He went on to earn a doctorate in folklore at the University of Pennsylvania. His dissertation, on the songs of Kentucky coal miners, was published in 1972 as "Only a Miner." Mr. Green wrote for academic publications like The Journal of American Folklore, but starting in the late 1960s he spent much of his time lobbying Congress for the folklife center, dressed in a T-shirt and sneakers. "He looked like a hobo, and carried everything around in a paper bag," said Roger D. Abrahams, a retired folklore professor at the University of Pennsylvania. "He would just sit in the corridors of Congress and wait until people let him in to talk." Persuasion was his strong suit, in the Capitol and on campuses. With gusto, Mr. Green orchestrated the activities of a widening circle of professional acquaintances. He was a notorious academic matchmaker and connector, issuing orders to at least two generations of folklore students, directing their attention to this or that neglected topic in labor studies or folk music, on occasion steering them to the large musical archive that he had deposited at the Southern Folklife Collection at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His approach to occupational folklore was not far short of revolutionary. "Before Archie, the field did not have a clear vision of what occupational folklore was," Ms. Bulger said. "There was a huge disconnect between academics, who took a literary, almost 19th-century, view of what folklore was, and someone like Archie, who wanted to tell the pile driver, or the auto worker, 'You have your own culture that is unique, that no other occupation has.' " After teaching at the University of Texas, where he spent quality time in Austin's honky-tonks and analyzed the "cosmic cowboy" phenomenon, he returned to San Francisco and wrote a series of highly regarded books. "Wobblies, Pile Butts and Other Heroes" (1993) and "Torching of the Fink Books and Other Essays on Vernacular Culture" (2001) included many of the word studies that were among his most captivating essays. "Tin Men" (2002), a description and analysis of tinsmith artistry; "Millwrights of Northern California, 1901-2002" (2003); and "Harry Lundeberg's Stetson and Other Nautical Treasures" (2006), about the Sailors' Union of the Pacific, reflected a lifelong commitment to the writing of labor history. In 2007, Mr. Green completed a project nearly 50 years in the making, "The Big Red Songbook," which he helped to edit. It included the lyrics to more than 250 songs in the various editions of the Little Red Songbooks published from 1909 to 1973 by the Industrial Workers of the World, best known as the Wobblies. They were gathered by John Neuhaus, an I.W.W. machinist, who left his collection to Mr. Green when he died in 1958. In his final months, Mr. Green continued to organize and agitate, issuing directives from his deathbed to colleagues and friends. His pet project was to convince Congress that it should, as in the days of the New Deal and the Works Progress Administration, set aside money for artists, filmmakers, photographers, writers and, yes, folklorists, to document the projects put into motion by the stimulus bill. The last letter he wrote, his son Derek said, was addressed to Representative Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, telling her exactly what she needed to do. |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: GUEST,henry anderson Date: 28 Mar 09 - 03:01 PM the spelling of Archie Green's wife's name is Louanne. |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: GUEST,Memorial for Archie Date: 28 Mar 09 - 11:05 PM I spoke with Dereck yesterday, the family is holding a small service and planning a memorial service in the near future, i will try to keep everyone posted as soon as plans are formalized. Mike Munoz Pile drivers local 34 vantyne@earthlink.net |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: GUEST,Mary Katherine Date: 28 Mar 09 - 11:43 PM Thanks, Mike! I would like to attend it if possible, so the more advance notice possible the better for making travel plans, asking for time off work, arranging accommodations, etc. |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: GUEST,Frank Moschella, Friant,CA. Date: 29 Mar 09 - 05:47 PM Thanks to Archie we had wonderful social, musical,cultural experiences at the University of Illinois folk club meetings and concerts which for me, began in 1959.I am most appreciative for all the people that he brought together and the joy we had in learning and playing "The Music".I wish that I could be with some of those people now and JAM with them. Thanks Archie, I'll sing some songs for you. |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: GUEST,fletcher Date: 30 Mar 09 - 12:57 PM Archie was a great inspiration to me when I was very young. He was a mentor to all who knew him. I met him when I was a student at the University of Illinois. I was the president and one of the founders of the Folk Music Club and he was the faculty advisor. He introduced us all to labor history and the importance of folk tradition. |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: Desert Dancer Date: 30 Mar 09 - 03:12 PM Here is the text of the Washington Post obituary, for archival purposes. Like Dani, I asked myself, why had I never heard of Archie Green before? ~ Becky in Tucson ARCHIE GREEN, 91 Folklorist Celebrated Working Americans By Joe Holley Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, March 26, 2009; Page B05 Archie Green, 91, a former shipwright and carpenter who became one of the most influential folklorists of the past half-century and who was acknowledged as the founding father of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, died of renal failure March 22 at his home in San Francisco. While teaching labor folklore and other subjects at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the 1960s and 1970s, Dr. Green began a 10-year lobbying effort to persuade Congress to officially recognize America's folk heritage. The effort culminated on Jan. 2, 1976, when President Gerald R. Ford signed the American Folklife Preservation Act, establishing the American Folklife Center to preserve, collect and present the vast diversity of cultural offerings from ordinary people living everyday lives. The center's collections include Native American song and dance, tales of Br'er Rabbit told in the Gullah dialect of the Georgia and Carolina sea islands, and songs and stories from the lives of cowboys, farmers, fishermen