Collection Summary
W.P.A. California Folk Music Project
collection 1936-1991
1938-1940
1936-1991
1938-1940
AFC
1940/001
United States. Work Projects
Administration (Calif.), sponsor
Cowell, Sidney Robertson, 1903-1995,
collector
7 boxes 4.5 linear feet.
manuscripts: 115 folders.
239 sound discs (35 hours) : analog, 78 rpm, mono. ; 12
in.
170 photographic prints : black and white ; various
sizes.
24 drawings.
Approximately one third of the sound
recordings are in English; two-thirds are performed in other, mostly European,
languages.
Approximately one third of the sound
recordings are in English; two-thirds are performed in other, mostly European,
languages.
Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, Library of
Congress
Washington, D.C.
The California Folk Music Project of the
California Work Projects Administration (WPA) was conceived and directed by Sidney
Robertson Cowell and co-sponsored by the Music Department of the University of
California, Berkeley, and the Music Division, Library of Congress from 1938 to 1940.
Additional support was provided by the New Music Society of California and the Society
of California Pioneers. The resulting collection of sound recordings, photographs,
correspondence, field notes, and drawings documents the musical culture, including
religious music and folk song, of many ethnic and English-language performers in
northern California. The collection includes the documentation of the music of Anglo
Americans, Armenians, Assyrians, Basques, Croatians, English, Finns, Hungarians,
Icelanders, Italians, Norwegians, Russian Molokans, Scots, Portuguese, Mexicans, Puerto
Ricans, Spaniards and Spanish Americans from 1938 to 1940. The sound recordings were
deposited in the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress in 1940. The
collection also includes a few instantaneous sound discs made by Sidney Robertson Cowell
in Missouri and Iowa for the Farm Security Administration in 1936-1937, and includes
folk music research, writing, photographs, and technical drawings and sketches of the
musical instruments, generated by Cowell and by the WPA staff who worked for her, plus
related documents to 1991.
Selected Search Terms
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.
People
Acosta, Rosalie
Aslanian, Jack
Asmussen, Ella
Avila, Albert
Avila, Alice Lemos
Baboyan, Reuben J.
Bakalian, Jack
Bardarson, Leo
Bardarson, Otto
Bardarson, Sigurd
Barr, Alex, 1910-1978
Bateman, John (Photographer)
Bedrosian, Joe
Bell, Sam (Folksinger)
Benonys, Sigridur
Blackburn, Sam
Boro, Peter
Botica, John
Botkin, Benjamin Albert, 1901-1975--Correspondence.
Brady, Hubert
Brangone, Louis
Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist, 1888-1971
Brown, Hilda Duarte
Calderón, Aurora, 1909-2006
Coffin, Ada Pearl
Coffin, Byron H.
Coffin, Byron, Jr.
Cook, Charles (Fiddler)
Cowell, Henry, 1897-1965--Correspondence.
Cowell, Sidney Robertson, 1903-1995
Cowell, Sidney Robertson, 1903-1995--Correspondence.
Cowell, Sidney Robertson, 1903-1995--Ethnomusicological collections.
Cunha, Frank
Cunha, John
Cunningham, John (Singer)
Daniels, Joe (Musician)
Daniels, Joe (Musician)
Day, William T.
De Soto, Jessie
De Soto, Tomas
Dedo, Tony
Denoon, R. R., -1971
Dormody, Anita
Dornbush, Adrian--Correspondence.
Drasky, Mary
Earnson, Flora
Edgar, Marjorie, 1889-1960--Corresondence.
Einarsson, Thordur
Elkus, Albert I. (Albert Israel), 1884-1962--Correspondence.
Emrich, Duncan, 1908-1977--Correspondence.
Erro, Antoinette
Espinosa, Lottie
Etcheverry, Frances
Etcheverry, Matias
Fetesoff, William S.
Figueroa, Ben
Flores, Joaquim
Flores, Olive
Ford, Arthur J.
Ford, Bogue
Ford, Elizabeth W.
Ford, Pat
Ford, Warde H.
Franco, Clifford
Franco, Louise
Franks, Mr.
Fulton, Charles (Pianist)
Gaidos, Mary
Garcia, Johnnie
Garcia, Maria (Singer)
Gomez, Julio (Musician)
Goshtigian, Hartop
Goshtigian, Mary
Gould, Hattie Scott
Graham, George Vinton
Grainger, Percy, 1882-1961--Correspondence.
Hall, J. L.
Halpert, Herbert, 1911-2000--Correspondence.
Handon, Joseph H.
Haroutunian, Bedros
Harp, Walter
Hart, Harmon
Herzog, George, 1901-1983--Correspondence.
Hobrecht, Bertrand
Jabbour, Alan--Correspondence.
Jelenfy, Elizabeth
Jelenfy, Mr.
Jones, Leonard W.
Kendall, Raymond, 1910-1980
Koljonen, C. A.
Koljonen, Celia
Korson, Rae--Correspondence.
Kratlian, Archie
Lemos, Manuel
Lindsay, Bennie
Lindsay, Junior
Lomax, Alan, 1915-2002--Correspondence.
Lomax, John A. (John Avery), 1867-1948--Correspondence.
Loscutoff, William S.
Lozada, Cruz
Lucido, Sal
MacInnes, Charlotte
MacInnes, Donald
MacLeish, Archibald, 1892-1982--Correspondence.
MacPhee, John
MacPhee, Mary
Madariaga, Mrs.
Mann, Thomas B.
McCready, John A.
McCready, Spencer
McDonald, Mary A.
McKenzie, Leighton
Meade, Virginia
Medeiros, Antonio
Mendes, Alberto (Musician)
Morgan, Aaron, 1861-1942
Myers, Evarista
Nilssen, Alf
Nimerfroh, Mr.
Nimerfroh, Rosa
Olafson, John
Olmeda, Mario
Oriet, Frenchy
Ortega, Jacinta
Pavon, Ed
Petersen, Fina
Pico, Virginia
Pitts, Ben
Ponce, Leon
Popoff, Mr.
