F O L K L I F E CENTER NEWS FALL 2004 • VOLUME XXVI, NUMBER 4 American Folklife Center • The Library of Congress ONLINE INFORMATION STAFF RESOURCES Administration The American Folklife Center’ s Peggy A. Bulger, Director Website provides full texts of Gene Berry, Assistant to the Director many AFC publications, informa- Doris Craig, Administrative Assistant tion about AFC projects, multi- media presentations of selected Michael Taft, Head, Archive of Folk Culture collections, links to Web re s o u rc e s Acquisitions and Programs on ethnography, and announce- David A. Taylor, Coordinator ments of upcoming events. The Research and Programs The American Folklife Center a d d ress for the hom e page is Ilana Harlow, Folklife Specialist was created in 1976 by the U.S. h t t p : / / w w w. l o c . g o v / f o l k l i f e / A n Congress to “preserve and present Guha Shankar, Folklife Specialist index of the site’s contents is American folklife” through pro- Processing and Cataloging available at h t t p : / / w w w. l o c . g o v/ grams of research, documentation, Sarah Bradley-Leighton, archival preservation, reference ser- f o l k l i f e/a f c i n d e x . h t m l Processing Technician vice, live performance, exhibition, publication, and training. The The Website for The Ve t e r a n s Catherine Hiebert Kerst, Archivist Center incorporates the Archive of History Project p ro v i de s a n Maggie Kruesi, Cataloger Folk Culture, which was established o v e rviewofthe project, an online Judy Ng, Processing Technician in the Music Division of the Library “kit” for participants re c o rding oral Valda Morris, Processing Technician of Congress in 1928 and is now one histories of veterans, and a brief of the largest collections of ethno- Marcia Segal, Processing Technician p resentation of some examples of g r a p h i cmaterial from the United Nora Yeh, Archivist, Coordinator v i d e o - and audio-re c o rdings of vet- States and around the world. Public Events erans’ stories. The address is h t t p : / / w w w. l o c . g o v / v e t s Theadocia Austen, Coordinator Andrew Wallace, Coordinator BOARD OF TRUSTEES The Folkline Information Ser- Reference vice is a cooperative announce- Jennifer A. Cutting, Folklife Specialist Librarian Appointees ment program of the A m e r i c a n Judith A. Gray, Folklife Specialist, Tom Rankin, Chair, North Carolina F o l k l o re Soc ie ty and the A m e r i- Coordinator Jane Beck, Vice-chair, Vermont can Folklife Center. It is available Stephanie A. Hall, Automation Specialist Norma Cantú, Texas only on the American Folklore Kojo Nnamdi, District of Columbia Society’s server: w w w. a f s n e t . o r g Todd Harvey, Folklife Specialist Congressional Appointees The service provides timely infor- Ann Hoog, Folklife Specialist Daniel Botkin, California mation on the field of folklore and Audio Engineering Penn Fix, Washington folklife, including training and Matthew Barton, Audio Engineer Mickey Hart, California p rofessional opportunities, and Dennis Holub, South Dakota Jonathan Gold, Audio Technician William L. Kinney Jr., South Carolina news items of national intere s t . Digital Conversion Judith McCulloh, Emeritus, Illinois John Barton, Specialist Marlene Meyerson, New Mexico Myron Briggs, Specialist Kay Kaufman Shelemay Massachusetts Reference Service FOLKLIFE CENTER NEWS Presidential Appointees Tel: 202 707–5510 David Wayne Anderson, Assistant Todd Harvey, Ann Hoog, and Fax: 202 707–2076 Secretary of the Interior, Indian Affairs David A. Taylor, Acting Editors E-mail: [email protected] Cynthia R. Church, Assistant Secretary for Designer Sheryle Shears, Veterans History Project Public and Intergovernmental Affairs, Peggy Pixley,Production Department of Veterans Affairs Diane Kresh, Director Fran Mainella Peter T. Bartis, Senior Program Officer Director, National Park Service Folklife Center News publishes ar- Anneliesa Clump Behrend, ticles on the programs and activ- Sonya E. Medina, Assistant Director of Public Affairs Specialist Projects, Office of the First Lady, ities of the American Folklife Cen- Jeffrey Lofton, Public Affairs Specialist The