Encoded in EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/perform.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/2014572469
DACS was used as the primary description standard.
Collection material primarily in English, with French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian
Gift of the Seeger family. Between 1940 and 1978, Charles Seeger donated his manuscript music and that of his wife, Ruth Crawford Seeger, to the Music Division. In 1982, Mike Seeger and Penny Seeger Cohen, as executors of their parents' estates, donated the Charles and Ruth Crawford Seeger materials held by their father at his death. In 1991, Pete Seeger donated a group of his father's writings and publications. In 2008, Mike Seeger donated correspondence between Ruth and Charles Seeger and other family materials. Peggy Seeger began donating her materials in 1998 and continued to make periodic donations through 2010.
Claudia Whitman donated Crawford family correspondence and photographs in 2020 and sermons by Clark Crawford in 2021.
The directors of Ewan MacColl Ltd. donated the Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger Archive formerly at Ruskin College, Oxford in 2021. These materials were originally donated by Peggy Seeger to the Ruskin College Archives after Ewan MacColl's death in 1989. Peggy Seeger added items to the collection over the intervening three decades. A format- and topic-based listing of the materials was created by Ruskin College Archives staff beginning in 1992 and regularly updated as late as 2006. A copy is appended to the finding aid as Appendix C. In 2021 the MacColl/Seeger Family decided to move the archive from Ruskin College and transfer it to the Library of Congress Music Division to become a part of the Seeger Family Collection.
Peggy Seeger donated additional files in 2023 that focus on the period following her return to England in 2010.
Further accruals are possible.
Library of Congress staff partially processed elements of the Seeger Family Collection as donations came in between the 1980s and 2010.
In 2019 the processing archivist created the current series structure to accommodate all post-1998 accruals – particularly the correspondence between Charles Seeger and Ruth Crawford and between Ruth and her family. The collection arrangement was refined to reflect these additions; the Peggy Seeger series was added to incorporate that extensive donation.
The Composers’ Collective subseries of the Charles L. Seeger series was previously processed as the Workers Music League Collection in 2009. Research indicated that these materials belong in the Seeger Family Collection.
Anita M. Weber and Emily Baumgart processed the Seeger Family Collection in 2019-2020 and coded the finding aid in 2020.
Melissa Capozio Jones, Shantel Lambert-Hardy, and Anita M. Weber processed the MacColl/Seeger series and coded the finding aid in 2022-2023.
After examining the MacColl/Seeger materials, the processing archivists detemined that wherever possible, the general organization of the materials and the folder titles applied at Ruskin College would remain intact. The series structure was mostly retained, but the hierarchy was rearranged and some folders relocated between or within series for greater usability. Obviously duplicative material was removed. Books and periodical publications already held by the Library of Congress special and general collections were removed. An inventory of this material is available in the Music Division's collection file.
Anita M. Weber processed the Whitman additions and coded the finding aid in 2023.
Anita M. Weber and Shantel Lambert-Hardy processed the Peggy Seeger additions and coded the finding aid in 2023.
Four appendices provide additional information about the Seeger Family and materials contained within the collection.
Audio recordings and moving image materials collected by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger from the MacColl/Seeger series of the Seeger Family Collection have been transferred to the Library of Congress American Folklife Center, where they are identified as part of the MacColl/Seeger series of the Seeger Family Collection. An inventory of this material is available in the Music Division's collection file.
Commercial audio recordings and moving image materials (LPs, CDs, video tapes, and DVDs) created by or about Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger from the MacColl/Seeger series of the Seeger Family Collection are expected to be transferred to the Library of Congress's National Audio-Visual Collection Center where they will be identified as part of the MacColl/Seeger series of the Seeger Family Collection. An inventory of this material is available in the Music Division's collection file.
The Southern Folklife Collection, University of North Carolina, houses the Mike Seeger Collection, 1923-2012 (bulk 1955-2009). The Charles Parker Archive in the Library of Birmingham’s Archives, Heritage, and Photography section contains materials related to Parker's work with Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger.
The Library of Congress holds several collections related to the Seeger family, both within the Music Division and in other special formats divisions.
Music Division
American Folklife Center
Manuscripts Division
Materials from the Seeger Family Collection are governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.) and other applicable international copyright laws. Peggy Seeger and her children Neill MacColl, Calum MacColl, and Catroina MacColl, as directors of Ewan MacColl, Ltd., gave permission for researchers to use the materials for which they hold the copyrights without restriction.
The Seeger Family Collection is open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Music Division prior to visiting in order to determine whether the desired materials will be available at that time.
Microfilm copies of Ruth Crawford Seeger music are served in lieu of originals for preservation reasons.
Music in the Ruth Crawford Seeger series of the Seeger Family Collection was microfilmed
by the Library of Congress in 1984 and 1985. A microfilm edition of these materials is
available on 6 reels that are shelved as Microfilm 84/20216. These materials are
described in the finding aid and may be requested using the call number and reel number
listed with the item.
Electronic files were received as part of the Seeger Family Collection. Consult reference staff in the Performing Arts Reading Room for more information.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [item, date, container or reel number], Seeger Family Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The Seeger Family Collection documents the lives and careers of pioneering musicologist Charles Louis Seeger (CLS), his second wife, modernist composer Ruth Crawford Seeger, their eldest daughter, folksinger and songwriter Peggy Seeger, and her husband, singer, songwriter, and playwright Ewan MacColl. It spans the period 1846 to 2023, with the bulk of the materials dating between 1920 and 2000. Collection materials include manuscript and printed music, transcriptions, song books, song sheets, and lyric sheets; correspondence; business and financial papers; writings including articles, books, plays, reviews, sermons, and essays; class assignments, notes, and syllabi; promotional and publicity materials including posters; set lists, tour itineraries, and repertoire sheets; interview and oral history transcripts; photographs and iconography; scrapbooks; vital records; awards and certificates; and realia.
The collection is divided into six series that represent the Seeger Family writ large (including Crawford Family members), and Charles, Ruth Crawford, Peggy Seeger, and Ewan MacColl individually, as well as MacColl and Peggy Seeger together. There are considerable overlaps between the series, particularly with respect to correspondence, biographical materials, and writings.