Popoff, Mrs.
Powell, Charles (Guitarist)
Ralph, Walter Ross
Rasmussen, Charles (Judge)
Reha, Julia
Rice, Ben, 1872-
Robinson, Leighton
Rodriguez, Elinor
Russo, Joseph W.
Ruthling, Pablo
Salonen, Mary
Sanfilippo, Francisco
Sanford, Herbert Hudson
Sanoff, J. D.
Sarakoff, A. P.
Schetinin, William T.
Sebree, Walter
Seeger, Charles, 1886-1979--Correspondence.
Selleck, John N.
Shapazian, Siranoosh
Shapazian, Vartan S.
Sharp, James B.--Correspondence.
Shatinian, T.
Sigurasson, Oddrun
Silva, Elzira
Silveira, Mary
Soininen, John
Spivacke, Harold, 1904-1977--Correspondence.
Stone, John E., -1952
Susoeff, J. P.
Susoeff, J. P., Mrs.
Takakjian, Mesrob
Walker, Robert W., 1883-1961
Waters, Ozzie (Water witcher)
Wilbur, Ray L. (Ray Lyman), 1875-1949--Correspondence.
Wilkinson, Myrtle B.
Organizations
Archive of American Folk Song
Aslanian's Armenian Orchestra
Julio Gomez' Orchestra
Library of Congress. National Digital Library Program.
New Music Society of California.
Society of California Pioneers.
St. Anthony's Seminary (Santa Barbara, Calif.). Choristers
St. Joseph's Seminary (Santa Barbara, Calif.). Boys Choir
Stanford University. Choir
United States. Work Projects Administration (Calif.)
University of California, Berkeley. Department of Music
W.P.A. California Folk Music Project Collection, 1938-1940 (Library of Congress)
Subjects
Alabados.
Armenian Americans--California--Music.
Ballads, English--California.
Ballads--California.
Basque Americans--California--Music.
Bawdy songs--California.
British Americans--California--Music.
Carols--California.
Children's songs--California.
Courtship--Songs and music.
Croatian Americans--California--Music.
Dance music--California.
Fados--California.
Fiddle tunes--California.
Field recordings--California.
Finnish Americans--California--Music.
Folk dance music--California.
Folk music--California.
Folk songs, Armenian--California.
Folk songs, Basque--California.
Folk songs, Croatian--California.
Folk songs, English--California.
Folk songs, English--California.
Folk songs, Finnish--California.
Folk songs, Hungarian--California.
Folk songs, Icelandic--California.
Folk songs, Italian--California.
Folk songs, Norwegian--California.
Folk songs, Portuguese--Azores.
Folk songs, Portuguese--California.
Folk songs, Scots--California.
Folk songs, Scottish Gaelic--California.
Folk songs, Spanish--California.
Folk songs, Spanish--Mexico.
Folk songs, Spanish--Puerto Rico.
Folk songs--California.
Georgian Americans--California--Music.
Gold miners--Songs and music.
Humorous songs--California.
Hungarian Americans--California--Music.
Hymns--California.
Icelandic Americans--California--Music.
Immigrants--California--Songs and music.
Italian Americans--California--Music.
Loggers--Songs and music.
Love songs--California.
Lullabies--California.
Medicine shows--California.
Mexican Americans--California--Music.
Minstrel music--California.
Molokans--California--San Francisco--Music.
Musical instruments--California.
Norwegian Americans--California--Music.
Political ballads and songs--California.
Polkas--California.
Popular music--California.
Portuguese Americans--California--Music.
Puerto Ricans--California--Music.
Ragtime music--California.
Rímur.
Scottish Americans--California--Music.
Sea songs--California.
Sermons, Russian--California--San Francisco.
Singing games--California.
Spanish Americans--California--Music.
Places
California--Music.
California--Songs and music.
Titles
California gold, northern California folk music from the thirties.
W.P.A. California Folk Music Project collection, 1938-1940
Form/Genre
Drawings.
Ethnography.
Field notes.
Photographic prints.
Sound recordings.
Arrangement
Organized by format into the following series: I. Manuscripts, II. Sound Recordings,
III. Graphic Images.
Acquisition
Sidney Robertson Cowell; Gift; 1940.
Accruals
No further accruals are expected.
Processing History
The collection was processed by Judy Ng in 2007.
Related Material
Inventory of the California Folk Music Project records, 1938-1942; Music Library,
University of California, Berkeley: [http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf9s200870]>
Sidney Robertson Cowell collection, 901-1992; Music Division, Library of Congress:
[
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/eadmus.mu010010]
Sidney Robertson Cowell correspondence, 1936-1973; Music Division, Library of
Congress. (ML94.C69)
Copyright Status
Duplication of the collection materials may be governed by copyright and other
restrictions.
Access and Restrictions
Access restrictions apply. To request materials,
please contact the Folklife Reading Room at
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/folklife.contact [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/folklife.contact]
Online Content
A substantial portion of the collection, with interpretive essays, is available as
"California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties," [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/collafc.af000002]
Preferred Citation
W.P.A. California Folk Music Project collection (AFC 1940/001), Archive of Folk
Culture, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Biographical Note
1903
Born Sidney William Hawkins in San Francisco, California on June 02
1924
B.A., Romance Languages, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California Married
Kenneth Robertson (divorced 1933)
1935
Henry Street Settlement
1936
Music assistant to Charles Seeger, KL Division, Music Unit, Special Skills
Division, Resettlement Administration (RA).
Accompanied Frank C. Brown and John A.
Lomax on recording trip to western North Carolina where she received training in
using a portable sound recording machine and assisted in recording Anglo American
melismatic singing and African American singing in chain gang camps for the RA.
Travelled on her own to collect traditional English-language music in Arkansas,
Maryland, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia for the RA.
1937
Regional representative, Special Skills Division, Resettlement
Administration.
