july-September 1983 American F olklife Center in the Library ofCongress, Washington, D. C. Volume VI, Number 3
Stanley Hicks: Heritage Fellowship Recipient
The Basil Fomeen Collection
A Portrait of Lake N. Porter
Publications "Many of the works are playful, ex lecting, presenting, and viewing it, pressing a kind of recreation of the but an artistic fervor to create it as FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS artist's experience. Some of the well. Both examples also raise an works were generated by memory interesting question: Is it folk art? a quarterly publication ofthe or a sense of play, and others are Or, to vary the formulation, are all American Folklife Center didactic-intended to moralize or these grassroots artists folk artists? instruct. Most have a visuality, di And in what ways is their art "folk," atthe rectness, and power." To comple or not "folk"? Behind these inno Library o[Congress ment this showing of living artists cent queries lies a puzzling jumble an exhibition was also arranged at of ideas, attitudes, and historical AlanJabbour, Director the Georgia Museum of Art from and cultural trends which have the collection of noted folk-art col folklorists, art historians, and Ray Dockstader, Deputy Director lector Herbert Waide Hemphill, a museum curators, folk-art collec Elena Bradunas native son of Georgia. Documen tors, art dealers, and others at Carl Fleischhauer tary films, lectures, and a live con loggerheads. Rushing in where Mary Hufford FolklifeSpecialists cert of folk music rounded off the others fear to tread, the Folklife public celebration of this splendid Center will be holding a two-day PeterT. Bartis, Folklife Researcher undertaking. I wish I had been meeting on the subject in De Eleanor Sreb, Executive Assistant there. cember. We hope that a gathering Brett Topping, Writer-Editor North of Rome, over in north of experts and devotees from all of Doris Craig, Administrative Secretary west Georgia, Reverend Howard these orbits, which unfortunately Lisa Oshins, Staff Assistant Finster has turned his backyard often fail to overlap or intersect, Tel: 202 287-6590 into a resplendent environment will have a salutary influence on celebrating God, life, and art. our collective understanding of Archive o[Folk Culture Beyond the inlaid paths and this larger sphere of creativity in found-object structures ofthis Gar America today. Joseph C. Hickerson, Head Gerald E. Parsons,Jr., Reference Librarian den of Paradise stands his World Is it a single creative sphere? we Patricia M. Markland, Indexer-Secretary Folk Art Church, an old church may begin by asking. Is there an Sebastian LoCurto, StaffAssistant building he purchased to further underlying unity in the creative Tel: 202287-5510 his mission of art. When I visited, cultural force that generates the church was functioning as gal carved canes, Afro-American strip Washington, D.C. 20540 lery, workshop, museum, and quilts, paintings evoking recollec standing testimony to Reverend tions of a childhood way-of-life, Finster's artistic energy and imagi and the folk-art environments of a Managing Editor: Brett Topping nation. A retired bicycle repair Reverend Finster? Or is it even a man, handyman, sign painter, cultural force, in the collective clockcase builder, banjo and har human sense that we customarily monica player, and preacher, he imply by the word "cultural" to dis DIRECTOR'S COLUMN began painting visions and allegor tinguish collective from uniquely ical themes several years ago and individual creative arts? Or is every now has thrown all his energies in to human creative act "cultural" no In Athens, the Athens Avant his creative work. In addition to the matter how singular it may seem to Garde Society recently sponsored a Garden and thousands of paint the immediate bystanders? There three-part exhibition featuring ings, he has produced two record is something about this subject folk art in their part of northeast ings (a 45-rpm record ofsongs and perhaps its essential non-verbal Georgia. Their New Arts Review an LP of a service with his last character-that makes it easy to get (April 1983) tells us that, sup church congregation) and a hand lost in a forest of words. (The folk ported by a grant from the Georgia lettered and hand-illustrated book art conference, unlike the direc Council for the Arts and narrating a vision of space travel. tor's column, will at least include Humanities and the National En His communicative and visual slides.) dowment for the Arts, they power and genius make us proud Taking the other tack, perhaps scoured the countryside in a six at the Folklife Center to own and we are dealing with fundamentally county area in search offolk artists. display two of Reverend Finster's disparate human expressions, The resulting exhibition includes paintings, commissioned when the yoked together only by a quirk in drawings, paintings, quilts, jugs, Center was inaugurated in 1976. the recent history of the English carved wooden figures, furniture, Both the Athens and the Rome language that has assigned to all of walking canes, mobiles, whirligigs, example illustrates a widespread them the adjective "folk." Pursuing environmental works, and cement and intense interest in folk art this line of thinking, one might sculptures. Of the results of her around the United States today argue that the terminological con fieldwork Dianne Penny says, not only an interest in finding, col fusion arises from those same
2 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS while constantly fabricating novel artifacts. One could transmit the artifact, the style, the art, the skill, or even the values from which all else derived, but in all these cases there was a cultural continuity that December Folk-Art Meeting warranted use of the word "tradi tion." As we have re-evaluated the On December 5-6, 1983 the American Folklife Center, with assistance nature of cultural transmission, it from the Museum of American Folk Art in New York City, will sponsor has become inviting to reassess the "Washington Meeting on Folk Art" at the Library of Congress. In some of our earlier judgments vited specialists will gather to address a broad range of topics of interest about what folk art is. to researchers and collectors associated with the study and presentation All of which-and more of folk art. The December program will include review ofcontemporary should make for a lively and excit scholarship on the topic, discussion of the work of individual folk artists, ing folk-art conference this De examination of the effects of the marketplace, and evaluation of folk art cember. And ifall these issues seem within the larger cultural context. For further information contact Peter vexing, ponder this: Nobody says T. Bartis, Folklife Researcher, American Folklife Center, Library ofCon it's not art any more. gress, Washington, D.C. 20540.