All six series provide extensive evidence of the wide networks of family, friends, and colleagues the Seegers cultivated. The Seeger Family Members Chart provides names and relationships for four generations of Charles Seeger's family. Correspondence in these series documents relationships within the extensive Seeger family network, including the Crawford, Dickenson/Taylor, and MacColl families. The Seeger Family series contains much of the family correspondence prior to 1989.
Ruth Crawford exchanged long and frequent letters with her mother, Clara, and brother, Carl, in the years before her marriage. This correspondence provides insight into Ruth’s life in Chicago and her growing interest in composition. Carl’s letters concern family matters, his military training, and provide a glimpse into the Florida land boom of the 1920s and its impact on his and Ruth’s financial standing. After her marriage Ruth maintained her correspondence with Carl and his family, but on a more spradic basis.
Ruth and Charles Seeger maintained a lengthy correspondence during their "courtship" throughout her Guggenheim year in Europe (1930-1931). Although each discussed their daily activities and Ruth described her composing efforts, the people she met, and the concerts she attended, these letters are notable for being between two people keenly in love who miss each other desperately. The correspondence continued after their marriage while Charles was conducting fieldwork in Florida and Georgia and Ruth was at home with their family. Charles described his travels and Ruth recapped the daily round of family activities.
A similar, albeit one-sided, correspondence is in the MacColl/Seeger series. In 1958 MacColl wrote love letters to Peggy Seeger during her stay in France. These describe his activies and anguish at being separated from her as well as his concerns for their future.
Throughout his life, CLS carried on correspondence with all seven of his children, his five stepchildren, and his numerous grandchildren. These letters dispensed advice on matters from car buying to dealing with Grandmother Seeger’s wrath.
There is a lengthy six year correspondence (1954-1959) between Peggy and Charles in the Peggy Seeger Addition Series. These letters from a pivotal time for both the Charles Seeger family and Peggy herself illuminate the Seeger family's turmoil after Ruth Crawford Seeger's death and Peggy's early relationship with Ewan MacColl and the birth of her son Neill.
Also in the Family series is a set of letters written by Mike Seeger between 1954 and 1958 while performing his conscientious objector service at the Mount Wilson Tuberculosis Hospital near Pikesville, Maryland. These letters describe his daily activities at the hospital and his developing music career.
In addition to communicating frequently with family members, CLS maintained extensive correspondence with colleagues, students, and others seeking information about ethnomusicology, including: Dalia Cohen, Wayland Hand, Mantle Hood, Malena Kuss, Klaus Wachsmann, and Bonnie Wade. However, there is little correspondence between Seeger and notable musical figures, such as Paul Arma, Henry Cowell, Hans Eisler, or Carl Ruggles, with whom he was in regular contact. These materials are located in the CLS Correspondence subseries. Although identified as correspondence, the subseries contains both correspondence and subject files. Included are materials associated with specific organizations and articles, reports, and other materials that Seeger received from his correspondents.
Three groups of materials document CLS’s federal service: the Resettlement Administration files and those of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Pan American Union (PAU). Resettlement Administration materials document music collecting and community building activities through reports, skits, and the creation of song sheets, while WPA materials include reports on a limited range of that agency's activity.
CLS’s position with the Pan American Union (PAU) brought contacts with noted Latin American composers and ethnomusicologists. These relationships can be seen in his correspondence with Luis Heitor de Corrêa Azevedo, Juan Orrego-Salas, Miguel Querol Galvada, Vicente Salas Viu, and Domingo Santa Cruz. There is also correspondence with Mercedes Rio Pequeno (founder and chief of the Music Division of Brazil’s National Library). Included in the PAU materials are reports on folk music in the southern hemisphere.
Peggy Seeger (PS), too, maintained correspondence with her children and grandchildren, her siblings and half-siblings, and nieces and nephews. This correspondence, located in the Peggy Seeger and MacColl/Seeger series, includes many notes and greetings from her siblings Mike, Pete, Barbara, and Penny; children Calum, Neill, and Kitty, and notes and drawings from the grandchildren. Correspondence with her brothers is more substantive, concerning music performances and politics, than that with her sisters. Peggy also corresponded regularly with friends and colleagues on both sides of the Atlantic, although much of this correspondence is of shorter duration. Notable correspondents in the PS series include Joe Glazer, Reynaldo (Moses) Martine, Jimmy Massey, Jr., Bruce Molsky, Faith Petric, Helga Sandburg, Rosalie Sorrels, Rufus Wainwright, and Abby Washburn. One extensive set of letters comes from the English poet Elsa Corbluth, in which she talks of life in Beckingham and her poetry writing.
MacColl and Peggy Seeger maintained a general correspondence file that covers the entire range of their activities: performing, composing, business management, and relationships with friends and family. The correspondence concerns tour arrangements, Singers Club schedules, visits from friends and family, Backthorne Records, creation and distribution of the New City Songster, and song rights and their management. MacColl and Seeger's involvement in social issues such as the anti-nuclear movement and wormen's righs is also apparent through invitations to perform or speak at various political events. Additional correspondence on most of these topics and others can be found throughout the MacColl/Seeger series.
Significant correspondents in the MacColl/Seeger series include: all of Peggy Seeger's siblings, their spouses, and several of her nieces and nephews; Ruth Crawford Seeger biographers Matilda Gaume, David Nicholls, and Judith Tuck; musicologists and friends Sidney Robertson Cowell, Gershon Legman, Alan Lomax, and Ralph Rinzler; and performers Billy Bragg, Hazel Dickens, Alice Gerrard, Ruthie Gorton, Christy Moore, Faith Petric, Sally Rogers, and Paddy Tunney.
There is little correspondence directly with MacColl in the series; when letters were directed to him, Peggy often replied on his behalf.
In contrast, there is limited non-family correspondence from Ruth Crawford Seeger (RCS). There is little in the way of substantive correspondence with her fellow composers and collaborators, the exceptions being Alan Lomax and Edgard Varèse. There is also a fragmentary letter from Alfred Frankenstein in which he provides a critique of
Biographical materials can be found in all six series. Genealogical charts for the Seeger and Crawford families are located in the Family series. This series also contains memoirs of Ruth Crawford’s grandfather, William Plummer Graves, and of Charles Louis Seeger, Sr., and his wife Elsie Adams Seeger, while the CLS series contains his remembrances of his childhood and his sister Elizabeth’s comments on the time. Birth, death, divorce, and marriage records are located in both the Family and MacColl/Seeger series. A small number of items concerning CLS and his first wife, Constance de Clyver Edson, can be found in the Family series, including placards for, and a scrapbook on, their traveling trailer tour and a photograph of Constance’s father John Tracey Edson. Other CLS biographical material includes oral history transcripts, biographies, honors, and obituaries.
