William R. Ferris collection, 1910s-2022
William R. Ferris, a professor and folklorist from Mississippi, spent his professional career conducting scholarly research and producing documentaries. Researchers may find Ferris’ materials relating to the Mississippi Delta, blues music and musicians, and Parchman Farm, the notorious penitentiary at which Alan Lomax recorded blues musicians, to be especially relevant. The collection contains personal papers, photographs, sound recordings, film, video recordings, artifacts, etcetera.
The collection of multi-instrumentalist and music educator Ed Huey contains field recordings of Mississippi Bluesmen such as Jack Owens, Bud Spires, Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, Jacob Stuckey, and A. B. Granderson.
Rex Miller Collection, 1988-1997
Rex Miller is a photographer and cinematographer whose works have focused on African American musicians, Mississippi blues culture and Parchman Farm. Formats within the collection include photographic materials, audio, video, papers, files, transcriptions, and notes.
Elijah Wald collection, 1946-2007
Grammy-award winning ethnomusicologist Elijah Wald has focused much of his music research on blues guitarists, including Robert Johnson and Josh White. This collection may prove useful to those interested in Delta blues, as Wald was interested in music that originated along the Mississippi river. The collection contains interviews, transcripts, and writings.
Ronald C. Wimberly recordings of the Ann Arbor Blues Festival, 1970
This small collection contains live recordings of the Ann Arbor Blues Festival of 1970. Audio recordings include live performances by Son House, Big Mama Thornton, John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy, and Otis Rush, among others.
78 RPM Recordings
If you're interested in listening to archival physical materials, you can browse UNC's vast collection of 78 RPM recordings by searching here.
Collection materials may only be used in our secure reading room - a part of the North Carolina Collection does include circulating books that can leave the building. To access Wilson Special Collections Library’s collections, all researchers must register and create a research account.
To begin the registration process, please select an option below:
If you are not affiliated with either UNC-Chapel Hill or Duke University, be sure to write down your username and password, as this information will be required each time you make a request for special collections material.
The first time you visit Wilson Library after completing your online pre-registration and creating a Request System account, you will need to complete the registration process by showing a staff member a government issued photo ID containing (1) your name, (2) your date of birth, and (3) an expiration date, and having your picture taken with our digital camera for inclusion in our database.