non-intersecting orbits alluded to daddy, as it were, offolk processes, earlier, each of which indepen and there is at least a reasonable dently reached into the language's presumption that our shared use of rucksack of certifiably amiable and the word "folk" reflects our deep patently democratic words to de collective perception of similarities BOARD OF TRUSTEES scribe the various phenomena in these disparate artistic expres under consideration, with "folk sions. It seems unlikely that the Ronald C. Foreman, Jr., Florida, Chair art" being the phrase chosen in all Athens Avant-Garde Society man these sundry cases. If indeed we brought together quilts, face-jugs, David E. Draper, California, Vice Chair are using the same word for differ painted memoryscapes, and local man ent things, it follows that the task gospel singers simply because they Raye Virginia Allen, Washington, D.C. before us is simply to confront the noticed the wide world randomly and Texas overlap in terminology and begin attaching the word "folk" to all of Janet Anderson, Oregon and California hammering out a mutually agreed them. Nor was Reverend Finster's Edward Bridge Danson, Arizona upon set ofterms that carefully dis World Folk Art Church given its Jeanne Guillemin, Massachusetts tinguish things distinct. No doubt name at the insistence of either William L. Kinney,Jr., South Carolina everyone will want to keep that fine folklorists or folk art collectors. All St.John Terrell, New Jersey word "folk" for themselves and of us as users of the word "folk" mete out another term to the other need to school ourselves on its cul orbits, which could cause some tural import, its efficacy, out and bickering; but it would all be solu beyond ourselves and ourcircles. Ex Officio Members ble with a little goodwill. My second reason arises from my I think, however, that matters own professional history as a Daniel J. Boorstin, The Librarian of Con will prove a bit more complex than folklorist. Many ofus grew up (pro gress that, and a great deal more inter fessionally, that is) serene in the S. Dillon Ripley, Secretary of the Smithso esting. My first reason is that word idea that folklore involved the pass nian Institution choices in a language are rarely as ing down of cultural artifacts Francis S. M. Hodsoll, Jr., Chairman, Na quirky and random as they seem. (stories, songs, tunes, and dances, tional Endowment for the Arts The study of language leads us as well as material artifacts) from William Bennett, Chairman, National En again and again to conclude that person to person within homo dowment fonhe Humanities any use of a word or phrase has geneous communities. Then came AlanJabbour, Director, American Folklife fundamental connections to any the 1960s, during which the Afro Center other uses of the same word or American revolution taught us that phrase. Language is the gran a culture can pass along an art
JULY-SEPTEMBER 1983 3 I first thought it was maybe STANLEY HICKS 500, and then kept a-looking at it [the fellowship letter) and National Heritage Fellowship Recipient then I think to myself, ... "it can't be that way." But after. . . calling and talking to them all, I seed it was that.