Collected recordings in Minnesota and northern Wisconsin
(including Warde Ford and his extended family, many of whom moved to California to
work in the CCC camps at the Shasta Dam where they were recorded by Robertson for
this WPA collection).
Community relief community manager, Special Skills Division,
Resettlement Administration.
Recorded Finnish, Serbian, and Gaelic performers;
recorded Swedish, Lithuanian, Norwegian, and Finnish performers at the 4th
National Folk Festival held in Chicago, recorded lumberjacks in Michigan.
Late 1937
Traveled to Washington, D.C. and California to explore plans for developing
and funding folk song collecting projects through New Deal arts organizations and
private grants organizations.
Began to do folk music research in her native
California.
Early 1938
Received endorsement from the Music Division at the Library of Congress and
200 blank acetate discs for recording folk music in California, under the
provision that the Library's Archive of American Folk Song receive copies of the
original field recordings she made.
She also received approval from the Department
of Music at the University of California, Berkeley, for co-sponsorship for their
support in providing office space.
Late 1938
Through the sponsorship of the Library of Congress and the University of
California, Berkeley, Robertson was able to apply for and receive WPA (Work
Projects Administration) approval for her California Folk Music Project through
the Berkeley office of the Northern District of the WPA in California. As such,
she received help from twenty persons on the labor relief rolls.
The CFMP opened
officially on October 28, 1938.
1940
The CFMP was brought to a close, due to a lack of the renewal of WPA funds,
which were intended to allow for the collection of Asian and Middle Eastern folk
music in California during an additional two years. During this year, she compiled
and publishedThe Gold Rush Song Book with Eleanora
Black.
1941
Married Henry Cowell and began to use her married name, Sidney Robertson
Cowell.
1942
PublishedThe Bibliography of American Folk-Song and
Folklore with Alan Lomax.
1950
With Maud Karpeles, traveled during the fall to seek out and re-record singers
and their families who had performed for Cecil Sharp in Appalachia in 1916-1917.
1953
Recorded American Folk Music Concert, Columbia University, at the 6th Annual
Festival of Contemporary American Music; bagpipe tunes and Scottish Gaelic singing
on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia; Spanish and Persian
singing in Alameda and
Berkeley, California; and the Shady [New York] Methodist Church Choir.
1955
56
Traveled for fourteen months to Europe and Asia, recording in the Aran
Islands, Ireland in June 1955, and again in June 1956. Included travel to record
traditional music in Iran, Thailand, Pakistan, and Malaysia.
1995
Died February 23 at her home in Shady, New York.
Administrative History
The California Folk Music Project (1938-1940) was the result of a joint effort of the
Northern California Work Projects Administration, the Library of Congress, and the
Department of Music at the University of California, Berkeley. The project was
officially sponsored by the University of California at Berkeley and co-sponsored by the
Library of Congress. The New Music Society and the Society of California Pioneers
offered their support and encouragement for the collecting project. The effort also
received some funding from the California State Relief Agency.
Prior to the California Folk Music Project, during 1936 and the early part of 1937,
Sidney Robertson had collected traditional English- and foreign-language music for the
Special Skills Division (KL) of the Resettlement Administration (RA). When the
Resettlement Administration was liquidated late in 1937, and with it, Robertson's source
of funds for recording, she looked for means to continue and expand the scope of her
folk music collecting in her native California under the auspices of the WPA.
Robertson was eager to organize and conduct ethnographic and folk musical research on a
nationwide basis in order to engage in more comprehensive field collecting than was
being done at the time. She discussed her plans with Luther Evans, then Librarian of
Congress and an old friend from Stanford University, who suggested that the WPA in
California might be willing to fund her project. The WPA contacts Robertson made through
Evans became convinced that such an undertaking might best be initiated on a
state-by-state basis. Robertson was promised WPA funding for a prototype of her
collecting plan in any single state, providing she could get the necessary 50%
contribution for the equipment, supplies, and rent required for government projects of
this kind. With such support, she was expected to devise work that could keep from
twenty to forty people employed from the work relief rolls and also be acceptable to at
least three sponsors. Robertson chose to pursue the project in California, where she
sought sponsorship for it through the University of California at Berkeley late in
1937.
It was in the Department of Music at the University of California, Berkeley, under the
chairmanship of Albert Elkus, that Robertson found a willing sponsor for her folk music
collecting plans in California. With Elkus' help, Robertson's project received
university support for space and equipment. And, because she conceived her collecting
project as being of relevance to the fields of anthropology, history, sociology,
literature, and ethnology, Robertson made contacts with interested faculty members in a
variety of university departments, who offered her their support. With the University of
California as an official sponsor, Robertson was then eligible to apply for WPA funds to
hire personnel to assist her in the task of collecting and documenting traditional music
in northern California.
Once WPA sponsorship of the project was established, the Archive of American Folk Song
at the Library of Congress, then under the Music Division's leadership of Harold
Spivacke, agreed to co-sponsor it by providing 12-inch acetate discs for recording the
music and offering cataloging assistance to organize the collection. For additional
non-labor items, which the WPA did not cover, such as catalog cards and travel expenses,
the project received financial support from the California State Relief Agency. In
addition to the backing of official project sponsors, Robertson sought assistance and
support for it from other academic sources. As an advisor on ethnographic standards for
conducting fieldwork, the anthropologist Paul Radin offered guidelines that could be
applied to the collecting of folk music. From George Herzog, Columbia University
ethnomusicologist, Robertson received suggestions on techniques for the melodic analysis
of folk music. Through Herzog's support, she developed a project that accorded
importance, not only to preserving the texts of folk songs, but also to collecting
traditional melodies and their variants so that they could later be analyzed
musicologically. A duplicate set of recordings on disc were given to the University of
California, Berkeley, for the purpose of establishing the Archive of California Folk
Music in 1940.
