Library of Congress LCCN Permalink for 2005700234

Robert Sonkin Alabama and New Jersey collection

LC Control No.:	2005700234
Type of Material:	Archival Manuscript Material (Collection)
Main Title:	Robert Sonkin Alabama and New Jersey collection, 1937-1941 / collected by Robert Sonkin.
Variant Title:	Robert Sonkin Gee's Bend collection Also known as: Gee's Bend collection
Related Names:	Sonkin, Robert, collector. » More like this Colley, Nathaniel Sextus, 1918- » More like this United States. Farm Security Administration. » More like this Archive of Folk Culture (Library of Congress) » More like this
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.
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.
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.
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.
Acquisition Source:	Robert Sonkin; Donation; 1941.
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."
Subjects:	Sonkin, Robert--Ethnomusicological collections. » More like this United States. Farm Security Administration. » More like this Gospel music--Alabama. » More like this Gospel music--New Jersey. » More like this African American gospel singers--Alabama. » More like this African American gospel singers--New Jersey. » More like this Folk songs, English--Alabama--Texts. » More like this Folk songs, English--New Jersey--Texts. » More like this African Americans--Music. » More like this African Americans--Alabama--Folklore. » More like this African Americans--Alabama--Social life and customs. » More like this African Americans--Alabama--Social conditions. » More like this African Americans--Alabama--Interviews. » More like this African American families--Alabama. » More like this African American farmers--Alabama. » More like this African American school children--Alabama. » More like this Slave narratives--Alabama. » More like this Sharecropping--Alabama. » More like this Jubilee singers--Alabama. » More like this Hymns, English--Alabama. » More like this Spirituals (Songs)--Alabama. » More like this Blues (Music)--Alabama--1941-1950. » More like this Traditional medicine--Alabama. » More like this Gee's Bend (Ala.)--Social life and customs. » More like this Gee's Bend (Ala.)--Religious life and customs. » More like this Shell Pile (N.J.)--Social life and customs. » More like this
Form/Genre:	Field recordings--New Jersey. » More like this Field recordings--Alabama. » More like this Manuscripts. » More like this Sound recordings. » More like this Transcripts. » More like this Interviews. » More like this Sermons. » More like this Prayers. » More like this
Local Shelving No.:	LWO 4872 reels 359A-365A AFS 5035-5098 AFC 1941/018
Geographic Area Code:	n-us-al n-us-nj
Repository:	DLC-AFC Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, DC USA 20540-4610
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/