and other working people, among many other expressions of folk culture from all 50 states. In addition, Dr. Green began organizing programs featuring workers' traditions at the Smithsonian Institution's Festival of American Folklife on the Mall. Those programs continue. A gregarious man and an engaging storyteller in the tradition of Studs Terkel, he was Archie to all who knew him, never Dr. Green. A shipwright's apprentice in the San Francisco area in the 1930s, he served as a carpenter's mate in the Navy during World War II. Returning to San Francisco after the war, he worked in the building trades for 15 more years. He was a 68-year member of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. He developed the habit of listening, observing and asking questions of laborers and craftspeople, and he eventually realized that he had a passion for "laborlore," a term he coined to describe the expressive culture of working people. He went back to school and received a master's degree in library science from the University of Illinois in 1960 and a doctorate in folklore from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968. (He had received his undergraduate degree in political science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1939.) He began collecting songs, stories, customs, beliefs and craft traditions -- laborlore -- of sheet metal workers and sailors, millworkers and miners. He explored how work gave texture and meaning to working-class Americans and to the culture as a whole. He contended, for example, that the origins of rock-and-roll can be traced to the rhythmic, coordinated sounds of 19th-century steel-drivin' men laying rail with hammer and drill. His first book was "Only a Miner: Studies in Recorded Coal-Mining Songs" (1972). In 2007, the Library of Congress awarded him its Living Legend medal for devoting his life to "studying the creativity of ordinary, working Americans" and for his role in forming the American Folklife Center. He was born Aaron Green on June 20, 1917, in Winnipeg, Canada, to Jewish immigrants from the Ukraine. His father was a harnessmaker by trade who escaped czarist Russia after participating in the 1905 Revolution. In about 1922, the family moved to Los Angeles, where "Archie" discovered working people and radical politics. After graduating from Berkeley, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps and then became a shipwright on the San Francisco waterfront -- primarily, he told historian Kieran Taylor, because he hoped to impress a young woman who admired waterfront labor organizers. Leaving the trade, he told Taylor, "was the most dramatic thing in my life. I felt like a traitor. . . . I revered being a shipwright." Teaching, unlike the dangerous, physically demanding shipwright's life, "was like taking candy from a baby." His academic career included a stint at the University of Texas at Austin, where he was fascinated by the live music scene, which he referred to as a musical coming together of what he called "goat ropers and liberated freaks, of superkickers and isolated intellectuals." At his death, he was working on a collection of essays, tentatively titled "Been on the Job Too Long." He also was lobbying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to include a cultural component in the economic stimulus legislation before Congress. The cultural component would document the work the stimulus package funds, in the spirit of the Federal Writers' Project of the New Deal. Survivors include his wife of 65 years, Louanne Green of San Francisco; three children, David Green of San Francisco, Derek Green of Montara, Calif., and Deborah Green of Boone, Iowa; a sister; and four grandchildren. |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: Mark Ross Date: 30 Mar 09 - 03:36 PM DEMOCRACY NOW gave him a short tribute; Union Activist & Folklorist Archie Green, 91, Dies And the union activist and folklorist Archie Green has died at the age of ninety-one. The New York Times said Green single-handedly persuaded Congress to create the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. For decades, he studied what he called laborlore: the work songs, slang, craft techniques and tales that helped to define the trade unions. Two years ago, he published The Big Red Songbook (Charles H. Kerr), a collection of lyrics to more than 250 songs written by the Industrial Workers of the World, best known as the Wobblies. |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: Rex Date: 31 Mar 09 - 11:30 AM It doesn't seem to matter what genre of folk music I'm looking into, the books always have Arhie Green in their footnotes. We owe much to this man. Rex |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: KathWestra Date: 31 Mar 09 - 11:06 PM What wonderful tributes to a dear man. My connection with Archie was through my then-husband, Joe Hickerson, when Joe was head of the folk archive at the Library of Congress. We shared some social occasions and I was always struck by the twinkling good humor and down-to-earth connectedness that Archie unfailingly showed to those he met--whoever they were. It amazed me that he could be such a world-class scholar AND such a genuinely nice man. That he was loved by those who knew him shines through in this thread. Thanks to all who shared your stories. Kathy p.s. WAMU-FM's Kojo Nambde (sp?) did a lovely 20-minute interview about Archie's life with Peggy Bulger today between 1:40 and 2:00 p.m. If it's archived, maybe somebody could post a link. |
|
Subject: RE: Obit: Archie Green (22 March 2009) From: SaulBro Date: 02 Apr 09 - 11:37 AM KathWestra wrote: "Archie unfailingly showed to those he met--whoever they were. It amazed me that he could be such a world-class scholar AND such a genuinely nice man." Absolutely. I first heard of Archie when he was the advisor/mentor to the Univ. of Illinois Campus Folksong Club (see "WAMU-FM's Kojo Nambde (sp?) did a lovely 20-minute interview about Archie's life with Peggy Bulger today between 1:40 and 2:00 p.m. If it's archived, maybe somebody could post a link." http://wamu.org/programs/kn/09/03/31.php#25795 Saul Broudy Philadelphia, PA USA |
|
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 jcote@sfchronicle.com. 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 mbul@loc.gov 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 |
|
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
|
|
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. ~ Becky in Long Beach |
| Share Thread: |