Although the Archive of California Folk Music was never established, the recordings
became part of the Music Library of the University of California, Berkeley and in the
early 1980s, they were put on permanent deposit in the Stanford University Archives of
Recorded Sound. The Music Library at the University of California, Berkeley, also
retained copies of administrative documents, English translations on folk music,
material on music in the California missions, lists of California songsters and hymnals,
song texts with references to California, material on Portuguese, Spanish and Latin
American folk songs, and sketches, scale drawings, and tracings of folk instruments.
Scope and Content
The California Folk Music Project of the California Work Projects Administration (WPA)
was conceived and directed by Sidney Robertson Cowell and co-sponsored by the Music
Department of the University of California, Berkeley, and the Music Division, Library of
Congress from 1938 to 1940. Additional support was provided by the New Music Society of
California and the Society of California Pioneers. The resulting collection of sound
recordings, photographs, correspondence, field notes, and drawings documents the musical
culture, including religious music and folk song, of many ethnic and English-language
performers in northern California. The collection includes the documentation of the
music of Anglo Americans, Armenians, Assyrians, Basques, Croatians, English, Finns,
Hungarians, Icelanders, Italians, Norwegians, Russian Molokans, Scots, Portuguese,
Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Spaniards and Spanish Americans from 1938 to 1940. The sound
recordings were deposited in the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of
Congress in 1940. The collection also includes a few copies of instantaneous sound discs made by
Sidney Robertson Cowell in Missouri and Iowa for the Farm Security Administration in
1936-1937, and includes folk music research, writing, photographs, and technical
drawings and sketches of the musical instruments, generated by Cowell and by the WPA
staff who worked for her, plus related documents to 1991.
Catalog Record: [https://lccn.loc.gov/2008700333]
Container List
Series I: Manuscripts
1/1
Finding Aid
Subseries I: Correspondence 1937-1958;
1980-1991
Subseries I contains correspondence materials that represent the pre-WPA
period which spans September 21, 1938-October 20, 1938. During November
1938-February 1940 and post-WPA April 1940-September 1958.
1/2
Correspondence, Pre-WPA Project, September
21, 1937-February 1938
Correspondence to and from Robertson, memoranda, project proposals, and
other materials relating to pre-California Folk Music Project activities
and queries. Correspondents include Henry Cowell, Adrian Dornbush, Albert
I. Elkus, Herbert Halpert, George Herzog, Alan Lomax, John A. Lomax,
Charles Seeger, James B. Sharp, Harold Spivacke, the Society of
California Pioneers and others.
1/3
Correspondence, Pre-WPA Project, March
1938-May 1938
Correspondence to and from Robertson, memoranda, project proposals, and
other materials relating to pre-California Folk Music Project activities
and queries. Correspondents include Henry Cowell, Adrian Dornbush, Albert
I. Elkus, Herbert Halpert, George Herzog, Alan Lomax, John A. Lomax,
Charles Seeger, James B. Sharp, Harold Spivacke, the Society of
California Pioneers and others.
1/4
Correspondence, Pre-WPA Project, June 1938
-October 1938
Correspondence to and from Robertson, memoranda, project proposals, and
other materials relating to pre-California Folk Music Project activities
and queries. Correspondents include Henry Cowell, Adrian Dornbush, Albert
I. Elkus, Herbert Halpert, George Herzog, Alan Lomax, John A. Lomax,
Charles Seeger, James B. Sharp, Harold Spivacke, the Society of
California Pioneers and others.
1/5
Correspondence. November 1938-July 1939
(During WPA project)
Correspondence to and from Robertson, memoranda, reports, and other
materials relating to the California Folk Music Project while the project
was being funded. Correspondents include Percy Grainger, George Herzog,
Alan Lomax, Charles Seeger, Harold Spivacke and others.
1/6
Correspondence. August 1939-February
1940 (During WPA project)
Correspondence to and from Robertson, memoranda, reports, and other
materials relating to the California Folk Music Project while the project
was being funded. Correspondents include Percy Grainger, George Herzog,
Alan Lomax, Charles Seeger, Harold Spivacke and others.
1/7
Correspondence. April 1940-September
1958 (Post-WPA project)
Correspondence to and from Sidney Robertson (after 1941, Sidney Robertson
Cowell), memoranda, reports, and miscellaneous materials relating to the
California Folk Music Project once it had been discontinued. Includes
information about intended follow-up projects planned in the 1950s,
material of folkloric and ethnomusicological value relating to the music
already recorded, and plans for reviving the WPA-like cooperation of
funds and resources through a consortium of universities, archival
institutions, and collectors. Correspondents include Benjamin Botkin,
Albert I. Elkus, Duncan Emrich, Percy Grainger, George Herzog, Rae
Korson, Alan Lomax, John A. Lomax, Harold Spivacke and others.
1/8
Correspondence. August 1980-April 1991
(American Folklife Center)
Correspondence between Sidney Robertson Cowell and the American Folklife
Center relating to Library of Congress' interest in
making the California Folk Music Project Collection accessible to the
public online. The folder also includes some Cowell reminiscences about the WPA
project. Correspondents include
Alan Jabbour and others.
Subseries II: Administrative Materials
related to California WPA Project
1/9
Grant proposals and statements of
purpose
1/10
Forms and background materials prepared
for WPA project workers by Sidney Robertson
"Instruction to workers for the Collection of Traditional Music in
California." Forms to be used in conducting fieldwork on the project.
Bibliographic key word list Guide for WPA workers responding to "General
Queries." Bibliography.
1/11
WPA progress reports
Report dated July 20, 1939, and another for the period from October 28,
1938 to September, 19, 1939, both prepared for the Northern California
WPA Office.
2/12
Final Report of UC-Berkeley Faculty
Sponsors
Statement of sponsorship for the WPA California Folk Music Project by
faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, February 14, 1940.
