Robert Sonkin Alabama and New Jersey collection
LC Control No.: |
2005700234
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Type of Material: | Archival Manuscript Material (Collection) |
Main Title: |
Robert Sonkin Alabama and New Jersey collection,
1937-1941 /
collected by Robert Sonkin.
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Variant Title: |
Robert Sonkin Gee's Bend collection
Also known as: Gee's Bend collection |
Related Names: |
Sonkin, Robert,
collector.
Colley, Nathaniel Sextus, 1918- United States. Farm Security Administration. Archive of Folk Culture (Library of Congress) |
Related Titles: |
Exploratory study of the customs, attitudes and folkways of the people in the community of Gee's Bend.
Voices from the days of slavery. |
Description: |
manuscripts.:
7 folders
64 sound discs : analog, mono. ; 12 in. |
Access Advisory: |
Duplication of the collection materials may be governed by copyright and other restrictions.
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Summary: |
Collection comprises sound recordings, recording logs, and transcripts of song texts, correspondence (1938), field notes, reports, and ethnographic information from a field recording trip made by Robert Sonkin to Shell Pile, near Port Norris, New Jersey, and from there to Gee's Bend and other locations in Alabama in June-July 1941. Sonkin's field notes describe the African-American community of Shell Pile, named for the oyster shucking industry established there. Sonkin recorded African-American quartets performing gospel music in Shell Pile, N.J. June 25, 1941. However, most sound recordings in this collection were made in various locations in Gee's Bend, Alabama, and document African-American prayer meetings, sermons, gospel music, spirituals, hymns, jubilee quartet singing, blues, school children singing, recitations, as well as conversations. These include discussions about health and home remedies, about the Gee's Bend school, and about the Farm Security Administration (FSA) Gee's Bend project. Narratives by two former slaves, Isom Moseley and Alice Gaston, were recorded in Gee's Bend on July 21, 1941. Sonkin also recorded gospel quartet music in Bessemer, Alabama; interviews in Camden, Alabama; hymns in Rehoboth and Greensboro, Alabama; conversation in Palmerdale, Alabama; and blues in Selma, Alabama. There are typescript copies of research materials about Gee's Bend, Alabama, (1937-1939 and undated) including a paper, "An exploratory study of the customs, attitudes and folkways of the people in the community of Gee's Bend," by Nathaniel S. Colley of the Tuskegee Institute. Other reports in the collection on farm production, the construction of new housing and barns, home economics, and community health were issued by government agencies including the Farm Security Administration, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, which administered the Gee's Bend Project.
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Notes: |
Instantaneous recordings made on Presto aluminum-base lacquer discs in Shell Pile, N.J. (2 discs); and in Bessemer, Camden, Gee's Bend, Greensboro, Palmerdale, Rehoboth, and Selma, Alabama (62 discs) from June 25 to around July 22, 1941.
Photographs:: Arthur Rothstein, "Gee's Bend, between Selma and Mobile, Ala. Feb.-Apr. 1937," Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, LOT 1616 (M) Photographs:: Marion Post Wolcott, "Gee's Bend, between Selma and Mobile, Ala. May 1939." Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, LOT 1617 (M) Search for these and other sound recordings (most are dated 1933-1950) in selected collections from the American Folklife Center in the online resource link: Traditional Music and Spoken Word Catalog from the American Folklife Center. |
Indexes: |
Bibliographic information for titles in this collection is found in the online resource link: Audio titles in the Robert Sonkin Alabama and New Jersey Collection.
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Cite as: |
Robert Sonkin Alabama and New Jersey Collection (AFC 1941/018), Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
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Acquisition Source: |
Robert Sonkin;
Donation;
1941.
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Additional Formats: |
Sound recordings of interviews with Alice Gaston and Isom Moseley from this collection are available online as part of the National Digital Library American Memory presentation, "Voices From the Days of Slavery."
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Subjects: |
Sonkin, Robert--Ethnomusicological collections. United States. Farm Security Administration. Gospel music--Alabama. Gospel music--New Jersey. African American gospel singers--Alabama. African American gospel singers--New Jersey. Folk songs, English--Alabama--Texts. Folk songs, English--New Jersey--Texts. African Americans--Music. African Americans--Alabama--Folklore. African Americans--Alabama--Social life and customs. African Americans--Alabama--Social conditions. African Americans--Alabama--Interviews. African American families--Alabama. African American farmers--Alabama. African American school children--Alabama. Slave narratives--Alabama. Sharecropping--Alabama. Jubilee singers--Alabama. Hymns, English--Alabama. Spirituals (Songs)--Alabama. Blues (Music)--Alabama--1941-1950. Traditional medicine--Alabama. Gee's Bend (Ala.)--Social life and customs. Gee's Bend (Ala.)--Religious life and customs. Shell Pile (N.J.)--Social life and customs. |
Form/Genre: |
Field recordings--New Jersey. Field recordings--Alabama. Manuscripts. Sound recordings. Transcripts. Interviews. Sermons. Prayers. |
Local Shelving No.: |
LWO 4872 reels 359A-365A
AFS 5035-5098 AFC 1941/018 |
Geographic Area Code: |
n-us-al
n-us-nj
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Repository: |
DLC-AFC
Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center,
101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, DC USA 20540-4610
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Links: |
Finding aid:
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/eadafc.af005004
Audio titles in the Robert Sonkin Alabama and New Jersey Collection: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/collafc.af000118 Traditional Music and Spoken Word Catalog from the American Folklife Center: http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/afccards/afccards-home.html Selected interviews in Voices from the days of slavery, former slaves' narratives:: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/voices/ |