Similar biographical material is available in the RCS series along with information about performances of her music, an autograph book used first by Clara Crawford and then by RCS, and programs of performances attended by RCS. Of special interest are three scrapbooks created by RCS between 1916 and 1918 that include invitations, letters, and a wide array of mementos, such as candy wrappers, dance cards, and flowers.
An extensive group of published articles about RCS analyzing her music and her significance as a composer is found in the RCS Writings About subseries. Also included here are performance, recording, and score reviews. Additional biographical material about RCS is located in the Biographical Materials subseries of the Peggy Seeger series. This includes correspondence and essays about her, the 2001 publication of the preface to
Ruth Crawford's father, Clark (1854-1913), was a Methodist minister. He left a trove of sermons from the period 1884 to 1912. Many are handwritten and comprise dozens of sheets. These materials are located in the Family series.
The CLS Writings subseries contains articles, essays, and reviews that reflect CLS's wide-ranging interests on various topics, including musicology and ethnomusicology, folk music and culture, music education, sound, and the computer analysis of sound. Included are his "Barbara Allen" study, drafts and reprints of the articles that were revised for publication as
Researchers interested in graphical musical analysis will want to examine the following CLS Correspondence subseries folders: Bengtsson, Ingmar; Cohen, Dalia; and those labeled Melographs.
The MacColl/Seeger Writings series contains articles; drafts of books, plays, and radio and television scripts; songsters; and teaching materials created by both MacColl and PS. MacColl's radio ballads and other radio programs and his agit-prop plays including
CLS is little remembered as a composer. The CLS Music subseries documents this aspect of his life through some thirty compositions. These are mostly settings for voice and piano of poems by a wide range of nineteenth-century poets, including Hartley Coleridge, Lawrence Hope, John Keats, Edgar Allen Poe, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Suckling. Also included is an incomplete score and libretti for "The Queen’s Masque," written while CLS was teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, and a printed copy of his setting of Robert Louis Stevenson’s "Windy Nights," composed when he was fourteen.
The Composers' Collective subseries documents CLS’s involvement in this left wing New York City organization. Seeger donated the materials in 1940 requesting they be maintained separately from his other donations. In 2009, they were processed as the Workers Music League Collection. The materials have since been incorporated into the Seeger Family Collection because Seeger acquired and used them during his time within the Collective to write music reviews and commentary on the arts for the
The bulk of this subseries consists of music composed by members of the Collective or acquired for review by Seeger. Among the composers represented are Paul Arma, Henry Leland Clarke (as Jonathan Fairbanks), Hanns Eisler, Roy Harris (as Tom Morrow), Alex North, and Elie Siegmeister (as L. E. Swift). Seeger, under the pseudonym Carl Sands, also composed for the Collective. Some thirteen of his works are included here, many of which are holograph drafts. Of some significance is his draft of "Into the Streets May First" composed in 1934. It lost out to Aaron Copland’s setting of the same verse in a Composers' Collective competition for best workers song for May 1 that year. Several Carl Sands compositions are also housed in the CLS Music subseries. British, French, German, and Soviet composers are well-represented.
Other material in the subseries includes 38 workers songbooks from around the world. Two of these, from Germany, are signed by Bess Brown Lomax. The subseries is rounded out by programs from Composers' Collective or Workers Music League events and reviews written by Carl Sands. Much of this series is in Russian, French, or German.
Music is the largest subseries in the RCS series. Holograph scores exist for all of RCS’s significant compositions. In addition there are numerous versions with edits in RCS’s hand, pasteovers, and excisions. There are also sketches, arrangements of works by Bach and Beethoven, and a version of "When, Not If." RCS composed under the pseudonym Fred Karlan; copies of holograph scores for two of these works ("Lolipop-a-Papa" and an untitled song) can also be found here. The works are arranged in five file units: chamber music, piano music, vocal music, arrangements, and posthumously printed music. To protect the materials, the Library of Congress microfilmed all of the RCS manuscript compositions. Researchers are to request manuscripts by the microfilm number associated with each title in the container list.
Beyond the music manuscripts, the strength of the RCS series is her writings and book drafts. There are drafts of her entire unpublished preface for
In addition to these writings, the Family series contains the drafts of several unpublished collections of folk music prepared by Charles and Ruth Crawford Seeger. All are based upon music transcriptions created by Ruth Crawford Seeger. Both transcriptions and lyric sheets are availble. "1001 Folksongs" and "Love Songs of the American People" were collaborations between the Seegers and Duncan Emrich, while "We Come by it Natural" was a CLS and RCS endeavor.
The Family series also includes a number of books published, owned by, contributed to, or used by Charles, Ruth, or Peggy Seeger, including Harvard Class of 1908 reports, a copy of
As a family of composers and authors, the Seegers devoted time to managing permissions to use and collecting royalties for compositions, transcriptions, lyrics, and text created by Ruth, Charlie, and his siblings Alan Seeger and Elizabeth Seeger. Much of this material is located in the Family Permissions and Royalties subseries. A similasr set of materials is located in the MacColl/Seeger Recording Activity sub-subseries.
Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl made their names as singers and songwriters. They were also song collectors. The MacColl/Seeger Songwriting subseries consists of original works by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, arrangements and transcriptions of traditional ballads and folk songs primarily from the United Kingdom and the United States, and unsolicited original songs sent to MacColl and Seeger from folk song enthusiasts.
Both the Peggy Seeger and the MacColl/Seeger series provide extensive evidence of their songwriting efforts. The Song Evolutions file unit in the PS series comprises folders for 112 of her songs containing information about lyrics, tune source or author, and holograph and typescript revisions and edits. While less detailed, the M/S series includes folders for 121 MacColl songs and half as many PS songs (some of which overlap with the Song Evolutions material). Materials in the PS Songwriting file unit show the process by which she developed lyric ideas from current events. Clippings about George W. Bush’s presidency, poetry, other people’s lyrics, and music in this file unit all informed and inspired her composing. A similar clippings file containing information on women's isues such as abortion, child care, divorce, domestic abuse, rape, sexual violence, and women’s health exists in the Resources section of the MaColl/Seeger Songwriting subseries.