2/13
Final Report of the California Folk Music
Project Submitted to WPA
Statement of Accomplishment for O.P. 65-1-08-62, Unit A-25, Area Unit
Serial No. 0803-1659, "A Study of California Folk Music," sponsored by
the Department of Music of the University of California, Work Projects
Administration, State of California, Northern District, Area No. 8,
Alameda County, Berkeley, California, January, 1940. 88 pages
Subseries III: Field notes
2/14
Yellow Song Checklist: "E" (English
Language) Listing
73 pages
List of Recordings made by Sidney Robertson in California 1938-1940
arranged alphabetically by performer. Yellow and white typewritten pages,
some originals, listing English-language songs recorded as part of the
California Folk Music Project. Organized alphabetically by last name of
performer. Includes dates and locations of performances, collector's disc
number with E, indicating "English-language" songs, instrumentation,
occasional background commentary on the performers and performances,
location where recorded, and, at times, comments regarding quality of
sound recordings.
2/15
Yellow Song Checklist: "E" (English
Language) Listing
73 pages
List of recordings made by Sidney Robertson in California 1938-1940
arranged alphabetically by performer. (photocopy)
2/16
Yellow Song Checklist: "M" (Minority)
Listing, Armenian to Mexican (1/2)
103 pages
List of foreign language recordings made by Sidney Robertson in
California, 1938-1940. Yellow and white typewritten pages, some
originals, listing non-English language songs recorded as part of the
California Folk Music Project. Organized alphabetically by cultural
group. Includes dates and locations of performances, collector's disc
number with M, indicating "minority," instrumentation, occasional
background commentary on the performers and performances, location where
recorded, and, at times, comments regarding quality of sound recordings.
n.d.
2/17
Yellow Song Checklist: "M" (Minority)
Listing, Norwegian to Spanish (2/2)
103 pages
List of foreign language recordings made by Sidney Robertson in
California, 1938–1940. Yellow and white typewritten pages, some
originals, listing non-English language songs recorded as part of the
California Folk Music Project. Organized alphabetically by cultural
group. Includes dates and locations of performances, collector's disc
number with M, indicating "minority," instrumentation, occasional
background commentary on the performers and performances, location where
recorded, and, at times, comments regarding quality of sound recordings.
n.d.
2/18
Yellow Song Checklist: "M" (Minority)
Listing, Armenian to Mexican
103 pages
List of foreign language recordings made by Sidney Robertson in
California, 1938-1940 (photocopy).
2/19
WPA Field Reports, 1938-11-25 to
1939-11-20
38 pages
Field reports submitted to the Northern California WPA Office for Folk
Music Project 10482-A25, November 25, 1938-November 25, 1939
2/20
California Folk Music Project
miscellany
3/21
George Vinton Graham field
materials
3/22
Dust jackets, "E" [English] and "M"
[minority] language (original)
3/23
Dust jackets, "E" [English
Language]
3/24
Dust jackets, "M" [Minority
Language]
Subseries IV: Song Indexes and
Transcriptions
3/25
Song Indexes, English and Minority
Language
3/26
English-language songs beginning with
"A"
3/27
English-language songs beginning with
"B"
3/28
English-language songs beginning with
"C"
3/29
English-language songs beginning with "D"
and "E"
3/30
English-language songs beginning with
"F"
3/31
English-language songs beginning with
"G"
3/32
English-language songs beginning with
"H"
3/33
English-language songs beginning with
"I"
3/34
English-language songs beginning with "J"
and "K"
4/35
English-language songs beginning with
"L"
4/36
English-language songs beginning with
"M"
4/37
English-language songs beginning with "N"
and "O"
4/38
English-language songs beginning with "P,"
"Q," and "R"
4/39
English-language songs beginning with
"S"
4/40
English-language songs beginning with
"T"
4/41
English-language songs beginning with "U,"
"V," and "W"
4/42
English-language songs beginning with
"Y"
4/43
Lists of Portuguese-language song titles,
n.d.
4 pages with duplicate
copy
With English translations, arranged alphabetically by title. Folder 43 (A
-F) and Folder 44 (H-V) include musical transcriptions of
Portuguese-language songs with lyrics, a translation of the lyrics into
English and, at times, notes on these songs from the Azores that were
recorded for the California collection, indexed, organized, and
translated by WPA California Folk Music Project worker and performer
Alice Lemos Avila.
4/44
Portuguese-language songs beginning with
"A," "B," "E," and "F," n.d. (original)
4/45
Portuguese-language songs beginning with
"H"-"V" (original)
4/46
Portuguese songs beginning with "A"-"V"
(photocopy)
4/47
Spanish-language songs sung by Jessie De
Soto, n.d. (original)
6 pages
5/48
English Language "A-T"
6 pages
English-language California song and poem research from printed sources
for texts beginning in "A" through "T," n.d. Arranged in alphabetical
order by first letter of title or first line.
5/49
English Language, Gold Rush Songs, n.d.
This folder includes background information on and published lyrics of
Gold Rush songs copied by California WPA workers from an unidentified
book at the UC Library in Berkeley. Songs, in the order in which they
were prepared by the WPA staff.
5/50
Portuguese Language "C-V"
Portuguese-language songs arranged in alphabetical order, beginning with
first letter.
5/51
Portuguese Language, Five Folk Dances of
the Azores
10 pages plus photocopy of same
Folk Songs and Dances from the Azores, set down by Alice Avila in
Berkeley in 1938-9. Copied and translated from Portuguese by Alice Lemos
Avila with notes and transcriptions from the publication entitled
Portucale. Includes notes for the following songs, with lyrics and
musical transcription listed by first line.
5/52
Spanish-language songs and their
English-language translation from printed sources, n.d.
3 pages
Subseries V: Research products by WPA staff
5/53
Articles in San Francisco Chronicle (1938) by Sidney Robertson
Cowell
"The Songs of a Nation Collect a Forgotten Claim" and "The Spirit of a
Generation Reflected in Folk Songs" by Sidney Robertson in two parts
about her work collecting folk songs in California for the WPA. Published
in the "This World" section, on September 4, 1938, p. 26, and September
14, 1938, p. 22.
5/54
Portuguese Citizens of California
(original, 1939).
58 pages
Original handwritten report in spiral notebook written by WPA California
Folk Music Project worker Carmen Mell to describe the historical,
cultural, and musical life of the Portuguese in California, 1939.
