Finding Aids to Collections in the Archive of Folk Culture

VIETNAM COLLECTIONS
IN THE ARCHIVE OF FOLK CULTURE

Compiled by: Theresa Anne J. Sotto
Series Editor: Ann Hoog
Revised: March 2011

For materials relating specifically to the Vietnam War, see: Vietnam War Collections finding aid.

AFS 14,022-14,024: Nguyen-Phung Collection of Vietnamese Music
Three 7-inch tapes of traditional music of South Vietnam recorded for the "Voice of America" radio program by Nguyen-Phung, April 1969. The collection includes a one-page tape log. (LWO 5671)

AFS 14,300: John Schwarz / 1900 Paris World's Fair Recordings
One 7-inch tape made from three cylinders containing delegations from Hanoi and China, including chants and songs, and an Algerian song accompanied by percussion, from the collection of the Musee de l'Homme, Paris. Recorded in Paris, France, at the Paris World's Fair, by an unknown person, 1900; and in Algeria by an unknown person at an unknown date. The collection includes a one-page log. (18 minutes; LWO 6175)

AFC 1973/028: Laura Boulton Collection

AFS 18,102-18,468: Laura Boulton Collection Part 23: Africa, Europe, Far East, Latin America, etc.
One 3-inch tape, 22 5-inch tapes, and 344 7-inch tapes of folk and other music of Africa, Europe, Far East, Latin America, Middle East, Near East, North America, South America, and Southeast Asia, recorded by Laura Boulton, 1949-1971. The collection includes 1/4 linear inch of tape logs. (LWO 8956)

AFS 18,182-18,185: Four tapes of folk music and songs, including female solos accompanied by stringed instruments and music played with bowed and stringed instruments. Recorded in Vietnam (Indochina) by Laura Boulton, 1950 and 1956. (2 hours; preservation copy on LWO 8949 reels 16A2-16B3)

AFS 22,185: Karl Signell / "Music in a New World" Collection
One audiocassette of a preview for "Music in a New World," a 13-part program containing music and stories of immigrant groups in the United States from Cambodia, Cuba, Greece, Laos, Okinawa, Samoa, Soviet Central Asia, Vietnam, and Yugoslavia. Includes excerpts of Afro-Cuban, Bosnian, Greek, Laotian, Thai, Turkish, and Vietnamese music from various localities. Recorded in California, Hawaii, and New York by Karl Signell, February-April 1981. Program hosted by Karl Signell, produced by Deborah Jane Lamberton of National Public Radio, and broadcasted starting on January 1982. The collection includes 7 pages of background information, correspondence, and press releases. (1 hour; RYA 2526)

AFC 1980/012: 1980 Neptune Plaza Concert Series Collection
Eleven 10-inch tapes; 118 color negatives, polaroids, prints, and slides; 236 black-and-white contact sheets, negatives, and prints; and two videocassettes containing documentation of the 1980 Neptune Plaza Concert Series sponsored by the American Folklife Center and featuring the presentation of Armenian, country music, Cuban, Ghanian, Laotian, Vietnamese, and zydeco folk traditions. Recorded at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., by the American Folklife Center, April-October 1988. The collection includes four and one half linear inches of background material, correspondence, logs, newspaper clippings, and press releases. [catalog record] [finding aid]

The following lists materials from the October 9, 1980, concert of music from Southeast Asia.

AFS 20,170-20,171: Two 10-inch tapes of Southeast Asian music performed during the 1980 Neptune Plaza Concert Series, including Hmong music performed on flute, geng, and Jew's harp, accompanied by balancing steps, somersaults, and storytelling; Laotian mohlam singing accompanied by kaen and musical saw; and Vietnamese music and popular songs performed on dan bao, dan co, dan tranh, and dan tyba. (LWO 16,844; RWA 15-16)

AFC 1980/012:Envelope 12: Thirty-six black-and-white negatives photographed by John T. Gibbs documenting the Music of Southeast Asia concert during the 1980 Neptune Plaza Concert Series.

AFC 1980/012:Envelope 13: Nineteen color slides photographed by John T. Gibbs documenting the Music of Southeast Asia concert during the 1980 Neptune Plaza Concert Series.

AFC 1980/012:Folder 14: Fifteen pages of a newsletter, photograph logs, and program notes documenting the Music of Southeast Asia concert during the 1980 Neptune Plaza Concert Series.

AFC 1980/012:Folders 15-16: One black-and-white contact sheet (36 images) and one black-and-white print photographed by John T. Gibbs, and six color polaroids photographed by an unknown photographer (possibly Carl Fleischhauer) documenting the Music of Southeast Asia concert during the 1980 Neptune Plaza Concert Series.

AFC 1981/003: Karl Signell "Asian Music in the New World" Collection
Two 10-inch tapes of "Asian Music in the New World," a radio program containing interviews of first generation Chinese, Hmong, Japanese, Khmer (Cambodian), Laotian, and Vietnamese immigrants in the United States, including music and stories about the meaning of music and how it has been "americanized." Recorded in various locations in the United States by Mary Cliff and Karl Signell at an unknown date. Broadcast on National Public Radio, October 1980; and directed, narrated, and produced by Mary Cliff and Karl Signell. This is part of National Public Radio's "Folk Festival USA" series, produced by Deborah Lamberton; and part 2 of the Karl Signell / "Music in the New World" collection. (1 hour and 28 minutes)