In addition to songwriting, MacColl and Seeger were performers and recording artists who in many ways were synonymous with the folk revival in England. Two MacColl/Seeger subseries provide evidence of this: Subject Files and Organizations. The bulk of the Subject Files subseries concerns the state of the folk scene from the 1960s to the 1980s as seen through agent mailings, folk club newsletters and directories, performer publicity, and posters.
Information regarding MacColl's and Seeger's performing schedules is also a part of the Subject Files subseries as are concert programs and flyers, performance books, reviews and set lists. Performances are also heavily documented in the Peggy Seeger (PS) and Peggy Seeger Addition (PSA) series. Performances are documented by program books for Seeger's solo tours and those with Ewan MacColl and with Irene Pyper-Scott, repertoire sheets, and tour records.
The Critics Group and the Singers Club provided additional avenues for MacColl's and Seeger's creative output. Their role as founders and leaders of these entities is amply documented in the Organizations subseries. The Critics Group provided MacColl with performing colleagues who appeared in the annual Festival of Fools productions mounted by the organization from 1965 to 1971. The subseries includes scripts and technical materials generated by these prodcutions. While MacColl wrote the scripts, PS managed the productions and provided musical arrangements.
The Singers Club served as MacColl's and Seeger's home stage for decades. Performace books again attest to their heavy singing schedule. Although run by a committee, MacColl and Seeger were heavily involved in the club's management as can be seen in the minutes and account books.
The Recording Activity subseries provides documentation of Blackthorne Records created by MacColl and Seeger to record their own LPs. Both the business, and to a lesser extent the creative sides of the enterprise, are documented.
The Peggy Seeger series documents her life as a songwriter, traveling performer, and workshop teacher in the United States from about 1989 to 2009.
The Business Papers subseries provides information on working with agents; developing publicity, including posters, flyers, and brochures; setting up tour itineraries; and managing rights and permissions. There is also an extensive set of printed email files, invoices, miscellany, and assignment sheets known as the Daily Planet that was maintained by Seeger’s assistants from 2001-2010.
Subject Files contain transcripts of Ewan MacColl’s "Vox Pop" program from 1967 and information about Libba Cotton, Paul Robeson, and Vassar College.
Photographs are found throughout the entire collection. Those included with
correspondence remain
Images in the Peggy Seeger and Peggy Seeger Addition series include portraits of her alone and with Irene Pyper-Scott and event photographs depicting Peggy alone, with her brothers, and with other performers. There is an extensive set of family snapshots and slides in the MacColl/Seeger and Peggy Seeger Addition series showing the family on holiday and in daily life. These subsubseries also contain PS's photographs taken during her 1950s trips to China and eastern Europe including Poland, and the Soviet Union. The family snapshots and slides came in two accessions. Due to the extent of these images and their varying formats, organization, and numbering systems, no effort was made during processing to cross check the accessions for duplicative images.
There are pencil sketches of CLS in the CLS Photographs and Artwork subseries and of PS in the PS Iconography and Realia subseries. Other artwork includes drawings by Kore Loy Wildrekinde-McWhirter in the PS and PSA series and by Boardman Robinson and Hedy West in the CLS Photographs and Artwork subseries. Portraits of PS and Ewan MacColl are part of the MacColl/Seeger Biographical Materials subseries; portraits of PS alone (including a pencil sketch by her Aunt Elsie Seeger) are located in the PS Iconography and Realia subseries.
Among the realia items are lanyards, badges, and pins belonging to Peggy Seeger, a quilt honoring RCS from the Children’s Music Network, a Seeger Family Reunion t-shirt and one with the Singers Club logo, several rubber stamps and printing plates, and MacColl's casket plaque. There are badges owned by MacColl and several awards received by him for writing
The Seeger Family Collection is organized in six series:
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/2014572469
Correspondence among Seeger, Crawford, and Taylor family members as well as Seeger family correspondence with publishers and other organizations; contracts and financial reports; legal documents and vital records; music manuscripts, photographs; programs; published books; sermons; and song arrangements, lyric sheets, and song lists.
Materials are arranged into five subseries: Correspondence, Royalties and Permissions, Biographical Material, Books, and Unpublished Book Drafts.
Correspondence among Seeger, Crawford, and Taylor family members, financial records, music, photographs, and programs.
Arranged in three file units: Seeger Family, Taylor/Dickinsen Family, and Crawford Family.
Correspondence, contracts, and financial reports.
Arranged alphabetically by folder title.
Contracts, correspondence, legal documents, and vital records.
Arranged alphabetically by folder title.
Published titles owned or written by Charles L., Ruth, or Peggy Seeger.
Arranged alphabetically by author or title.
Song arrangements with lyric sheets and song lists.
Materials from boxes 39-45 are available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 5.
Arranged alphabetically by draft title.
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 5, item 46
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 5, item 46
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 5, item 46
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 5, item 46
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 5, item 46
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 5, item 46
Holograph, manuscript, and annotated scores and sketches; songbooks and song sheets; correspondence; publication files including drafts (typescript and holograph), reprints of articles and reviews, note cards and loose notes, and illustrations; melographs; class assignments, notes, syllabi; pencil drawings; clippings; invoices; oral histories; programs; and vital records; and photographic prints and negatives.
Materials are arranged into seven subseries: Music, Correspondence, Teaching, Writings, Composers' Collective, Biographical Materials, and Photographs and Artwork.
Holograph scores, annotated scores, and sketches. Additional music by Charles Seeger is located in the Composers' Collective subseries under his pseudonym, Carl Sands.
Arranged alphabetically by title.
Articles, correspondence, and notes.
Arranged alphabetically by correspondent or organization name.
Class assignments, notes, and syllabi.
Arranged alphabetically by course title.
Reprints, drafts (typescript and holograph), and working files
Arranged into three sub-subseries: Writings by Charles L. Seeger, Writings about Charles L. Seeger, and Writings by Others
Reprints, drafts (typescript and holograph), and working files.
Arranged into two file units: Works (arranged alphabetically by title) and Working Papers and Notes (arranged alphabetically by folder title). Seeger's reviews penned under his pseudonym, Carl Sands, are located here.