Hicks's thoughts after making sure the award really was for Stanley Hicks, a 72-year-old were masters and exemplars of a $5,000 were pragmatic-now he native of the North Carolina tradition. According to Bess could buy new teeth for himself mountains, had hoped to visit Lomax Hawes, Director ofthe Folk and his wife Virgie, and pay their Washington, D.C. once more in his Arts Program, the awards honor bills. lifetime. His first visit was in 1978 the traditions themselves as well as the individuals who perpetuate when he participated in the Na It's kind of a thrill . ... I don't tional Folk Festival at Wolf Trap them. She points out that the tradi Farm Park in Virginia. His hopes tional arts and crafts have long feel big about it; I feel good were fulfilled in June 1983-as a been ignored and given a low status about it ... because it will help recipient of a National Heritage in this country. By recognizing the me right on out [the rest of my Fellowship, Hicks performed at the masters of traditional arts and life). I was getting down, about Smithsonian's 1983 Festival of crafts, she hopes the Heritage Fel out, but I was making it. American Folklife and was hon lowships will draw attention to Didn't have no headaches or ored at a special awards ceremony, these aspects ofAmerican culture. nothing like that. Now then I along with fifteen other masters of The recognition of individual can do things that I was traditional arts. folk artists and presentation of fel aiming to do before I had to National Heritage Fellowships lowships raises several questions put my wife in a nursing home. about the immediate and long were created in 1982 by the Folk And I really thank the people Arts Program of the National En term effects on those receiving dowment for the Arts to pay tribute them. Do the fellowships change for what they've done for to artists and artisans. Each year a their status in their communities, me . .. 'cause something like number of individuals are selected encourage them to continue prac that [the fellowshiP] in one who represent excellence and au ticing their skills, and enable them lifetime is good. I never dreamt thenticity within a tradition, and to share their traditions with future of it. . . . I can pay my light who have played significant roles in generations? How will the heritage bill, my phone bill, and other maintaining or shaping the tradi fellowships affect folk traditions as bills, and this, and that, and tion. a whole? By drawing attention to all-medicine, doctor bills. It'll Recipients of National Heritage folk artists, will they revive interest really help me on out . ... Fellowships are presented at the and participation in the arts and Festival of American Folklife crafts practiced? Will the fellow The money will probably not through exhibits of their works, ships foster competition orjealousy change his involvement with in concerts, and workshops. The fes among the community of tradition strument building and music mak tival setting allows them to share bearers? Will the fellowships ulti ing. His tools are already paid for, their talents and memories with mately affect the traditions them and, being retired, there are few festival visitors from across the na selves? demands on his time. "Oh, I like to tion and around the world. At the While the program is too new to do that stuff anyhow, you know, awards ceremony, which takes have had long-term effects on the and have plenty of time to do it," he place in the imposing Departmen individuals honored and their says. tal Auditorium, speeches are made communities, the immediate im Over and above the monetary as in their honor and their $5,000 fel pact of the fellowships can be as pect, the fellowship affirms Hicks's lowships are presented. Each indi sessed by talking to the recipients. belief in the value of his traditions vidual addresses the audience, and Stanley Hicks was selected for his and in the need to share them with the musicians and storytellers give skills as a banjo and dulcimer future generations. He firmly be brief but tantalizing displays of maker, musician, storyteller, and lieves that traditions tie us to the their talents. buckdancer. An eloquent and past and remind us where we came Each heritage fellowship recip thoughtful speaker, Hicks tells from. They not only teach us about ient was nominated by the general what the heritage fellowship means life, but also offer us friendship public, including scholars and col to him personally. and honest recreation. Hicks con lectors offolklore. An Arts Endow His first reaction to receiving the siders it a duty and a pleasure to ment panel then selected those that $5,000 fellowship was disbelief: pass along his traditions.
4 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS munity in some traditions that had been put aside. For example, only a few people in the first third ofthe century were actively singing bal lads and making instruments. The visitors provided new audiences and markets for these traditions, encouraging participation in them by local people, who then recalled tunes and song texts from their childhood and refined their instru ment-making skills. Stanley Hicks, as a result of these collecting ac tivities, began in his fifties to devote more time and attention to making banjos and dulcimers, and to devel op his playing techniques. He has since come to see these crafts as representative of his heritage and community. His final hope is that these skills, and the memories as sociated with them, will be carried on after he is gone. Before he leaves, though, he will do what he can to insure that they continue.
I'm getting old, about wore out, anyhow. I'm going to have to quit this stuff sooner or later. I'm going to hang on as long as I can . . . get the young people started on it if I can.
By giving Hicks national recog nition and honor, and by drawing attention to his traditions, the Na tional Heritage Fellowship should make his task easier. For more information on the Na tional Heritage Fellowship pro gram and nominations procedures Stanley Hicks (Photo by Lucy Long) contact the Folk Arts Program, Na tional Endowment for the Arts, It helps me-just telling these age people in his community to 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, Wash tales, singing these songs, and take part in the traditional ways ington, D.C. 20506, (202) 682 showing 'em all that. If you and arts. His own reputation as a 5449. don't do something to leave somewhat eccentric fellow will cer behind you when you're gone, tainly be challenged by the recogni -Lucy M. Long you ain't done anything, ... if tion given him by the federal you don't show somebody to do government. In fact, however, the Ms. Long, who has assisted the National Heritage Fellowship is the Folklife Center and the Archive of something, to help them out. lastest in a series of supporting in Folk Culture with cataloging projects And that's what its all about fluences on the traditional culture in the past, has studied the musical anyhow. But if we can't help ofhis community. traditions of the North Carolina one another out, why, we ain't Since the 1930s, the area where mountains for several years. She doing no good. Hicks lives, commonly known as wrote her masters thesis in Beech Mountain, has been visited ethnomusicology on Stanley Hicks by a steady stream of folklore col and is now in the Ph.D. program in Stanley Hicks hopes that the lectors and scholars. The outsiders folklore at the University of Pennsyl Heritage Fellowship will encour- revived interest among the com vanta.
