Mike Seeger Research Guide: From Other Collections
In the Southern Folklife Collection
Ed Solomon Collection, 1952-1979
Ed Solomon was a manager and promoter during the folk music revival. He captured the music scene by recording artists at the folk festivals and concerts he attended. His collection contains audio recordings and documentation of live performances from the New Lost City Ramblers, the Seeger siblings, and many other artists of the era.
Philip F. Gura Collection, 1855-2005
Philip F. Gura is a UNC professor, musician, and historian. His collection consists of audio recordings, photographs, and printed materials primarily related to the study and practice of old-time music. Most notably, there are audio recordings of an interview Gura conducted with the members of the New Lost City Ramblers in 1999.
Ronald D. Cohen Collection, 1914-2009
Ronald D. Cohen was a professor of history at Indiana University Northwest. He wrote and edited numerous books and articles about the folk music revival. His collection contains papers, photographs, and audiovisual materials related to Broadside magazine, Sis Cunningham, Gordon Friesan, and the folk music scene in New York City. Most notably, this collection includes photographs taken by Ray Sullivan and Aaron Rennert depicting members of the New Lost City Ramblers in Washington Square Park and at their own shows.
Sing Out! Collection, 1937-2014
Co-founded by Irwin Silber and Pete Seeger, Sing Out! magazine was published from May 1950 to Spring 2014 and focused on traditional and contemporary folk music. The Sing Out! Collection contains photographs, publishing materials, folk festival programs, subject files, and audiovisual recordings of many folk artists. In particular, this collection includes photographs and audio recordings of the New Lost City Ramblers.
Steve Rathe Collection, 1926-2009
Steve Rathe is a radio producer known for his production with NPR and for creating Murray Street Productions. His collection mainly consists of audiovisual materials and papers relating to his radio productions. The audio recordings include notable people of the folk revival. Rathe has produced commercial recordings with the New Lost City Ramblers and has audio recordings of their performances.
Tom Davenport Papers, 1973-2018
Tom Davenport is a filmmaker specializing in documentary films. His collection includes video recordings, field notes, and correspondence relating to his filmmaking. There are video recordings related to Davenport’s Remembering the High Lonesome, which chronicles the New Lost City Ramblers concert at Carnegie Hall in 2000.
At other institutions
The Library of Congress American Folklife Center houses the John Cohen Collection, circa 1939-2019. This collection contains audio and video recordings, papers, and photographs pertaining to Cohen’s careers as a musician, photographer, and filmmaker during the 1950s and 1960s. Cohen’s work documents prominent artists of the beat generation and folk music revival. Cohen conducted fieldwork in other countries with Penny Seeger to capture their music and culture. The Library of Congress American Folklife Center also houses the Izzy Young Collection, 1942-2016. This collection contains correspondence, journals, diaries, clippings, artwork, ephemera, photographs, and audio recordings pertaining to the life of Izzy Young and his participation in the folk revival at the Folklore Center in Greenwich Village. His collection includes audio recordings of the artist he promoted at the center, including Mike Seeger.
NYU’s Special Collections at Fales Library holds the Folklore Center Collection, 1961-1968. This collection contains newsletters and flyers from the Folklore Center pertaining to upcoming concerts and readings promoted by Izzy Young. These archival materials further contextualize the New Lost City Rambler’s old-time music performances in Greenwich Village and detail their specific positioning to the rest of the artists in the folk music revival.
The Getty Research Institute Harry Smith Archive contains the Harry Smith Papers, 1888-2010. To folklorists, Smith is best known for producing the Anthology of American Folk Music (1952), which was used as source material by many folk revivalists. Not only does Smith’s collection include audio recordings relating to the folk anthology, but it contains correspondence, photographs, and other printed materials that contextualize the New York City music scene the folk revival was born from.
Using 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.