Arranged alphabetically by author name
Correspondence, music, songbooks, programs, clippings.
Arranged in three sub-subseries: Music - Individual Works, Songbooks, and Subject Files.
Articles, programs, publications, and reports
Arranged alphabetically by file unit
Clippings, forms, invoices, notes, obituaries, oral histories, programs, subject files, and vital records
Arranged alphabetically by file unit
Photographic prints, negatives, transparencies, and pencil drawings.
Arranged alphabetically by folder title.
Holograph, manuscript, annotated, and printed scores and sketches; correspondence; programs, drafts, articles, and reviews; diaries, stories, poems, and yearbooks; scrapbooks, book mock-ups and illustrations; and clippings.
Materials are arranged into six subseries: Music, Correspondence, Writings by Ruth Crawford Seeger, Writings About Ruth Crawford Seeger, Music - Programs/Reviews, and Biographical Materials.
Holograph manuscript scores, annotated scores, and sketches.
Materials from boxes 5-13 are available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reels 1-4
and 6. A complete contents list for the microfilm reels is available in the
Ruth Crawford
Seeger Holograph Music Manuscripts and Folk Materials Microfilm Contents
List.
Arranged in microfilm item order under the following headings: Chamber, Piano, Vocal, Arrangements, and Posthumously Printed Music.
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 1
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 1a
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 1b
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 1c
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 1d
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 1f
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 1e
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 1g
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 1h
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 1i
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 1j
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 1k
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 3
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 3a
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 4
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 5
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 6
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 6a
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 6b
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 6c
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 6d
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 7
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 7
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 1, item 7a
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 8
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 8
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 8a
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 8b
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 8c
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 8d
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 8e
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 8f
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 8g
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 8h
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 8i
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 8j
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 8k
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 8l
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 9
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 9a
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 10
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 10
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 10a
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 10b
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 11
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 11
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 12
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 13
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 13a
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 14
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 15
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 16
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 17
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 18
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 19
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 20
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 21
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 21a
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 2
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 22a
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 23
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 24
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 24a
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 24b
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 24c
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 24d-24e
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 24f
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 25
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 26
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 27
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 27a
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 28
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 29
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 29a
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 29b
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 29c
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 29d
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 29e
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 29f
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 29g
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 30
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 31
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 31a
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 32
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 32a
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 32b
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 33
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 34
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 34a
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 3, item 34b
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 35
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 35
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 35a
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 35a
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 35b
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 35c
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 35d
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 35e
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 35f
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 35g
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 35h
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 35i
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 35j
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 35k
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 35k
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 35l
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 35m
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 35n
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 35o
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 36
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 37
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 38
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 39
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 39a
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 40
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 41
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 6, item 48
Incoming and some outgoing correspondence, clippings, programs, and a manuscript text.
Select materials from box 86 are also available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reels 4-5.
Arranged alphabetically by correspondent.
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 5, item 35p
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 8m
Diaries, manuscript and typescript stories, school assignments, book drafts, and children's book mock-ups.
Select materials from boxes 14-15 and 90 are also available on microfilm, box
84/20216, reels 2 and 4-6.
Arranged into three sub-subseries: Diaries; Poems, School Assignments, and Stories; and Professional Work.
Bound volumes and typescript sheets
Arranged chronologically by initial entry date
Manuscript school essays, manuscript and typescript poems and short stories, and yearbooks
Arranged alphabetically by writing type
Articles, book drafts, music, and reviews
Arranged into two file units: Articles/Reviews and Books
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 42
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 2, item 43
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 44
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 4, item 44a
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 5, item 45
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 5, item 47
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 5, item 47
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 5, item 47
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 6, item 49
Available on microfilm, box 84/20216, reel 6, item 50
Articles and theses arranged alphabetically by author; Book reviews arranged alphabetically by book title.
Arranged alphabetically by folder title.
Clippings, genealogy, obituaries, pencil drawings, photographs, programs, and scrapbooks (with inserted clippings, dried flowers, ephemera, photographs, and programs).
Arranged alphabetically by folder title.
Correspondence; articles, reviews, and essays; radio program transcripts; scripts; obituaries; research material; contracts and financial records; music, lyric sheets, and song transcriptions; set lists, tour itineraries, discographies, liner notes, album layouts, and page proofs; posters, brochures, flyers, programs, and schedules; awards and certificates; clippings and address and telephone books; photographic material and photograph album; and drawings and artwork, buttons, lanyards, and badges, and a quilt and t-shirt.
Arranged in eight subseries: Correspondence, Creative Activity, Business Papers, Biographical Materials, Subject Files, Photographs, Writings by Others, and Iconography and Realia.
Arranged in two file units: Family and Alphabetical.
Materials related to Peggy Seeger's professional activities as a singer, songwriter, teacher, and social activist.
Arranged in nine file units: Albums,
Correspondence, drafts of cover art, song lists, and liner notes.
Arranged alphabetically by folder title
Correspondence, proof sheets, music proofs, and illustrations
Arranged alphabetically by book title
May contain any of the following materials: contracts, correspondence, publicity, set lists, and background material
Arranged alphabetically by event title
Notebooks detailing performance locations and dates
Arranged chronologically
Clippings, itineraries, and press releases
Lyric sheets
Arranged alphabetically by song title
Annotated drafts of lyrics and manuscript music
Arranged alphabetically by song title
Articles, clippings on current events, jokes, poetry, and song lyrics
Arranged alphabetically by folder title
Correspondence, curricula, itineraries, lecture notes, photographs, schedules, student songs
Arranged alphabetically by event name
Artwork, contracts, correspondence, flyers and brochures, itineraries, office "to-do" assignments, and posters.
Arranged alphabetically by file name.
Articles, awards, biographical writings, clippings, correspondence, financial records, music, obituaries, photographs, posters, programs, and reviews.
Arranged in two file units: Peggy Seeger and Family, and then alphabetically therein.
Articles, artwork, song lyrics, and program transcripts.
Arranged alphabetically by folder title.
Color prints and transparencies, black and white prints, contact sheets, and negatives, slides, and correspondence.
Arranged in two file units: Portraits (alphabetically by photographer) and Events (alphabetically by folder title).