JULY-SEPTEMBER 1983 5 Who Was This Man Basil Fomeen?
Basil Fomeen A telephone call from Ted Levin est in early 78-rpm recordings of early commercial recordings of of the Russian Institute at Colum ethnic music. ethnic music. He immediately rec bia University first informed me From Levin I learned that there ognized the name. Checking "Rus about Basil Fomeen's worldly pos were many 78-rpm records in the sian music" we found 17 entries for sessions left behind after his death apartment, along with hundreds of Fomeen. Spottswood remarked at a public housing complex in reels of tape, published sheet that as an accordionist Fomeen Lakewood, New Jersey. Levin had music, music manuscripts, diaries, may have played as a studio musi visited the apartment, expecting to scrapbooks, photographs, musical cian for other ethnic performers, find items related to the political instruments, correspondence, and, and encouraged us to obtain the history of Russian immigrants. In of course, personal belongings collection for the information it stead the place was filled with such as clothes and souvenirs. Soon might contain on the life of ethnic memorabilia from Fomeen's life as after Fomeen's death the Lake musicians in America. a composer, musician, and or wood housing authorities con A call to the Lakewood housing chestra leader within the musical tacted the Soviet Embassy and staff revealed that they were under world of mainstream America of offered the materials to them to be a great deal of pressure to clean out the 1920s to 1950s, and within his shipped to the Soviet Union. the apartment. A woman on the own Russian emigre community. Negotiations got under way but staff expressed personal concern Levin then called ethnomusi ground to a halt amidst conflicting for the materials and felt it would cologist Mark Slobin at Wesleyan signals and flagging interest. be a great loss if the records of University, who in turn suggested I contacted Richard K. Spotts Fomeen's life were discarded. I as he call the American Folklife Cen wood, who is just completing a sured her that the Library was in ter, knowing of the Center's inter comprehensive discography of terested and would try to make
6 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS arrangements to have someone re view the materials. The next day the director of the housing project called and underscored the sense of urgency, explaining that they were packing the materials and storing them temporarily in their electric room. I thought of the pos sible danger to the magnetic tapes and realized that sending someone to assess the collection required too much time; we had to act quickly. The director gave me the name and estimate of the movers con tacted when the transfer to the Soviet Embassy was first planned. I dashed off a memo to the appro priate divisions of the Library suggesting we get the materials shipped down to Washington as soon as possible. On June 8, barely two weeks after the initial contact, the Li brary's Exchange and Gift Division notified me that the trunks had arrived. Representatives were rounded up from the Music Divi sion, European Division, Archive of Folk Culture, and Motion Pic ture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, and onJune 10 we started rummaging through the trunks and boxes in the basement ofthe Madison Building. Somewhat overwhelmed by the disparate details of a man's life packed into the trunks, I wished for some kind ofa formal introduc tion to Basil Fomeen to make sense of all the paraphernalia. Fortu nately there was a 1951 copy of Who's Who In Music in one of the boxes. The entry devoted to Fo meen ran a half column and in F omeen and his mother cluded his photograph. A red line repertoire of American dance nal compositions include his theme was carefully drawn alongside the music, Viennese waltzes, boleros, song "Manhattan Gypsy" pub entry in the margin. The article guarachas, rumbas, sambas, lished in 1940, thirty-six songs identified him as a Russian-born choros, paso-dobies, tangos, and called Russian-Gypsy love ballads American orchestra leader, accor songs of different nationalities put included on his five recorded al dionist, composer, and director of into dance tempo." From 1943 to bums "Songs of Inspiration," made the Basil Fomeen Orchestra which 1944 Fomeen went overseas with in 1939, and a few sambas-choros played hotels and clubs in New U.S.O. Unit 99 and performed in published in Rio de Janeiro in York City and on the eastern sea Africa, Europe, and the Far East. 1941. The biographical sketch also board. Born in 1902 in Kharkoff, He recorded six discs for RCA Vic mentioned that he was the designer Russia, he trained in the country's tor as an accordion soloist, includ and builder of a unique keyboard cadet corps and studied music. He ing excerpts from "Rhapsody in instrument called the "basiphon," came to America in 1922, settling Blue" which he arranged for the which consisted of a piano, har in New York City. In 1934 Fomeen accordion. His orchestra recorded monium, vibraphone, chimes, and organized his International Or on the Standard, Seva, National, cimbalom rolled into one. chestra, which presented "a wide and Decca labels. Fomeen's origi Continued on overleaf
JULY-SEPTEMBER 1983 7 BASIL FOMEEN Continued from previous page