Includes letter from Carmen Mell to Sidney Robertson that accompanied the
report when it was completed. (3 pages)
5/55
Portuguese Citizens of California by Carmen Mell (1939)
(photocopy)
5/56
Article in California Folklore Quarterly(1942) by Sidney
Robertson Cowell
3 copies of "The Recording of Folk Music in California" by Sidney
Robertson. Vol. 1, No. 1, January 1942, pp. 7-23.
5/57
Outline for book tentatively called "Folksong in California,"
July 1954.
24 pages
24-page typewritten and handwritten manuscript prepared by Sidney
Robertson Cowell, July 1954. Research products inspired by the WPA
California Folk Music Project.
5/58
Published articles
Articles written about Sidney Robertson, the WPA California Folk Music
Project in 1938-1940, and reviews of Sidney Robertson and Eleanora
Black's compilation entitled The Gold Rush Song Book, published in 1940.
5/59
Catalog cards
19 catalog cards created according to guidelines and procedures of the
Library of Congress, as examples for the WPA California Folk Music
Project staff. The actual catalog cards prepared by project staff for the
field recordings of the CFMP became part of the Archive of Folk Culture's
item-level shelflist card file created by other WPA staff working in the
Library in the late 1930s and early 1940s located in the Folklife Reading
Room.
7
Dust jackets, "E" [English-language]
8
Dust jackets, "M" [minority, 1-70]
9
Dust jackets, "M" [minority, 71-104]
The CFMP selections included here (folders 25 and up) are often
annotated by an E (English-language) or M (minority) disk number, the
original numbers that Robertson assigned to the recordings she made for
the WPA project. The term "version" here is used to cover both true
variants of a song and draft copies of transcriptions in several stages
of preparation (as was frequently done by WPA staff for this collection).
For Folders 24-45, see Appendix C for song titles.
Series II: Sound Recordings
AFS 3342-3377; AFS 3809-3860; AFS
4194-4287
Original field recordings made by Robertson between 1938-1940 on 12-inch
acetate disks and labeled E 1-90 [English-language recordings] and M 1-109
["Minority" or foreign-language recordings]. Arranged numerically by AFS
numbers in the order in which they were received by the Archive of Folk
Culture. Some of the original field recordings were sent to the Folk Archive
during the project in 1939; the rest were brought in during 1940 by Robertson.
Series III: Graphic Images
Subseries I: Scale drawings and sketches of
musical instruments
5/60
Microfilm (copy) From UC Berkeley Music Library
Two duplicate rolls of microfilm copied from the University of California,
Berkeley, Music Library's California Folk Music Project Collection. Includes
images representing 85 preliminary sketches of the musical instruments made
originally on butcher-block paper and 40 mechanical scale drawings made by
WPA staff. Includes sketches of the Spanish guitar or Sonora not included
below.
6/61
Index to scale drawings and sketches of instruments
Typewritten listing of drawings and sketches of musical instruments in
collection with handwritten annotations. Undated.
6/62
Scale drawings and sketches of instruments (photocopies)
Photocopies of scale drawings taken from microfilm in the collection.
6/63
Scale drawings and sketches of instruments (photostats)
Photostats of mechanical drawings of eight musical instruments.
Subseries II: Photographs
6/64-115
P001-P170 (copies)
Duplicate photographic prints, copy negatives for photoduplication
purposes, and photocopies of photographic prints.
Binder 1
P001-P170 (original)
170 black and white photographic prints of various sizes photographed by
Sidney Robertson, T.H. Hall, and possibly other WPA workers. Includes photos
of WPA personnel at work, performers, sometimes with instruments, and of
instruments.
Appendix A: Places Where Field Documentation was Conducted
Alameda (Calif.)
Belvedere (Calif.)
Berkeley (Calif.)
Camino (Calif.)
Carmel (Calif.)
Central Valley (Calif.) [formerly called Boomtown, near the Shasta
Dam]
Clements (Calif.)
Columbia (Calif.)
Concord (Calif.)
Fowler (Calif.)
Fresno (Calif.)
Groveland (Calif.)
Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Lotus (Calif.)
Martinez (Calif.)
Monterey (Calif.)
Mountain View (Calif.)
Oakland (Calif.)
Ortonville (Iowa)
Pacific Grove (Calif.)
Pala (Calif.)
Palo Alto (Calif.)
Pine Grove (Amador County, Calif.)
Pittsburg (Calif.)
Richmond (Calif.)
San Francisco (Calif.)
San Jose (Calif.)
San Mateo (Calif.)
Santa Barbara (Calif.)
Shasta Lake Region (Calif.)
Springfield (Mo.)
Turlock (Calif.)
Woodside (Calif.)