Articles, course readers, photographs, and scripts.
Arranged alphabetically by author.
Arranged into two file units: Iconography and Realia.
Event badges, buttons, and lanyards; license plates; and a plaque, a quilt, and a trading card set
Arranged alphabetically by material type
The MacColl-Seeger series (formerly the Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger
Archive housed at Ruskin College, Oxford) contains personal and professional
correspondence with family members, artist colleagues--particularly
songwriters--and business associates; plays and other writings; song lyrics by
MacColl, Seeger, and others in their circle; music manuscripts of works by Peggy
Seeger, Ewan MacColl--both as joint creators and independent writers--and others;
and family and professional photographs. Also included are datebooks, financial
documents, contracts and other records which reveal more than mere business
arrangements; these papers help demonstrate how the couple carved out and
engineered the spread of the folk revival movement in Europe in the 1960s through
club and festival appearances. These materials also provide insight into Peggy
Seeger's role as a performer, songwriter, business manager, and parent.
Audio/visual materials, transferred to the American Folklife Center, capture live
performances, interviews, oral histories, and, in the Seeger family tradition,
field recordings of folk artists in Britain and Europe.
Arranged in eight subseries: Writings, Songwriting, Subject Files, Correspondence, Organizations, Recording Activity, Biographical Materials, and Photographs.
The Writings subseries brings together most of Ewan MacColl's and Peggy
Seeger’s extensive independent written output; their vast songwriting oeuvre is
in the Songwriting subseries, while MacColl’s “Festival of Fools” productions
are located in the Critics Group files. Between them they wrote or edited more
than twenty books including heavily annotated song collections and monographs;
MacColl himself wrote over twenty plays and dozens of radio and television
broadcasts.
Broadcasts and plays are the most extensively documented of MacColl’s
writings with versions of all of his plays and radio ballads included in the
collection. There are also numerous drafts of his posthumously published
autobiography
Between 1969-1985 a different sort of publication occupied much of Peggy’s
attention: the
Both MacColl and Seeger shared their knowledge of folk music through
lectures on folk music structure and style, using music in documentary
productions, and how to write folk songs.
Other writers are also represented in the Writings subseries through
articles sent to or saved by MacColl or Seeger on topics or writers of interest
and poetry sent to them by friends. The articles located here are on a variety
of topics unlike those in the Subject Files subseries which focus on folk music
and the folk revival.
Materials consist of clippings, correspondence; draft and published
articles, books, and plays; lyric sheets; notated and printed music;
photographs; pre-publication artwork; and scripts.
Arranged into seven sub-subseries or file units: Articles, Books, Broadcasts,
Materials consist of correspondence and draft and published articles on a wide array of topics of interest to MacColl and Seeger; articles and reviews by them are here as well.
Arranged alphabetically by author or title.
Materials consist of correspondence, drafts, indexes, lyric sheets, music transcriptions, notated music, notes, page proofs, reviews, and song analysis charts created by MacColl and Seeger for publications they wrote or contributed to.
Arranged alphabetically by author and then by title.
Materials consist of actuality transcripts, articles, correspondence, interview transcripts, lyric sheets, music sequences and scripts, notated music, photographs, research reports, reviews, and scripts.
Arranged alphabetically by broadcast medium and then alphabetically by program title.
Materials consist of artwork, correspondence, lyrics and working texts, and printed songsters. Artwork (in the form of paste-ups), permission forms, and the printed edition exist for most volumes.
Arranged numerically by issue number.
Materials consist of correspondence, performance photographs, programs, reviews, scripts in draft and final form including several published foreign language editions, and a vocal score. Note that scripts dated 1993 were generated by Peggy Seeger from her files and are considered by her to be definitive.
Arranged alphabetically by author and then by title.
Materials consist of poems written, collected, or sent to MacColl or Seeger
Arranged alphabetically by author or title.
Materials consist of lecture notes and transcripts.
Arranged alphabetically by author and then presentation title.
The Songwriting subseries consists of original works by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, arrangements and transcriptions of traditional ballads and folk songs primarily from the United Kingdom and the United States, and unsolicited original songs sent to MacColl and Seeger from folk song enthusiasts. The subseries also contains a variety of traditional and folk music resources collected by MacColl and Seeger throughout their careers that was used to inform their songwriting and research. These materials include photocopies of the Percy Grainger English Folk Song notebooks, transcripts of traditional folk songs from the United Kingdom, and photocopies of broadsides from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There is also an extensive collection of materials relating to late 20th century women's issues.
The unsolicited original songs include submissions to the
Materials consist of articles, booklets, clippings, correspondence,
newsletters, notated music, pamphlets, posters, song lyrics, songbooks, and
transcriptions.
Arranged into five sub-subseries: Songs written by MacColl and Seeger, Songs composed by others, Music collected by MacColl and Seeger, Resources, and Unsolicited songs.
Materials consist of lyric sheets and a song notebook.
Arranged alphabetically by title.
Materials consist of clippings, lyric sheets, and notebooks with
notated music.
Arranged alphabetically by song title.
Materials consist of articles, booklets, brochures, clippings,
correspondence, lyric sheets, newsletters, photocopies of manuscript melody
lines, songbooks, and transcripts.
Arranged by file unit: Traditional and Folk Song Arrangements, Music Collected by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, Resources, and Unsolicited Materials.
Materials consist of lyric sheets.
Arranged alphabetically by song title.
Materials consist of lyric sheets.
Chiefly arranged alphabetically by song title.
Materials consist of articles, booklets, brochures, clippings,
correspondence, newsletters, and transcripts.
Arranged alphabetically by author or title.
Materials consist of correspondence, lyric sheets, photocopies of
manuscript melody lines, and songbooks.
Arranged alphabetically by author.
The Subject Files subseries contains materials related to three separate topical areas significant to MacColl and Seeger: folk music and performance, political campaigning, and theater.
The Folk Music sub-subseries is the most extensive. Much of the material
included here came to Peggy Seeger in her role as the contact person for the
Singers Club; it provides information about the folk music scene during the
folk revival and beyond. Folk club newsletters and directories provide
information on organization and performer activities throughout the United
Kingdom as do an extensive set of questionnaire responses solicited by Seeger.
Promotional posters and brochures from agents, festivals, and record labels
provide concert line ups, performer biographies, and tour dates.