Fomeen as a young man with an early orchestra Inside the other trunks we found ter signed "E. Hoover" said he was pies of old handwork. I put them bongo drums, a fiddle, a double- sorry he missed Fomeen's perfor aside so that we could find a proper keyboard accordion, souvenirs mance in Washington. place for them later. from travels abroad, sheet music, What especially warmed my One of the last items we found, tapes, and records. In one box heart towards Fomeen on that first several days after we first searched there was a bronze head of Fo encounter with his life were the through the collection, was a type meen. It was nearly life-size and ex trunks that contained his clothing, written, 480-page manuscript for ceptionally well done, so much so linens, and towels. I watched as the his autobiography. The original that we all felt a bit eerie about con materials were being stacked up in somewhat self-effacing title, "Life tinuing to browse under its gaze. bins to be thrown out, and noticed of a Little Man in a Great Big Basil Fomeen seems to have been some embroidered fabric. Pulling World," had been crossed out and a man who kept everything and or them out, I found that they were the hand-written title "Oddissea of ganized it quite neatly. Several en long linen towels, the kind that are Basil Fomeen" inserted. The velopes contained photographs, highly treasured by East European foreword begins: and each envelope was appropri immigrants. I have come across ately labeled: "Me," "Mother," "rel similar types in my own work I am not a prince, not a atives." Some of them date back to among ethnic groups in Pennsyl nobleman, not a philistine, nor pre-Revolutionary Russia. Scat vania's anthracite region. My infor peasant. I am not even [a] mer tered here and there were photo mants say that the towels were chant. graphs of record labels which given as parting gifts by mothers to I am only the son of the featured his band. There was also a daughters leaving for America. merchant's son. (This is the photograph of the strange looking They had often been made by the official civilian social status of "basifon," together with a letter mother for her own wedding trous my birth.) from the New York Metropolitan seau. Since that type of textile art Museum saying that they are inter was associated with women, I was Due to the vicissitude ested in the instrument for their surprised to find such towels in a changeability of the fate-destiny collections. There was a score for man's trunk, and wondered how he or fortune, I, who was born in Porgy and Bess, with an inscription came to have them and why he Russia, who absorbed with the to Fomeen from Gershwin. A note treasured them. I suspect they may milk of my mother Russian on FBI stationery signed "Edgar" have been connected with his Spirit and love for motherland thanked him for entertaining the mother. Whatever their origin and Russia, now I am an American "boys" during the war. Another let significance, they are fine exam- citizen, who lived all of his life,
8 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS Sheet music cover Continued on overleaf
JULY-SEPTEMBER 1983 9 FOMEEN Continuedfrom previous page
anyway his conscious life, here in these United States of Ameri ca.
The first portion of the autobiography deals with his ex periences during the Russian Rev olution and as a soldier in the White Army. In them one experi ences the drama and uncertainty of the Revolution viewed from the standpoint of a young cadet trained for years to be loyal to the Tsar. Later one reads about a young man's pride in learning to survive in hard times and his disap pointment when the cause to which he had dedicated his life was simply abandoned, never actually de feated. It is a detailed and evocative account. The pages that follow largely contain the occupational saga of a musician who made a living from the time he was first exiled from his homeland playing restaurants, clubs, ocean liners, and private par ties. He was clearly a member ofthe entertainment industry, and his story is filled with experiences he shared with fellow entertainers la'te-night parties, a steady stream Linen towel like ones given by mothers to their daughters departing/or America. of "beautiful creatures," high times, and the constant worry timents, though. For instance, at with his memoirs, provides insights about what his next job would be. the outbreak of World War II he into the processes of assembling He kept up contacts with the Rus and other ex-patriots volunteered and presenting the details of one's sian community throughout his their military services to the Soviet life-what an individual chooses to life, always interested in meeting Consulate, only to be told they were preserve as a record of his life and friends who had trained as cadets neither trusted nor needed. His what details emerge or recede in with him and looking up Russians consistent use of Russian proverbs the written chronicle. He has left, in whatever countries he visited. to comment on developments in his in effect, two autobiographies. In contrast to the opening pages life provide texture to the long nar Upon first examination, the ar of the book, the portions that deal rative. tifacts he chose to keep describe his with his life as a musician seem to Towards the end of his life his life more vividly, representing per speed by. Particular incidents get sense of ties to Mother Russia sonal interests and values that are submerged in a whirl of similar seems to have intensified. He made never stated in his memoirs. What sounding occurrences. It becomes a few trips to the Soviet Union, con other insights the collection may hard to penetrate the superficial centrated on writing Russian litur yield into the working relationship details Fomeen relates to discern gical music, and expressed a wish among musicians from different the personality and priorities ofthe that his ashes be returned to his ethnic groups during the early man, It is almost as though Basil homeland. That last request was years of the ethnic recording in Fomeen disappears as a person not fulfilled. dustry or into life in the Russian once he becomes established as a It is too late to interview Basil emigre community remains to be working musician in this country. Fomeen. His life can now be recon determined by future researchers. Every once in a while a narrative structed only from what he left be detail offers a glimpse into his sen- hind. The collection, juxtaposed -Elena Bradunas
10 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wayne State University, and Memorial University ofNewfoundland. For further information, contact Joseph C. Hickerson, Head, Ar chive of Folk Culture, Library of Congress,Washington, D.C. 20540, or Richard S. Thill, Department of Foreign Languages, The Univer sity of Nebraska at Omaha, Box 688, Omaha, Nebraska68101.
