John and Ruby Lomax

John Lomax (1867-1948)
Ruby Lomax (1886-1961)
Dust jackets, with fieldnotes
Recording Trip April 26, 1939
to May 13, 1939
Page 2
Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas
and Huntsville, Walker County, Texas
American Folklife Center (113.8a, 113.8b)

John Lomax, the Library's Honorary Consultant and Curator of the Archive of American Folk Song (now the Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center), and wife Ruby left their vacation home on San Jose Island at Port Arkansas, Texas, on March 31, 1939, and began a three-month, 6,502-mile journey through the southern United States collecting folksongs. After the trip, Ruby transcribed song lyrics and composed and typed much of the 307 pages of fieldnotes at the Library. The dust jackets illustrated here include the date and place of each recording and information about the songs, performers, and disc itself. Both John and Ruby Lomax contributed to the notes on the dust jacket. Shown is John's handwriting.