Doc Watson Research Guide: Archival Collections

Eugene Earle Collection, 1939-1980s

Eugene Earle was one of the founders of the John Edwards Memorial Foundation and contributed to the public's "rediscovery" of Doc Watson. This collection contains many audio materials pertaining to Doc Watson's career, such as commercial recordings, interviews (FS-20376/10105), and live concert performances (FS-20376/10158).

John Edwards Memorial Foundation Records, circa 1930s-1980s

The John Edwards Memorial Foundation strived to promote the study of twentieth-century American folk music. This collection contains an abundance of photographs of Watson. Images primarily depict Watson performing with other artists, such as Clarence Ashley and Bill Monroe.

Alice Gerrard Collection, circa 1870s-2008

Alice Gerrard is a folklorist and performer of old-time music. Her collection contains audio recordings and photographs of Doc Watson at major folk music festivals such as the Bean Blossom Music Festival (FS-20006/8964), Newport Folk Festival (PF-20006/64), and Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife (PF-20006/77). 

David R. Gessner Collection, 1963-1970

David R. Gessner was the assistant manager at Club 47 and runs the independent record label ESCA Records. This collection contains 1960s audio recordings of Doc Watson performing at Club 47 in Cambridge, Massachusetts (FT-20513/15537, FT-20513/15538) and in Chapel Hill, North Carolina (FT-15539, FT-15540).

Archie Green Collection, 1944-2009

Being a prominent scholar in American folklore, the scope of Archie Green’s research included the study of folk musicians. This collection contains photographs and audio, both commercial and live concert recordings, of Doc Watson (FT-20002/4208).

Greenhill Family/FLi Artists/Folklore Productions Collection, 1947-2014

Folklore Productions is an artists management company that primarily represents folk, traditional, and American roots artists. This collection contains tour schedules, posters, photographs, and audio recordings relating to Doc Watson's touring career. Many of the audio recordings include Watson's performances at music festivals, universities, and other various venues, such as the Newport Folk Festival (FS-20524/28, FS-20524/30) and McCabe's Guitar Shop (FS-20542/70).

Wayne Griffith Collection, 1964-2008

Wayne Griffith was a sound engineer based at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, California. This collection contains audio recordings of live performances at McCabe's Guitar Shop, including those done by Doc Watson and his son Merle (FS-20559/163, FS-20559/164). 

Stefan Grossman Collection, 1967-2007

Stefan Grossman is a guitarist, founder of Kicking Mule Records, and host of Guitar Workshop. This collection consists mostly of audiovisual materials pertaining to Grossman's production work for Guitar Workshop. In particular, these items feature audio and video recordings of Doc Watson. 

David Holt Collection, 1970-2009

Davis Holt is an Appalachian music historian and performer. During the late 1990s, Holt and Doc Watson worked together to create the Grammy-winning album Legacy. This collection contains materials relating to the promotion of Legacy, such as show advertisements, set lists, clippings, Watson's hotel key, photographs, and a reprint of a painting used for the album cover. 

John T. Huddle Collection, 1936-1993

Banjoist and lawyer John T. Huddle recorded live old-time music performances at festivals, concerts, contests, workshops, and jams. This collection contains audio recordings of Doc Watson including his Club 47 solo performance on February 19, 1964 (FS-20280/3530).

Becky Johnson Collection, 1970-2002

Becky Johnson is a photographer capturing bluegrass musicians and performances. This collection contains photographs of Doc Watson from various music festivals during the 1990s, such as MerleFest, International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), and Winterhawk. 

Pete Kuykendall Collection, 1938-1995

Pete Kuykendall is a musician, discographer, and co-founder of Bluegrass Unlimited. This collection contains many audio recordings relating to Doc Watson at prominent folk clubs during the 1960s, such as the Ash Grove (FT-20546/329).

John D. Loudermilk Collection, 1950-1991

In 1980, North Carolina songwriter and musician John D. Loudermilk produced Chet Atkins and Doc Watson's joint album, Reflections. This collection includes items related to the making of Reflections, such as correspondence, legal documents, artistic notes, session information, and promotional materials. 

McCabe’s Guitar Shop Collection, 1967-2013

McCabe's Guitar Shop is a music instrument store and venue in Santa Monica, California. This collection contains audio recordings of Doc Watson's live performances at McCabe's from the 1970s to the 1990s (FT-20511/17, FS-20511/1460, FS-20511/169).

Penny Parsons Collection, 1995-2017

Penny Parsons is a music journalist in the bluegrass music scene. Her collection contains MerleFest posters from 1995 to 2008. 

Barry Poss Collection, 1972-1977

Barry Poss was the founder and former president of Sugar Hill Records, which was one of Doc Watson's labels. This collection contains a 1972 audio recording of Doc Watson performing two old-time songs on the banjo in his hometown of Deep Gap, North Carolina (FT-20021/101).

Mike Seeger Collection, 1923-2012

Mike Seeger is a prominent old-time musician, collector, and folklorist. This collection primarily contains audio recordings of Doc Watson, featuring him at festivals (FT-20009/12881), concerts (FS-20009/13302), and at home (FS-20009/14597). The collection also contains photographs and correspondence that documents Mike Seeger's work with Doc Watson. 

Ed Solomon Collection, 1952-1979

Ed Solomon was a manager and promoter for folk and bluegrass musicians. His collection contains live audio recordings of Doc Watson at festivals and clubs during the 1960s.   

Southern Folklife Collection Artist Name File, 1940-2005

Compiled by the Southern Folklife Collection staff, the Southern Folklife Collection Artist Name File includes reference resources pertaining to the artists represented throughout the entire collection. Files on Doc Watson (NF-2150) and Merle Watson (NF-2759) are included. 

John S. Ullman Collection, 1960-1970

John S. Ullman was a concert manager and founder of the Seattle Folklore Society. This collection contains audio recordings of Doc Watson during concert performances and workshops organized by Ullman. 

Ray Alden Collection, 1960s-2010s

Cary Baker Collection, 1970s-1990s

Russell D. Barnard Country Music Magazine Photograph Collection, 1970s-2000s

Paul Brown Collection, 1950-1999

David Deese Collection, 1961-1980

Wayne Erbsen Collection, 1940-2011

Fiddler's Grove Collection, 1968-2004

Folk Alliance International Collection, 1982-2014

Thomas Goldsmith Collection, 1983-2004

Ed Kahn Collection, 1930-1999

Alan Kanter Collection, 1972-2009

Bill C. Malone Collection, 19502-2016

D. Kent Thompson Collection, 1965-2020

Sing Out! Collection, 1937-2014

Elijah Wald Collection, 1946-2007

A finding aid is one way that archivists make the materials within a collection available to search. It typically includes a collection overview, scope of content, copyright and permissions and sometimes a more detailed list of content. Finding aids are meant to help in the research process rather than being a complete description of what is available.

Navigating the finding aid

Finding aids have multiple sections and can be overwhelming to look at. Understanding how they are organized can help with navigating them. The format of finding aids may vary from institution to institution, but all finding aids include the same basic information such as an abstract, biography, scope and content, copyright and permissions. The top of the finding aid will typically have more general information such as an overview of the collection, subject headings and related collections. The finding aid will provide more detailed information the further you go, sometimes including a complete content list.

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