Research Compiled During the
Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Collecting Expedition

Fieldnotes written by Robert Sonkin during the expedition through the California migrant labor camps in July and August, 1940. Notes include descriptions of the recording events, performer information, and performance context. These notes also describe the migrant camps in great detail.

Transcriptions for 120 songs collected by Todd and Sonkin. Notations include names of people from whom the texts were collected and date and location of recording. There are also occasional handwritten notes identifying Archive of American Folk Song (AFS) numbers, noting sound quality of corresponding recording, or correcting transcriptions.

Questionnaire prepared by the Joint Committee on Folk Arts, of the Works Project Administration. Document is dated March 15, 1939.

Log of field recordings made in July and August, 1940. The log lists approximately 240 recordings of songs, stories, poems, conversations, camp council meetings, and court proceedings. It also provides performers'/informants' names, instrumentation, recording date and location, genre, and AFS number.

Log of field recordings made in August and September, 1941. The log lists approximately 180 recordings of songs, stories, poems, conversations, and camp council meetings. It also provides performers'/informants' names, instrumentation, recording date and location, and genre.

Four examples of dust jackets that housed the recorded discs and the handwritten notes that were recorded upon them.

Notes from an interview with Charles L.Todd conducted by Margaret and Gerald E. Parsons for the Library of Congress Archive of Folk Culture on August 16, 1985. Todd provided interesting information on the events leading up to his participation in the migrant camp recording project and his relationship with other folklorists, musicians, writers, and photographers who documented the life of the Dust Bowl migrants.