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Finding Aids to Collections Organized by Topic in the Archive of Folk Culture

THE GORDON COLLECTIONS
MANUSCRIPT AND RECORDED COLLECTIONS ACQUIRED AND/OR INDEXED IN THE ARCHIVE OF FOLK CULTURE

Compiled by: Joseph C. Hickerson and Gregory Jenkins
Series Editor: Joseph C. Hickerson

Publication Date: July 1991
Series Number: LCFAFA No. 9
ISSN 0736-4903


For additional information about Archive of Folk Culture collections, contact the Folklife Reading Room. To request copies, see our webpages regarding audio materials and photographic materials. Please refer to the AFC and/or AFS numbers when requesting information. All indications of time duration listed in this finding aid are estimates.

Arthur Mss. See Odum-Arthur Mss.

Boyd Mss. Ca. 125 songs contributed by J. P. Boyd, Alliance, North Carolina, 1926-27. Indexed. Original typescript in
Archive.

Davids Mss. Thirty-three songs contributed by Joanna Colcord, New York, New York, December 1929, obtained from R. M. Davids, Woodmere, Florida, ca. 1924. Indexed. Original manuscript and two typescript copies in Archive.

Frothingham Mss. One hundred thirty-seven letters containing queries and songs contributed to Robert Frothingham, editor of the "Old Songs That Men Have Sung" column of Adventure Magazine, 1922-23. Indexed. Original letters and two typescript copies of texts in Archive.

Galt Mss. Ca. 115 songs, presumably obtained from Nellie Galt, Louisville, Kentucky, ca. 1928, and corresponding recordings numbered D3 through D9 and E4. Indexed. Some of these recordings presumably in Archive, but no transcriptions.

Gordon Collection: California
Ca. four hundred songs and groups of texts acquired by Robert Winslow Gordon while he lived in California, ca. 1920-23. The first part corresponds with cylinder recordings numbered 1-131. Indexed. Recordings and original manuscripts numbered ca. 240-400 in Archive.

Gordon Collection: Georgia
Five hundred fifty-five songs acquired by Robert Winslow Gordon while he resided at a "field station" in Darien, Georgia, primarily during the years 1926-28. The first half corresponds with cylinder recordings numbered A203 through ca. A562. Indexed. Recordings only in Archive.

Gordon Collection: North Carolina
Three hundred seventy-four songs acquired by Robert Winslow Gordon during a field trip in North Carolina, October- December 1925. Texts 1-298 correspond with cylinder recordings A1-A202. Indexed. Recordings, one typescript of the whole, and two typescripts of 1-298 in Archive.

Gordon Mss. Three thousand eight hundred fifty-eight letters containing songs and queries contributed to Robert Winslow Gordon, editor of the "Old Songs That Men Have Sung" column of Adventure Magazine, 1923-29, plus additional letters and texts dating from 1911-32. Indexed. Original letters and two typescript copies of texts (one bound: M1629.G65) in Archive.

Hanford Mss. Eight songs contributed by J. H. Hanford, Cleveland, Ohio, obtained from Esther Stover, Cleveland, January 12, 1930, who learned them from her father in Iowa City, Iowa. Indexed. Original typescript and two typescript copies in Archive.

Henry Mss. Sixty-one southern Appalachian songs contributed by Mellinger Edward Henry, Ridgewood, New Jersey, 1928-29. Most texts and headnotes were subsequently published by Henry in the Journal of American Folklore and in Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands (New York: J. J. Augustin, 1938). Indexed. Original typescript and two typescript copies in Archive.

"Inferno" Collection
Bawdy and related songs taken from the following collections: 128 from the Gordon Mss collection; 32 from the Gordon Collection: California; 13 from the Davids Mss.; and 1 from the Gordon Collection: Georgia. Not indexed. Original manuscripts and two typescript copies in Archive.

Johnson Mss. Fifteen songs contributed by Guy B. Johnson, University of North Carolina, ca. 1929, written down by Walter Jordon of New York City, as he learned them in the South twenty years before. Not indexed. Original manuscript and two typescript copies in Archive.

McAdams thesis. "The Folk-Songs of the American Negro -- A Collection of Unprinted Texts Preceded by a General Survey of the Traits of Negro Song," collected and annotated by Nettie F. McAdams (Master's thesis, University of California, Berkeley, 1923). Ca. 140 songs. Indexed. Bound typescript in Archive (ML3556.M112).

McGinnis Mss. Ca. 130 sea chanties and songs with music contributed by Joseph F. McGinnis, Brooklyn, New York, 1928-29. Indexed. Original manuscript returned in 1929.

McIlhenny Mss. Three hundred twenty-five page manuscript entitled "Louisiana Negro Spirituals," containing 125 texts and tunes compiled by E. A. McIlhenny, Avery Island, Louisiana. Indexed. Microfilm copy in Music Division (Music 0025). See McIlhenny's Befo' de War Spirituals (Boston: Christopher Publishing House, 1933 [M1670.M15B4]).

Neal-Brown Co. Songs "Brown County Songs and Ballads," collected and annotated by Mabel Evangaline Neal (Master's thesis, Indiana University, 1926). One hundred eighty-three pages containing one hundred songs. Indexed. Bound photostat copy in Archive (M1629.N48B8).

Newcomb Mss. Four hundred three-page photostat manuscript entitled "Songs My Mother Sang," containing 210 texts and 101 tunes from New Hope, Kentucky, contributed by Mary Newcomb, Louisville, Kentucky, 1929-30. Indexed. Not in Archive.

Newcomb Mss. (Additional) One hundred two songs from Kentucky contributed by Mary Newcomb, Louisville, Kentucky, 1930-31. Indexed. One typescript copy in Archive.

Odum-Arhur Mss. Eighty-three songs contributed by Howard W. Odum, University of North Carolina, July 10, 1929, obtained from J. D. Arthur of Tennessee. Indexed. Original typescript and two
typescript copies in Archive.

Phillips Mss. Twenty-two songs contributed by R. W. Phillips, Akeley,
Minnesota, March 22, 1924. Indexed. Original manuscript
and two typescript copies in Archive.

Purcell Mss. One hundred eight songs with music contributed by Margaret Purcell, Greenwood, Virginia, ca. 1929. Indexed. Not in Archive.

Winger Mss. Two collections of ca. 125 songs obtained from Betty Bush Winger, Point Pleasant, West Virginia, including black songs from Miss Winger's home in the Ozark region of Missouri. Manuscript II corresponds with ca. twenty-five recordings made by Gordon at Point Pleasant, 1931-32. Indexed. Typescripts in Archive; recordings presumably in Archive.

Additional R. W. Gordon manuscript collections may be located at the Randal V. Mills Memorial Archive of Northwest Folklore, University of Oregon.

For detailed biographical information on R. W. Gordon, see Debora Kodish's unbound Master's thesis entitled "Good Friends and Bad Enemies: Robert Winslow Gordon and American Folksong Scholarship," located in the Archive, and her book entitled Good Friends, Bad Enemies: Robert Winslow Gordon and the Study of American Folksong (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986 [ML423.G69K6 1986]).

 

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