Elizabeth Cotten Research Guide: Archival Collections
Collections with Significant Amounts of Materials Related to Elizabeth Cotten
Elizabeth Cotten (right) and Bessie Jones (left) at the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife in 1969. From the Alice Gerrard Collection, Image Folder PF-20006/76
- Alice Gerrard Collection, circa 1870s-2008 (20006)Alice Gerrard considered Elizabeth Cotten a friend in addition to having toured with her and interviewed her. Gerrard’s collection includes recorded interviews, informal recorded music and several photographs. The conversational interviews between Cotten and Gerrard are particularly moving, talking about childbirth, domestic house work and dealing with racist encounters.
- McCabe's Guitar Shop Collection, 1967-2013 (20511)McCabe’s Guitar Shop has hosted many legendary musicians, including Elizabeth Cotten. In this collection, you can watch a 7-part interview with Cotten and her family in 1984 conducted by Nancy Covey. The interview goes into Peter Paul and Mary taking credit for Elizabeth Cotten’s song “Freight Train.” You can also listen to recordings of Elizabeth Cotten performing at McCabe’s Guitar Shop throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
- Mike Seeger Collection, 1923-2012 (20009)Given the close connection with the Seeger family, the Mike Seeger collection holds many recordings of Elizabeth Cotten playing in both formal and informal settings, as well as a handful of photos. Recordings include live shows, practice tapes, and interviews. The Smithsonian Folkways LPs and CDs also come from this collection.
- North Carolina Folklore Broadcast Collection, 1976 (20105)This collection contains several recordings from the North Carolina Folklife Festival (pre-curser to the Festival of the Eno) that Elizabeth Cotten performed at in 1976.
- Stefan Grossman Collection, 1967-2007 (20578)Although this is a collection level finding aid, the collection does contain multiple items related to Elizabeth Cotten including videos of multiple performances by Elizabeth Cotten solo, with Mike Seeger and a guitar workshop with Elizabeth Cotten and John Fahey. Published versions of these are available through the UNC libraries (listed below).
Collections with More Limited Items Related to Elizabeth Cotten:
- Alan Kanter Collection, 1972-2009 (20549)Audio engineer Alan Kanter’s collection includes a recording of Elizabeth Cotten at the San Diego Folk Festival in 1977.
- Bill C. Malone Collection, 1950s-2016 (20315)Music historian Bill C. Malone’s collection includes one recording from the Oklahoma State University Festival in 1972.
- Dick Waterman Collection, 1960-2003 (20533)This collection contains several photographs of Elizabeth Cotten at festivals and venues such as Club 47 in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the Newport Folk Festival.
- DK Wilgus Papers, 1883-1996 (20003)This collection includes an artist file containing clippings and other items related to Elizabeth Cotten collected by folklorist DK Wilgus.
- Gary Kenton Collection, 1971-1989 (20321)This collection includes an audio recording of an undated telephone interview with Elizabeth Cotten by music journalist Gary Kenton.
- Greenhill Family/FLi Artists/ Folklore Productions Collection, 1947- 2014 (20542)This collection includes some photographs of Elizabeth Cotten and a recording of a live performance in 1978.
- Highlander Research & Education Center’s Audiovisual materials, 1937-2008 (20361)The Highlander Research & Education Center comes with a long history of civil rights activism and education. This collection includes one video of Elizabeth Cotten performing: Videotape VT-20361/225
- North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources Films, 1951- 1988 (20448)This collection includes a 30-minute documentary titled Got to tell it: A tribute to Mahalia Jackson from 1983 about Mahalia Jackson and Elizabeth Cotten directed by Studs Terkel.
- Paul Brown Collection, 1950-1999 (20382)Paul Brown’s collection includes the “Libba Cotten Special” episode of his NPR show “Across the Blue Ridge” with recordings and interviews about her life and music.
- Pete Kuykendall Collection (20546)Through the Kuykendall Collection finding aid, you watch Elizabeth Cotten perform on Pete Seeger’s TV show “Rainbow Quest” from the 1960s. This video is available for streaming on the UNC campus. A published version is available in the video resources below. Some clips are also available on YouTube.
- Sing Out! Collection, 1937-2014 (20550)This collection includes a recording of a gospel workshop with Elizabeth Cotten, Janette Carter, Lily May Ledford and Ola Belle Reed in 1980.
- Southern Folk Cultural Revival Project, 1965-1989 (20004)The SFCRP organized tours throughout the south with both Black and white musicians. Elizabeth Cotten participated in some of these tours and this collection includes her artist file with correspondences and publicity about her involvement with the project.
- National Public Radio Collection, 1975-1984This collection includes interviews for profiles about various folk musicians, including Elizabeth Cotten.
Recordings of Elizabeth Cotten from the North Carolina Folklife Festival
- NC folklife festival 1974Friday evening concert with Tommy Jarrell and Fred Cockerham, Elizabeth Cotten, the Golden Echoes, Willy Trice, The Blue Sky Boys and the Bluegrass Experience.
- NC folklife festival 1974More performances and workshops from the NC folklife festival in 1974.
- NC folklife festival 1976Recordings from the 1976 NC Folklife Festival including Willie Brooks, Thomas Burt, Gordon Mangum, Jr., Reverend Rassie Moore, The Golden Echoes, Bright Moon Singers, New Hope Singing Convention, Elizabeth Cotten, Dink Roberts, James ("Guitar Slim") Stephens, Bill and Hattie Thompson and James Borders.
- NC folklife festival 1978Workshops on July 3, 1978. The first workshop features the Southern Mountain Boys, Joe "Ten Four", and the (Original WBT) Briarhoppers. The second workshop features Elizabeth Cotten, Seena Helms, the Badgett Sisters, the McDaniels Family, Algia Mae Hinton, and Ola Belle Reed.
- NC folklife festival 1978The Piedmont stage at the North Carolina Folklife Festival.
Finding Aids
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.
Finding Aid Tip:
The menu on the left side of the screen provides links to jump to different sections of the finding aid. If you are looking for a particular item, you can use “ctrl and F” (or “command and F on macs) to search for individual names, dates, locations and other keywords.
Use “search archival collections” to search the finding aids in Wilson Library.
Requesting Materials From Finding Aids
If the item you are interested in is not digitized, you can request it by clicking "request this collection" and specifying the call number of the item you want. You may request the item for an in-person visit, or through a duplication request. For more information on registering and requesting materials, visit the Registering and Requesting Materials page.