FOLKLIFE ANNUAL The American Folklife Center is pleased to announce a new publica tion planned for the fall of 1984-a folklife annual. Edited by Center director Alan Jabbour and James Hardin of the Library's Publishing Office, the publication will present a yearly collection of essays written for both the folklore scholar and a wider audience of interested per sons. Its purpose is to promote the study of American folklife by pre senting and reflecting upon the diverse traditions, values, and fea tures of American folk culture. The folklife annual will strive for the perennial albeit elusive twin goals of many American publica tions-critical acuity and broad ap peal. Dance caller Ted Glabach of Dummerston, Vt. at a 1947 dance in the Walpole, The editors seek contributions from folklorists and from writers in N.H. town hall. A family album photo given to Stephen Green during his project to related fields of study. They will document Vermont dance music, funded by a 1977 grant from the Arts Endowment's Folk Arts Program. consider articles on all subjects and Automated data entries for grant files from 1971- 1978, now in the Archive's col areas of folklore and 'folklife. The lections, are being prepared by Holly Cutting Baker and Jay Orr. They will discuss annual will be particularly devoted their work in the forum "Access to the Archive: Case Studies from the Library ofCon to the folklife of the United States; gress" at the A merican Folklore Society meeting in October. articles involving the traditions of other countries should make some important connection with occur AUTOMATED ARCHIVING rences and manifestations in this CONFERENCE country. The annual will make ex tensive use of illustrations, chosen On April 26- 28, 1984 the Amer Funding for the conference was for their inherent appeal and their ican Folklife Center will host the provided by the L. J. and Mary C. effectiveness in clarifying particu "Washington Conference on Skaggs Foundation through a lar ideas and arguments. Folklife and Automated Archives: grant to the Folklore Archive at the Unsolicited manuscripts are in Interdisciplinary Approaches." University of Nebraska at Omaha, vited, but prior queries are recom Specialists from across the country under the direction of Richard S. mended. Authors will receive a will gather at the Library of Con Thill. Joint sponsors for the con modest honorarium upon accep gress to address issues raised by the ference are the Archiving Section tance of an article. For further in standardization and automation of of the American Folklore Society, formation write Folklife Annual, archives, particularly those with the University of Nebraska at Publishing Office, Library of Con folklore content. Omaha, the University of North gress, Washington, D.C. 20540.
JULY- SEPTEMBER 1983 11 A PortraitofLake N. Porter
In the spring of 1983 Matthew N. Porter. horse while he "agitated the cat Gouger of Kerrville, Texas visited Born in Mississippi, Porter was guts." Trail lore even has it that his the Archive of Folk Culture to raised in Texas. His father Stark P. playing would stop starnpedes. order copies of recordings that Porter was a physician, but he was In 1878 Lake Porter married John A. and Ruby Lomax made of pressed into service as sheriff by Cornelia Williams and began rais his grandfather Lake N. Porter the citizens ofGoliad County. Out ing a family. He no longer rode the (1854-1947) in 1939. Subse laws ambushed and killed him trail, but he continued punching quently, Gouger offered the Li when Lake Porter was nine. cattle on the ranch and still fiddled. brary of Congress a painting of his Matthew Gouger recounts that the His grandson, who grew up in his grandfather executed this year by young boy took his father's rifle home, recalls that "Every morning Travis Keese, a prominent artist of from the wall and left home. About of the world he greeted the morn Western Americana also living in a year later he returned, hung the ing with his violin." He later served Kerrville. The work was apprecia rifle back, and said to his mother, as sheriff of McMullen County for tively accepted and is now part of "The debt's been paid." eight years at the beginning of this the Archive's collections. It depicts At seventeen Porter rode up the century and afterwards of Brooks Lake Porter standing on a knoll, Chisholm Trail to Kansas for the County for many years. the open desert behind him, his first time. The year was 1871; the The above photo, from which saddle, rifle, and riding gear at his herd belonged to One-armed Jim the painting was made, was taken feet, a holstered revolver on his Reed, a Civil War veteran. During in the 1930s, when sheriff Porter hirclassic symbols of the Old the four years he rode the trail he was in his seventies. The photo West. From the information gained a reputation for the sooth next to it was made when he was Gouger provided for the Archive's ing effect his fiddle playing had on "ninety and still fiddling," as files, the depiction seems quite ap herds. He often fiddled while night Matthew Gouger wrote on the propriate for the "legendary" Lake herding, his friends leading his back.