Appendix B: Musical Instruments Documented in Collection
LC-established name
Sidney Robertson name
Banjo
Blul
Blul, blur
Celtic harp
Irish bardic harp
Cimbalom
Cembalomp
Clarinet
Ḍaph
Defs, deff, def
Dulcimer
Dümbelek
Dumbeg
Dvorgrle
Dvogrla
English guitar
Guitarra portuguesa, Portuguese guitar
Guitar
Gusle
Gusla
Hardanger fiddle
Harmonica
Harp-lute
Swedish lute, double guitar
Hawaiian guitar
Kamānche
Kemancha
Lirica
Mandolin
Miŝnice
Mjersnice
Oud
Oude
Piano
Qānūn (Musical instrument)
Kanoon
San xian
San hsien
Saz
Svirala
Tar (Lute)
Triangle (Musical instrument)
Viola d'arame
Portuguese viola
Violin
Yaogu
Chinese temple drum, flower drum
Yue qin
Moon lute, Chinese lute, Moon violin
Zūrnā
Surna
Appendix C: Index to Song Transcriptions in English and Portuguese (Box 5)
Note: Song titles in parenthesis are alternate titles identified by Robertson
English Language Song Transcriptions by Title, A-Y
A-Cutting Down the Pine [musical transcription, lyrics]
A-Nutting We Will Go [musical transcription, lyrics]
Alonzo the Brave [musical transcription, 2 versions of lyrics]
As I Walked Out One Morning [musical transcription, 2 versions of lyrics]
As the Dew Flies over the Green Valley; see Wife Wrapped in Wether's Skin
Banks of Glencoe; see The Maid of Glencoe
Barbara Allen (Barb'ry Allen) [4 musical transcriptions, 4 versions of
lyrics]
Barney McShane [lyrics]
The Beauty Bride; see I Courted a Fair Maid
Beneath the Old Oak Tree (Betsy) [musical transcription, 2 versions of
lyrics]
Betsy; see Beneath the Old Oak Tree
Billy Boy [lyrics]
Billy Taylor; see Willie Taylor
Bingen on the Rhine
Bishop of Canterbury (King John)
Blue Julietta
The Boston Burglar
Brennan on the Moor; see The Cumberland's Crew
The Brave Solid
The Bridge Water; see The Bridgewater
The Bridgewater (The Bridge Water)
Brother Jack; see My Mother was a Lady
Buffalo buffalo (Death of McKinley)
Buried in Dirt
The Butcher Boy
The Candy Girl and Margy
Captain Hull and proud Dacus (Proud Dacus and Captain Hull); see John Brown
Captain Wedderburn's Courtship; see Many questions
Casey Jones
Chief Bright Sky
The Coast of La Barbaree; see Down around the Coast of Les Barbarees
Cole Younger
The Crooked Song
The Cruel Hiss
The Creole Girl; see Lake Ponsey Train
The Cumberland crew; see The Cumberland's Crew
The Cumberland's crew (Brennan on the Moor; The Cumberland Crew; The Sinking of
the Cumberland)
Custer's Last Charge
Cutting Down the Pine; see A-Cutting Down the Pine
Dan Riley (Don Riley)
Dardanella ; see Sleep, Baby, Sleep and Dardanella
The Dark Eyed Sailor (TheLousy miner)
The Days of Forty-Nine
Dear Adel, My Son
Death of McKinley; see Buffalo, Buffalo
The Devil Out of Hell (Scolding Wife)
Dogs: An Old Barbary Coast Song
Don Riley; see Dan Riley
Down around the Coast of La Barbaree; see Down around the Coast of Les
Barbarees
Down around the Coast of Les Barbarees (The Coast of La Barbaree; Down around the
Coast of La Barbaree; High Barbaree)
Down in the Diving Bell; see The Mermaid
The Dying Californian
The Fair Captive
Fair Charlotte (Young Charlotte)
Fanny More ; see Henry the shepherd
First She Would and Then She Wouldn't Or, O, You Naughty, Naughty Man!
The Flying Cloud
Foreman Monroe; see Jam on Gerry's Rock
Fuller and Warren
A Garden Hymn for Easter
A Garland of Old Fashioned Roses
Georgie
Glencoe; see The maid of Glencoe
Goin' Down This Road Feelin' Bad; see Goin' Down That Road Feelin' Bad
Goin' Down That Road Feelin' Bad I Ain't Gonna Be Treated This A-Way; I'm Goin'
Down This Road Feelin' Bad)
The Green Fields of Virginia
The Green Vallee
Greenhorn Bill
The Hampshire Bite; see Oxford Merchant
Hard times in Kansas
Hear the Nightingales Sing
Henry the Shepherd (Fanny More; Randal the Haughty)
Her Sweet Sailor Boy
Hieland Mary
High Barbaree; see Down around the Coast of Les Barbarees
The House Carpenter
I Ain't Gonna Be Treated This A-Way; see Goin' Down That Road Feelin' Bad
I'm Glad My Wife's in Europe
I'm Goin' Down This Road; see Goin' Down That Road Feelin' Bad
I Courted a Fair Maid
I Was Cast on Board to Serve My King; see I Was Forced on Board to Serve My
King
I Was Forced on Board to Serve My King
India's Burning Sands
Irish-American Rag
It Ain't Gonna Rain No More (Taint Go'in To Rain No More)
It's Hard Times for the Girls
It Was Just before the Last Fierce Charge; see The Last Fierce Charge
Ivan Rue
Jack Donohue (The Wild Colonial Boy)
Jack Stafford
Jackets So Blue
Jam on Gerry's Rock (Foreman Monroe; Young Monroe)
Jennie Fair, John, Sweet Rosemary; see Wife Wrapped in Wether's Skin
Jinnie Jenkins (Oh, Will You Wear Red?; Will You Wear Red?)
