Happy! - Sept 2 (RW Gordon)

Subject: Happy! - Sept 2 (RW Gordon)
From: Abby Sale
Date: 02 Sep 05 - 09:15 AM


Happy Birthday!

In Bangor ME:
Robert Winslow Gordon

was born 9/2/1888
(d3/29/1961).

In 1928 he established The American Folkife Center (including Archive of Folk Culture) at the Library of Congress. He was the Center's director 1928-32 and the Library's first field collector. Gordon set out to collect all of American folksong and, in fact, collected a vast amount - over 900 cylinders & discs and 10,000 songs in manuscript. His outtakes became the 1st major US collection of traditional bawdy song, the "Inferno." [See Deborah Kodish's bio on Gordon.]

          On a very fine day in the month of May
          A great big bum (or 'big burly') came hiking
          And he seated his pratt (or 'himself') 'neath a big green tree
          Which was very much to his liking.
  
                  "The Appleknocker's Lament"  The modern formats of this and the better 
                  known parlor version, "Big Rock Candy Mountain," are both generally 
                  taken to be by Haywire Mac McClintock

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