12 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS JULY-SEPTEMBER 1983 13 PUBLICATIONS Holly Cutting Baker, 55 pp. Recording Laboratory, Motion Pic Folklife resources in Library collec ture, Broadcasting and Recorded CURRENTLY tions outside of the Center, with Sound Division, Library of Con AVAILABLE information on reference tools lo gress, Washington, D.C. 20540. cation, and public hours. ' Checks payable to the Library of No . 9- American Folk Architec Congress must accompany order. Unless otherwise noted, avail ture: A Selected Bibliography by How "Folk Recordings selected from able at no charge from the Ameri ard Wight Marshall with assistance the Archive of Folk Culture, Li can Folklife Center. from Cheryl Gorn and Marsha brary ofCongress and issued by the American Folklife Center. A gen Maguire, 79 pp.Articles and books Motion Picture, Broadcasting and eral brochure on the Folklife Cen on theory and general topics, an Recorded Sound Division." Order ter. tecedent references from the form. Archive ofFolk Culture. A general British Isles, and resources on spe brochure on the Archive. cific regions ofthe country. BROCHURES AND GREETING An Inventory of the Bibliographies CARDS: and Other Reference and Finding Aids All brochures and greeting cards Prepared by the Archive of Folk Cul STUDIES IN AMERICAN for which a price is indicated are ture. Information handout. FOLKLIFE: available at the sales counters in the A Guide to the Collections of Re . No. I- Ethnic Recordings in Amer Jefferson and Madison buildings corded M uszc and Folklore in the Li zca: A Neglected Heritage, edited by of ~he Library of Congress and by brary of Congress. Information Judith McCulloh, 269 pp.; $13. A mall order from the Library of handout. collection of essays on the history Congress, Information Office, Box Folklife Center News. A quarterly and current status of the ethnic re A, Washington, D.C. 20540. Please newsletter. cording industry, with numerous illustrations and a complete index. include 50 cents postage and han Mail order with remittance, citing dling for mail orders under $5, and $2 postage and handling for orders PUBLICATIONS OF THE stock number, to: Superintendent over $5. Those for which no price AMERICAN FOLKLIFE of Documments, Government is given are available free ofcharge CENTER: Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402; stock no. S/N030- 001 from the American Folklife Cen No. 3-Folklife and Fieldwork by 00098- 2. ter. Peter Bartis. A 25-page introduc No.2- The American Cowboy, by tion to fieldwork techniques. Lonn Taylor and Ingrid Maar, 228 Egg Art, greeting card/brochure. No.6-Buckaroos in Paradise: pp.; $18.95. The handsome, dis Full-color cover; ten pages of text Cowboy Life in Northern Nevada by play-size exhibit catalog, which and illustrations on the traditions Howard Wight Marshall and reproduces most of the items on associated with eggs and egg dec Richard E. Ahlborn (reprint), 120 display in 100 color photographs orating techniques. Card with en ~p.; $15.95. A companion publica and 200 duotones. It also contains velope, $2. tion to the Smithsonian exhibit, in essays on the 19th-century cowboy, cluding an essay on buckaroo life, a ~he development of the cowboy Brochures-The Art of Basket catalog of exhibit artifacts, and Image, modern cowboy life on the making by Rosemary Joyce; Book numerous photographs. Available Texas plains, and a freewheeling binding by Robert Espinosa; from the University of Nebraska fictional look at the contemporary Halloween: The Folklore and Fantasy Press, Sales Department, 901 cowboy fad. Available at the sales of All Hallows by Jack Santino; Rag North 17th Street, Lincoln, Ne counters in the Jefferson and Rugs by Geraldine Johnson; and braska 68588. Madison buildings of the Library Weaving Harvest Grains by Caroline No.7-Blue Ridge Harvest: A Re of Congress, and by mail order Schultz. gion's Folklife in Photographs by from the Library of Congress, In Lyntha Scott Eiler, Terry Eiler, and formation Office, Box A, Wash . Greeting cards-Rag Rug, a sec Carl Fleischhauer, 115 pp.; $6. A ington, D.C. 20540. Please include tIOn of a colorfully woven rag rug close look at the cultural landscape, $2 postage and handling for mail by Esther Petershein; "Black Hen, communities, religions, and life orders. Where It Is," a crayon, ink, and style portraits of men and women felt-tip pen drawing by Nellie Mae from the area. Mail order with re Rowe; Yo Yo Quilt by Elizabeth mittance, citing stock number, to: RECORDINGS: Smith; Lone Star Quilt by Carrie Superintendent of Documents, Children of the Heav'nly King: Re Severt; Cutting Carrots; Papercut Government Printing Office, ligious Expression in the Central Blue by Magdalena Gilinsky; and "Farm Washington, D.C. 20402; stock no. Ridge (AFC L69170), edited and an Animals in a Woodland Setting" SIN 030-000-00127-3. notated by Charles K. Wolfe, two papercut by Claudia Hopf. Pack No. 8-Folklife and the Library of discs and a 48-page illustrated age of six blank cards with en Congress: A Survey of Resources by booklet; $14. Available from the velopes $2.75.