White House t e r, a s w el l as o th er ar t ic l es o n Ex Officio Members traditional expressive culture. It is Debra Murphy, Special Assistant James H. Billington, Librarian of available free of charge from the Sarah Rouse, Senior Program Officer Congress Library of Congress, A m e r i c a n Timothy Schurtter, Program Officer Lawrence M. Small, Secretary of the Folklife Center, 101 Independence Eileen Simon, Archivist Smithsonian Institution Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C. Taru Spiegel, Program Officer Dana Gioia, Chairman, 20540–4610. Folklife Center News National Endowment for the Arts does not publish announcements Bruce Cole, Chairman, National f rom other institutions or re v i e w s C o v e r : E a r l S c r u g g s , L e s t e r F l a t t , Endowment for the Humanities Michael Owens Jones, President, of books from publishers other and the Foggy Mountain Boys per- American Folklore Society than the Library of Congre s s . fo rm during the 1960s. Pe r fo r- Timothy Rice, President, Readers who would like to com- mances are featured info o t a g e Society for Ethnomusicology ment on Center activities or recently made ava i l a b l e a t t h e Peggy A. Bulger, Director, newsletter articles may addre s s A r c h i v e o f F o l k C u l t u r e . ( R a y M . American Folklife Center their remarks to the editor. L a w l e s s C o llection) 2 Folklife Center News “Goodness Gracious, It’s Good!”: The Martha White Flour Show Collection Johnny Cash performs “Folsom Prison Blues” during a 1968 Martha White Flour Show. (Martha White Flour Show Collection) By Jennifer Cutting In the late1970stheA rc h i v e in the Archive of Folk Song. All that of Folk Culture acquired two of remains of this granddaddy of all String ties and Stetsons, band the programs that were taped in country music television shows is members crowding around a 1968. They feature, of course, [sic] two 30-minute pro g r a m s single microphone to chime in Flatt and Scruggs, but also John- which were recorded about 1968. on a chorus, and commerc i a l s ny Cash, June Carter Cash, and Videotape was expensive, and there ending with the signature slo- Carl Perkins. AFC is pleased to was an enormousstoragepro b l e m , gan “Goodness gracious, it’s announce that the re c o r d i n g s so we reused the masters. The only good!” are all part of the won- a r e n o w a v a i l a b le for viewing in reason we have two left is that on derful time capsule that is the the Folklife Reading Room. that particular recording night, Martha White Flour television C o r r e s p o n d e n c e b e t w e e n Johnny Cash was the guest star and shows fronted by Grand Ole AFC re f e r e n c e l i b rarian Gerry he brought the Carter Family with Opry stars Lester Flatt and Earl Parsons and Martha White pro- him—Mother Maybelle, June, S c r u g g s . B e g i n n i n g i n 1 9 5 5 , ducer Alan Hines dates the Helen and, I believe, Anita—mak- these fast-paced, half-hour arrival of the tapes to 1979. ing them rather special shows. I set weekly shows were performed Hines wro t e : them aside, feeling that one day live. At somepoint,the shows they might have somespecialvalue. began to be videotaped and Yes, Martha White would be very this continued until Flatt and i n t e r e s t e d i n h a v i n g t h e r e m a i n i n g Video formats arenotoriously S c ruggsbroke up in 1969. Flatt and Scruggs Shows pre s e r v e d ephemeral, and the two-inch, Fall 2004 3 high-band, quad format was can now view copies of shows “Jackson” (with June Carter something the Library of Con- #383 and #384, from 1968, in the Cash) g re s s c o u l d s t o r e b u t n o t e a s i l y C e n t e r ’ s F o l k l i f e R e a d i n g R o o m p l a y. F o r t h a t r e a s o n , t h e t w o between the hours of 8:30 and 5 Carl Perkins tapes, in bright-aqua cases, re s t - p.m., Eastern time, Monday “Country Boy’s Dream” ed unnoticed for many years on t h r o u g h F r i d a y ( e x c l u d i n g f e d - shelves in a humidity and tem- eral holidays); appointments are Show #384: p e r a t u r e - c o n t ro l l e d a r e a , d e e p not necessary.