Library’s digitized archives include collections of Alan Lomax and Kenneth S. Goldstein
OXFORD, Miss. – Through his long and productive career as an internationally known folklorist, author, radio broadcaster, filmmaker, concert and record producer, and television host, Alan Lomax amassed one of the most important collections of ethnographic material in the world.
Lomax recorded such legendary blues musicians as Big Bill Broonzy in Paris and Bessie Jones in New York’s Central Park. He also captured unknown Mississippi singers in such places as the Rose Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville and the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman. Themes included the secular (“Joe Turner Blues,” “Black Gal”) and the sacred (“By and By, When the Morning Comes” and “I Am Thine, O Lord”).
The J.D. Williams Library at the University of Mississippi recently acquired digital copies of Lomax’s archive, which includes more than 5,000 hours of sound recordings. Digitized by the Association for Cultural Equity and with metadata created by UM library staff, the files are available for the public to hear and read about.
“The Lomax recordings document blues and gospel music recorded between 1945 and 1965,” said Jason Kovari, special collections digital initiatives librarian. “Documenting musical traditions in America, Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Caribbean and many other areas, Lomax introduced large audiences to the music of Woody Guthrie, Jelly Roll Morton, Muddy Waters, Leadbelly and countless others.”
Another noteworthy digital collection at UM is the Kenneth S. Goldstein Broadsides. Broadside ballads are primarily printed verses set to popular tunes with illustrative elements. They were distributed to the public at low cost, and many were printed as multiples-per-sheet, with the intention of being cut and sold as individual songs.
Titles in the Goldstein collection include “A Dialogue Between a Catholic and a Protestant” (which details a religious argument between clergymen), “A Lady Found in a Cave” (which concerns a young woman who chose to live in isolation underground) and “A Courting I Went; I Had Naught Else to Do” (a man tells how he met a girl, married and lived happily ever after).
“This collection of song broadsides documents social movements and cultural norms in the U.K. and Ireland between the late 18th and early 20th centuries,” Kovari said. “Primarily focused on the early 19th century, these broadsides include extensive topics concerning love, Irish home rule, British and Irish identity, religion, the Napoleonic Wars and many more topics.”
“It is really incredible that we acquired the Lomax and Goldstein collections,” said Jennifer Ford, head of archives and special collections at the library. “Because of copyright, we cannot stream the Lomax recordings over the Internet, but the metadata is available all over the world.”
The audio is, however, available as streaming mp3 files on computers in the library.
“These digital collections really capture the history of our holdings. We will have more in the future.”
Other prestigious digital collections include the sheet music of Sheldon Harris, photographs of blues musicians and the political cartoons of C.K. Berryman. Materials from UM’s integration, the Mississippi Women’s Suffrage Association and the Civil War as recalled by Jeremiah Gage and John Guy Lofton have also been digitized and archived.
The Department of Archives and Special Collections, on the third floor of the J.D. Williams Library, houses important collections of Mississippiana. Since 1975, its primary purpose has been to acquire, conserve and make accessible rare books, manuscripts, maps, visual and audio materials, and ephemera related to UM, the state of Mississippi and the blues.
The department is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, except during selected university holidays.
For more information on UM’s digital collections, visit http://clio.lib.olemiss.edu/