EM and PS’s touring career together and their solo tours are
well-documented here through detailed program books listing thirty years of
concert locations and dates, concert programs and flyers, and reviews and set
lists. Additional set lists can be found in the Singers Club files.
In addition to these primary source materials there are articles on folk
music and the revival including three unpublished theses.
Political Campaigning materials provide a glimpse into MacColl and,
particularly, Seeger's late 20th century political concerns particularly
nuclear power and its local impact. Other topics of interest include apartheid
and the Nixon and Reagan presidencies. Similar material on women's issues is
located in Resources.
MacColl maintained a keen interest in theatre after leaving the Theatre
Workshop in the 1950s. He continued to write plays and see his plays performed.
The Theater materials document this interest through posters, programs, and
scripts produced by English and Scottish theater groups.
Materials consist of articles, brochures and flyers, catalogs, clippings,
correspondence, lyric sheets, newsletters, performance programs, photographs,
poems, posters, program books, questionnaires, scripts, songbooks, and
transcripts.
Arranged into three sub-subseries or file units: Folk Music, Political Campaigning, and Theatre.
Materials consist of articles, brochures and flyers, catalogs,
clippings, correspondence, lyric sheets, newsletters, performance programs,
photographs, poems, program books, questionnaires, scripts, songbooks, and
transcripts.
Arranged alphabetically by file unit.
Materials include badges, brochures, clippings, leaflets, posters, protest sash, and transcripts.
Arranged alphabetically by folder title.
Materials include correspondence, posters, programs, and scripts.
Arranged alphabetically by folder title.
The Correspondence subseries documents the entire range of Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger's activities: performing, composing, business management, and relationships with friends and family. The correspondence concerns MacColl/Seeger tour arrangements in Australia, Canada, Europe, and the United States; Singers Club schedules; visits from American friends and family; operation of Blackthorne Records, creation and distribution of the
Significant correspondents include: all of Peggy Seeger's siblings, their
spouses, and several of her nieces and nephews; Ruth Crawford Seeger
biographers Matilda Gaume, David Nicholls, and Judith Tuck; musicologists and
friends Sidney Robertson Cowell, Gershon Legman, Alan Lomax, and Ralph Rinzler;
performers Billy Bragg, Hazel Dickens, Alice Gerrard, Ruthie Gorton, Christy
Moore, Faith Petric, Sally Rogers, and Paddy Tunney.
Most of the correspondence consists of letters sent to EM/PS with very
limited responses by either or both of them. The exception is the period 1983
to 1987 when dictation was used to respond to mail. During this period incoming
mail was assigned a handwritten number and that number was placed on outgoing
mail. However, even during this period the ratio of responses to incoming mail
is small.
Materials consist of clippings, correspondence, invoices, poetry, reports,
and song lyrics and notated music.
Arranged into two file units: General Correspondence and Condolence Letters and Cards. Each is arranged chronologically.
Materials consist of clippings, correspondence, invoices, poetry,
reports, and song lyrics and notated music.
Arranged chronologically. Note that European dating style (dd/mm/yyyy) is used for much of the correspondence.
Arranged chronologically.
The Organizations subseries documents three entities in which Ewan MacColl
and/or Peggy Seeger played significant roles: the Critics Group, the Singers
Club, and the Workers Theatre Movement including the Theatre Workshop.
The Critics Group, an offshoot of the Singers Club, provided MacColl and
Seeger, as seasoned folk revival performers, with a venue to share their
experience in the art of folk performance with Club performers, attendees, and
others.
The Critics Group came also to serve as a vehicle for MacColl to write and
stage The Fesival of Fools--satirical plays performed during the new year
season that recapitulated the previous year’s news. New and old folk songs and
dancing were a feature of the programs. MacColl also wrote mumming plays and
radio plays for the group. The bulk of the Critics Group materials document
these programs through scripts and other documentation created to manage the
productions. Annotated scripts show how each play developed as it was
rehearsed. Peggy Seeger played a significant role in the productions managing
the communications, finances, and staging. Her “books” are interesting for the
director’s notes found on the verso of rehearsal script pagess. Photographs
(virtually all unidentified as to performers or production) show how the
performances were staged.
The Singers Club was a membership organization operated by a volunteer
management committee of members under the auspices of the Education Department
of London Co-operative Society Ltd. between 1961 and January 1992. Originally
based in the Princess Louise pub, the Club cycled through a number of different
physical locations over its 30 year history.
MacColl and Seeger played a significant role in the club's structure and
organization and performed there nearly weekly, except when they were on
extended tours outside London. Performance books and lists of songs sung by
MacColl provide a window into the extent of their performing history, the songs
they sang at the Club, and others who appeared there. Meeting minutes document
the administration of the club and financial records including bar accounts,
invoices, and cash books shed light on the money matters.
Although theater loomed large in MacColl's early years, there is little
documentation about his role in the development of the Theatre Workshop the
most significant organization to come out of the Workers Theatre Movement in
England. This sub-subseries contains mainly articles, photographs, and programs
from various productions.
Materials consist of cast and crew lists, music cue sheets, newsletters,
photographs, rehearsal schedules, scripts, and stage layouts.
Arranged in three sub-subseries: Critics Group, Singers Club, and Workers Theatre Movement.
Materials consist of articles, cast and crew lists, music cue sheets,
newsletters, notated music, photographs, posters, programs, rehearsal
schedules, scripts, and stage layouts.
Arranged alphabetically by file unit.
Materials include booking confirmation sheets, correspondence; financial records, membership lists, minutes, photographs, posters, program lists, set lists, song sheets and broadsides, and a t-shirt.
Arranged alphabetically by file unit.
Materials include articles, photographs, programs, and scripts.
Arranged alphabetically by file unit.
MacColl and Seeger released over a dozen records of their music both individually and as a duo on their Blackthorne label.
The Blackthorne Records sub-subseries minimally documents the recording
process for fourteen releases. With the exception of
The Recording Activity subseries documents album creation, label
management, and control of their song rights. A nearly complete photocopied set
of album covers and their inserts provides a ready resource to the
MacColl/Seeger output. The Discographies sub-subseries documents MacColl and
Seegercompositions, song usage, rights, and permissions.