John Brown
Johnnie's Been on Sea; see Johnny
Johnny (Johnnie's Been on Sea; Young Johnnie; Young Johnnie the Sailor)
Keith and Hiles Line
The Keyhole in the Door
King John; see Bishop of Canterbury
Kitty Wells
The Lady del Roy; see Lady Leroy
Lady Leroy (The Lady del Roy)
Lady Mary and Sir William; see Sir William and Lady Mary
Lake Ponchartrain; see Lake Ponsey Train
Lake Ponsey Train (The Creole Girl; Lake Ponchartrain)
Lally-tu-dum (Lolly Tu Dum; Rally Trudum; Rolly Trudum)
Lamanda
The Lass of Glen Shee
The Lass of Mohee; see The Little Mohee
The Last Fierce Charge (It Was Just before the Last Fierce Charge; Twas Just
before the Last Fierce Charge)
The Little Brown Bulls
Little Matty Grove; see Mathy Grove
The Little Mohee (The Lass of Mohee)
Lolly tu dum; see Lally-tu-dum
Lord Bakeman (Lord Bateman; The Turkish lady; Young Beichan)
Lord Bateman; see Lord Bakeman
Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender
The Lousy Miner; see Dark-Eyed Sailor
Love Henry; see The well water
Lowlands of Holland
The lyre bird and the jay
MacDonald of Glencoe; see The Maid of Glencoe
Madam, I Have Come A-Courting (An Old Quaker Dialogue; O, Madam, I Have Come
A-Courting)
The Maid of Glencoe (Banks of Glencoe; Glencoe; MacDonald of Glencoe)
A Maiden in her Garden Walking (The soldier's bride)
Margy; see The Candy Girl and Margy
Mary of the Wild Moor; see The Wind that Sweeps o'er the Wild Moor
Mathie Groves; see Mathy Grove
Mathy Grove (Mathy Groves; Mathie Groves; Little Matty Grove)
Mathy Groves; see Mathy Grove
The Mermaid (Down in the Diving Bell)
The Milwaukee Fire
Molly Dear
Molly Melancholy
The Mormon-Eyed Preacher
The Motor Car Mamma
Moses
The Mowing of the Hay
My Father and Mother were Irish
My Mother and Father Were Irish; see My Father and Mother Were Irish
My Gal Sal
My Mother Was a Lady (Brother Jack)
Narragansett Bay
O, Madam, I Have Come A-Courting; see Madam, I Have Come A-Courting
Oh, She Licked Him and She Kicked Him
Oh, They Told Me Out in Kansas
Oh, Will You Wear Red?; see Jinnie Jenkins
Old England's Shores
Old Ned Moore
An Old Quaker Dialogue; see Madam, I Have Come A-Courting
Old Sam Finley Had a Pig
On Cloddie's Banks
Our Goodman (Putting on the Agony)
Overalls in Mrs. Murphy's Chowder (Who Threw the Overalls in Mrs. Murphy's
Chowder?)
Oxford Merchant (The Hampshire Bite)
The Peanut Stand
Pompey Smith
Popularity
The Prisoner's Song (with answer)
Proud Dacus and Captain Hull; see Captain Hull and Proud Dacus
Putting on the Agony; see Our Goodman
The Quaker Courtship (The Quaker's Courtship)
The Rake and Rambling Blade (So I Robbed Old Nelse)
Rally Trudum; see Lally-Tu-Dum
Randal the Haughty; see Henry the Shepherd
Rolly Trudum; see Lally-Tu-Dum
Root, Hog, or Die
The Rose
Sally the Queen
Sam Bass
Sandy Far at Sea
Sargeant Tally-Ho (Sergeant Tally-Ho)
Scolding Wife; see The Devil Out of Hell
Sergeant Tally-Ho; see Sargeant Tally-Ho
The Shanty Boy
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
The Sinking of the Cumberland; see The Cumberland's Crew
Sir William and Lady Mary
Sleep, Baby, Sleep and Dardanella (Dardanella)
Snooky-Oo-Kums (Snooky-Vo-Kums)
Snooky-Vo-Kums; see Snooky-Oo-Kums
So I Robbed Old Nelse; see The Rake and Rambling Blade
The Soldier's Bride; see A Maiden in Her Garden Walking
The Soldier's Sweetheart
Sterling's Hotel (Stirling's Hotel)
Stirling's Hotel; see Sterling's Hotel
The Stone That Goes Rolling Will Gather No Moss (The Stone That Keeps Rolling Will
Gather No Moss)
The Stone That Keeps Rolling Will Gather No Moss; see The Stone That Goes Rolling
Will Gather No Moss
Sweet Jane
Sweet Mary, Weep No More for Me; see When Mary Laid Her Down to Sleep
Swingtime in Springtime; see Popularity
The Tailor Boy
Taint Go'in to Rain No More; see It Ain't Gonna Rain No More
Texas Canyon
Tib, the Gray Mare; see Young Johnny the Miller
True Lover of Mine
The Turkish Lady; see Lord Bakeman
Twas Just before the Last Fierce Charge; see The Last Fierce Charge
The Unconstant Lover
Uncle Sam is Rich Enough
Virginia
The Wars of Santa Fe
The Weeping Willow
The Well Water (Love Henry; Young Henry)
We're Building Bridges
When Mary Laid Her Down to Sleep (Sweet Mary, Weep No More for Me)
White Pine Mine
Wife Wrapped in Wether's Skin (As the Dew Flies Over the Green Valley; Jennie
Fair, John, Sweet Rosemary)
Who Threw the Overalls in Mrs. Murphy's Chowder?; see Overalls in Mrs. Murphy's
Chowder
The Wild Colonial Boy; see Jack Donohue
Will You Wear Red?; see Jinnie Jenkins
William Riley; see Willie Riley
Willie Riley
Willie Riley and His Dear Coolin Bawn; see Willie Riley
Willie Taylor (Billy Taylor; William Taylor)
The Wind That Sweeps o'er the Wild Moor (Mary of the Wild Moor)
Young Beichan; see Lord Bakeman
Young Charlotte; see Fair Charlotte
Young Henry; see The Well Water
Young Johnnie; see Johnny
Young Johnny the Miller (Tib, the Gray Mare)
Young Johnny the Sailor; see Johnny
Young Man Who Would Not Hoe Corn
Young Monroe; see Jam on Gerry's Rock
Appendix D: Portuguese Language Song Transcriptions by Title, A-V
A Beira d'Alvo Regalo
As Carvoeiras
Adeus Ulina
A Florista
Ai-Ai-Amor
Balance
Coradinha; see A Coradinha
Escolha Par
Fado de Coimbra
Fado dos Passarinhos
Fado Corrido
Fado Hilario
Fado Minha Mai
Ha Chum
Lydia
Margarida
Mariana Costureira
Minha Mai
Minha Mai E' Pobresinha
Noite de Natal
O Carvalho Milagroso
Oh Laurentina
Oh Minha Mai [Oh My Mother]; see Fado Minha Mai
Oh Senhor Ladrao [Oh Mister Robber]
Ora Vai Tu
Padeirinha [Little Baker Girl]
Ru-Chu-Chu
San Joao [Saint John]
Santos Reis [Wise Men]
Sao Joao [St. John]
Tia Anica [Aunt Anica]
Triste Fado
Tyrolando
Vira do Minho [The Vira of Minho] (Folk Dance)