14 FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS COWBOY PARAPHERNALIA RECENT STAFF PUBLICATIONS
Alan Jabbour, "Folklore Protec tion and National Patrimony," IFPI News, No. 15, 1982. Available from the International Federation of Phonogram and Videogram Pro ducers (IFPI) Secretariat, 123 Pall Mall, London SW 1Y SEA, Eng land. Also appears in Copyright Bul letin Volume XVII, No.1, 1983, a quarterly review published by Unesco in English, Spanish, and French. Available for twelve French francs from Unesco Press, Commercial Services, 7 place de Fontenoy, 75700, Paris, France. -----, "Some Reflections on Intan gible Cultural Resources," Rescue Archeology: Papers from the First New World Conference on Rescue Archeol ogy, Rex L. Wilson and Gloria Loyola, eds. (Washington, D.C.: The Preservation Press, 1982). Available for $14.95 at National Trust bookstores and by mail order from the National Trust for His toric Preservation, 1785 Mas Holiday Greeting Card-"Cow dark brown ink on quality cream sachusetts Avenue, Washington, boys Coming to Town for Christ stock. Twelve blank cards, two of D.C. 20036. mas," a wood engraving by each image, $3.50. Joseph C. Hickerson, "Develop Frederic Remington reproduced Posters-Official Exhibition ing a Folklore Archive," Handbook from Harper's Weekly, December Poster reproducing the cover of American Folklore, Richard M. 21, 1889; black and white image image from an early edition of The Dorson, ed. (Bloomington, In with "Season's Greetings" printed Log of a Cowboy by Andy Adams; diana: Indiana University Press, in red inside. Package of twelve gold, russet, black, and white 1983). cards with envelopes $5.75. lithograph on black background, Bandana, twenty-two inches suitable for framing, twenty-two by Carl Fleischhauer, "Sound Re square, reproduction of one dis thirty inches, $15. Dustin Farnum, cording and Still Photography in tributed by Theodore Roosevelt the first actor to play The Virginian the Field," Handbook of American during his 1912 campaign; red and on stage, from a photograph Folklore, Richard M. Dorson, ed. white in 100% cotton with an image among the Owen Wister Papers in (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana ofa Rough Rider hat in the center, the Library's Manuscript Division; University Press, 1983). surrounded by Roosevelt's initials black and white duotone on heavy and likeness, $10.95. poster stock, forty by nineteen in -----, "Folklorists at Work: A Greeting cards-Pony Tracks, a ches, $5. Portfolio from the American color lithograph by Edward Pen T-Shirt with a four-color repro Folklife Center," Handbook ofAmer field circa 1895 from the Poster duction of the official exhibition ican Folklore, Richard M. Dorson, Collection of the Library's Prints image from The Log of a Cow ed. (Bloomington, Indiana: In and Photographs Division; "1877 boy, and lettering "The American diana University Press, 1983). A Round Up 1887," a chro Cowboy, A Library of Congress Available for $35, plus $1.50 post molithograph advertising label Exhibition" on the front; heavy age and handling, from the Order from the Prints and Photographs 100% cotton in men's sizes small, Department, Indiana University Division. Package ofsix blank cards medium, large, and extra large, Press, 10th and Morton Streets, with envelopes $2.75. Frederic $10. Available from the sales desks Bloomington, Indiana 47405. Or Remington etchings, six etchings in the Jefferson and Madison Li ders must be prepaid. from Theodore Roosevelt's Ranch brary buildings; not available by Life & the Hunting-Trail, printed in mail order. Continued on overleaf
JULY-SEPTEMBER 1983 15 AVAILABLE PUBLICATIONS Continued from previous page
Paper Cutting, greeting card/ of papercutting and techniques Meringue Pie card with Ruth New brochure. Color covers-Polish used; blank centerfold for greeting man's pie recipe on the back. Pack wycinanki by Magdalena Gilinsky of with patterns for cutouts on re age of six cards with envelopes blue reindeer and a fir tree on red verse side. Card with envelope, $2. $4.25. background, and papercut by Claudia Hopf of a black tree, Recipe greeting cards-Can Postcards-a selection of post leopards, and fowls on white ning Jars in the home of Mae Wil cards reproducing quilt photo background in the German ley from Baywood, Virginia with graphs from the 1978 Blue Ridge scherenschnitte style; ten pages of Ruth Newman's recipe for un Parkway Folklife Project. Package text and illustrations on the origins cooked relish on the back; Tomato ofeight postcards $2.
Front Cover: The Center's painting "He Could Not Be Hid" by Reverend Howard Fznster, currently on loan to the National Museum of American Art.
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AMERICAN FOLKLIFE CENTER WASHINGTON, D.C. 20540
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