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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