Materials consist of album cover artwork and inserts; catalogs and flyers;
correspondence; copyright filings; discographies; financial documents including
account books, balance sheets, bank records, invoices, receipts, and VAT
account books; meeting minutes; record label catalogs, recording track lists;
and song drafts.
Arranged into two sub-subseries: Blackthorne Records and Recording and Rights Management and then alphabetically therein.
Materials consist of album cover artwork and inserts; catalogs and
flyers; correspondence; copyright filings; financial documents including
account books, balance sheets, bank records, invoices, receipts, and VAT
account books; meeting minutes; and record label catalogs; and song drafts.
Arranged alphabetically by author or title.
Materials consist of album covers and liner notes (photocopies),
correspondence, discographies and song lists, record label catalogs, and
rights documentation.
Arranged alphabetically by file unit.
The Biographical Materials subseries consists of documents and
3-dimensional objects related to Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger’s personal lives
as well as printed material, such as reviews, they collected that documents
their careers. There are also bird, flower, and hiking books annotated by
MacColl during his rambles and information relating to various memorial events
following his death.
Correspondence includes several letters from Joan Littlewood, MacColl’s
1958 love letters written to Seeger while she was in France, and scattered
notes from his children.
The subseries also contains a limited number of items by and about MacColl
and Seeger’s immediate family members including their children, MacColl’s
parents William and Betsy Miller, the Miller and Hendry families, and his
daughter Kirsty MacColl. The Miller/Hendry family material consists of
photographs. Other photographs in this subseries were found loose in the
collection and could not be associated with existing sets in the Photographs
subseries.
Materials consist of artwork, awards and honors, biographical sketches,
books, clippings, correspondence, diaries (appointment books), interview
transcripts, legal documents including contracts, obituaries, personal items
and memorabilia, photographs, reviews and articles, and vital records.
Arranged alphabetically by file unit and alphabetically therein.
The bulk of the Photographs subseries consists of personal photographs taken by either Ewan MacColl or Peggy Seeger. They document family activities at home and while travelling. As such, the images provide a glimpse into the domestic life of the MacColl/Seeger family. There are images of children playing in the family garden; the family hiking, rock climbing and sunbathing; and trips to the zoo and the local park and woods. There are also images of the Stewart traveller family and the coal-mining Elliott family who came know to MacColl and Seeger through singing. Other folk singers are also documented. All five of MacColl's children are depicted in the images as are Betsy Miller and Charles Seeger and Peggy's siblings Mike, Barbara, and Penny.
Materials consist of black and white and color contact prints, contact
sheets, negatives, prints, and slides.
Arranged into five file units: prints, slides, publicity photgraphs, miscellaneous photographs, and rolled contact print and negatives.
Materials consist of black and white and color contact prints, contact
sheets, negatives, prints, and slides.
Arranged chronologically and alphabetically by label description therein.
Materials consist of color slides.
Arranged numerically by set number.
Materials consist of black and white prints and contact sheets.
Arranged alphabetically by photographer.
Materials consist of black and white and color prints and
negatives.
Arranged alphabetically by label description.
These 35 mm prints and negatives came to the library rolled (56 print rolls and 41 negative rolls). Conservators flattened the items and placed them into envelopes by roll number. Descriptive information inside quote marks came with the items. Information within brackets was provided by the processing team. From the description provided it appears that some of the images relate to the photo sets.
Arranged by format with prints filed first followed by negatives. Each format is in numerical order by roll number.
The subseries consists of seven boxes (some originally labelled "dead
boxes" by Seeger) with a year designation. Items in a box may precede or
surpass the label date. Items in each box were not in any particular order when
received; the file units for each year are an attempt to impose some logic to
assist the user. Materials consist of articles, brochures and flyers, catalogs,
clippings, correspondence, lyric sheets, newsletters, photographs, set lists,
songbooks, and transcripts.
Arranged chronologically by year and alphabetically by file unit therein.
The bulk of the subseries consists of correspondence between Peggy Seeger
and her father, Charles L. Seeger, Jr., and very occasionally, her sisters
Barbara and Penelope. PS discusses her life in Europe, first at her brother,
Charles Seeger III's, house and then her travels in eastern Europe, Russia, and
China. CLS discusses his concern for Peggy and his changing life following the
death of RCS and his marriage to Margaret Taylor. PS also dicusses her
burgeoning relationship with Ewan MacColl and her pregnancy with son Neill. A
significantly smaller set of letters addressed to her children covers PS's 1995
travels across the United States with Irene Pyper-Scott.
Arranged chronologically.
The subseries documents PS's ongoing artistic activity, including
interviews, performances, and recordings. The bulk of the subseries consists of
PS writings from 1999 to 2007 and her memoir,
Arranged alphabetically by file unit.
This subseries consists of appointment books and diary pages that PS
fashioned as "a duty book - a way of life." The volumes maintained the
operating information she needed to manage her household and professional
activities. As such the volumes contain grocery lists, MacColl family medical
appointments, meeting dates, phone numbers and addresses, repair work to be
done, song lists, to-do lists, and trip planning. Volumes for the years
1974-1989 also include appointments and events related to Ewan MacColl.
Arranged chronologically.
The subseries supplements images found in the PS and M/S series: portraits
of PS taken by professional photographers, snapshots with friends and family,
photographs taken by PS in Europe and China, and MacColl/Seeger family slides.
These last appear to duplicate those in the M/S Photographs subseries.
Materials include black and white and color negatives, prints, slides, and
transparencies.
Arranged in topical groups: portraits, snapshots, family photographs, Peg's General Slides, and Peg and Ewan's selected slides.
Slides are arranged by slide box number as received from the donor. Many of the images appear to come from or duplicate those in the Photograph and Slide sets located in the MacColl/Seeger Photographs subseries. The accompanying slide index is not completely reliable as to topical or personal information.
The Seeger Family Members Chart provides names and relationships for four generations of Charles Seeger's family.
The Ruth Crawford Seeger Holograph Music Manuscripts and Folk Materials Microfilm Contents List is the original list created when the items were microfilmed by the Library of Congress. It contains additional descriptive details for items in the finding aid.
The 2006 Ruskin College container list is attached as a reference point to the arrangement of the collection at the time of its transfer to the Library of Congress Music Division.
This index provides access to the photocopied MacColl/Seeger album sleeves and inserts located in the Recording Activity subseries.