AFC 1987/042: Lowell Folklife Project Collection
Ninety audiocassettes and 247 reels of sound recordings, including musical events, neighborhood tours, oral history interviews, parades and processions, and religious services documenting a field project in Lowell, Masschusetts, that examines the city's ethnic history and the history of its occupational lore. Recorded in Lowell, Mass., by Michael Bell, Douglas DeNatale, Barbara Fertig, Mario Montaño, Martha Norkunas, Tom Rankin, Refugee Arts Group, David Taylor, Eleanor Wachs, 1987-1988. The project was conducted with the Lowell Historic Preservation Commission and the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities. The collection includes approximately 10,000 black-and-white negatives, 487 black-and-white contact sheets, 100 black-and-white photographs, 16 color negatives, 16 color prints, and 3,940 color slides; 15 computer disks of manuscript material; and 158 folders of audio logs, black-and-white photograph and color slide logs, data from the Lowell Neighborhood Map Project, ephemera, field notes, publications, reports, and transcripts of sound recordings. Includes documentation of Vietnamese American traditions in Lowell. [catalog record] [finding aid]

AFC 1988/009: 1988 Neptune Plaza Concert Series Collection
Sixteen 10-inch reels, thirteen audiocassettes, 125 color slides, twenty-nine contact sheets, 2 boxes of manuscript and print materials, 2 photoprints, and 201 negatives containing documentation of the 1988 Neptune Plaza Concert Series sponsored by the American Folklife Center and featuring the presentation of bluegrass, gospel, Irish, mariachi, Old Time, and Vietnamese folk traditions. Recorded at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., by the American Folklife Center, April-October 1988. [catalog record] [finding aid]

AFS 27,002-27,004: Three 10-inch reels of a concert of Vietnamese music performed by the Nguyen family (formerly of Saigon; now living in Arlington, Virginia) on the ban bau, dan tranh, dan trung, gongs, guitar, tam thap luck, and a variety of bamboo flutes, with Tran Lung Mingh on vocals. Recorded by Tom Linthicum of the National Council for the Traditional Arts at the Neptune Plaza of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., August 18, 1988. (RWB 9622-9624)

AFC 1988/009:Folders 15-17: Three folders of three eighths linear inches of a concert flier autographed by the performers, a concert log by Aldona Joseph, diagrams and descriptions of instruments, news clippings, photo logs, press releases, program notes, a promotional booklet, and unsigned fliers.

AFC 1988/009:Folders 20-21: Two black-and-white contact sheets (155 images) of performances at the Neptune Plaza Concert Series at the Library of Congress, photographed by John Gibbs and Reid Baker, August 18, 1988.

AFC 1991/009: Laura Boulton Collection Addition
Two hundred thirty-nine tapes of music, songs, and lectures recorded in Angola, Canada, China, Ethiopia, Fiji, Ghana, Guinea, Haiti, India, Japan, Malaya, Micronesia, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Tahiti, Togo, Turkey, the United States, and Zaire by Laura Boulton, 1963-1984. The collection includes five-eighths linear inch of correspondence and tape logs. The collection comprises a supplement to the Laura Boulton cylinder, discs, and tape collection donated by Columbia University, 1973.

AFC 1991/009:Le10:12: One musical excerpt, "Mr. Ba," used during a lecture by Laura Boulton for Dr. Kirk's reception on April 8, 1984. Originally recorded in Hanoi on an unknown date.

AFC 1991/016: Metropolitan Atlanta Folklife Project Collection
Twenty-three cassettes of African American, Caribbean, Columbian, Hmong, Mexican, Middle Eastern, Venezuelan, and Vietnamese religious and secular ceremonies and festivals, instrumentals, interviews, narratives, and songs. Recorded at various locations in Georgia for the Georgia Folklife Program, August 6-September 15, 1988. The collection includes 18 pages of biographical outlines and content lists.

AFC 2004/030: Phong Nguyen Ensemble Concert and Interview Collection
Homegrown 2004 concert in Madison Hall; Phong Nguyen interviewed in the Library of Congress Recording Laboratory, Jefferson Building. Collection includes sound and video recordings of a concert of Vietnamese traditional court dance and music, folk songs, poetry chants, bamboo music of the central highlands of Vietnam, and improvisation. A videorecording of an interview with Phong Nguyen conducted by Terry E. Miller is included. [catalog record]

AFC 2006/007: Music of the Black Hmong Collection
Two CD-R discs of: 1) "Music of the Black Hmong, Sapa Town, Lao Cai Prov. Vietnam" recorded 2000 at her home. Performer: So Giangthiso, a 13-year old female singer who also plays the jew's harp. This is a compilation of songs recorded on cassette tapes and compiled by the family of the performer. 2) Two digital photographs of an image of the Hmong jew's harp and a photo of So Giangthiso with an unidentified woman, both wearing traditional clothing. [catalog record]

AFC 2008/006: Surviving Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in Houston Collection
One hundred four first-person accounts of people who lived through the hurricanes. Includes sound recordings, logs, and published articles about the project. [catalog record]

AFC 2008/006:SR055: Interview with Lai Nguyen about living through hurricane Katrina. Interview is in English and Vietnamese. Recorded in Houston, Texas, June 24, 2007. (35 minutes)

AFC 2008/006:SR086: Interview with Sanh Van Nguyen about living through hurricane Katrina. Interview is mostly in Vietnamese. Recorded in Houston, Texas, July 1, 2006. (55 minutes)

AFC 2008/006:SR087: Interview with Chau A. Luu about living through hurricane Katrina. Interview is mostly in Vietnamese. Recorded in Houston, Texas, July 1, 2006. (1 hour)

AFC 2008/006:SR088: Interview with Bong Mui about living through hurricane Katrina. Interview is in English. Recorded in Houston, Texas, September 10, 2006. (1 hour)