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NEWSLETTER Who would have imagined that more than four decades after his passing Woody Guthrie would win a Grammy for a live performance? Despite the irony of it, he did! While this points to his enduring cultural iconicity—and mainstream recognition—new research continues to examine Guthrie's work in fresh ways, showing how his music, art, and personal politics continue to resonate with contemporary world changes. Witness for example Guthrie Fellowship recipient Mark Pedelty's article, “Woody Guthrie and the Columbia River: Propaganda, Art, and Irony,” in the forthcoming issue of Popular Music and Society (July 2008). This work challenges romantic images of Guthrie's perspective on emerging environmental issues to consider his delicate balancing of public needs vs public development. Guthrie's position as a cultural icon is thus supplemented by his significance as an organic public intellectual working for the common good. Continuing in this vein, the Woody Guthrie Archives is proud to announce the recipients of the 2008 BMI Foundation Woody Guthrie Research Fellowship: Dr. Will Kaufman is a Reader in English and American Studies at the University of Central Lancashire (UK), and has published widely on many aspects of American culture. His project, Woody Guthrie and the Cultural Front, grows out of a performance-based program that Kaufman has presented for the past year and a half. Kaufman's research at the Archives will explore Guthrie's cultural positionality by examining his relationship to narratives associated with the American cultural front, ultimately culminating in a book that will reaffirm Guthrie's radicalism. Damian Carpenter is a PhD candidate in the English Department at Texas A&M University, where he is working towards a dissertation on mid-century folk music and it's cultural impact. His project, Woody Sez and Dylan Weave: The Continuing Traditin of the Outlaw in American Folk Music, will build upon Carpenter's previous work on Folk Music, including his 2006 Judas! article “Living in the Land of Nod: Dylan's Vision of America.” Sophi Hronopoulos is an educator and activist whose project, Woody Guthrie on Turtle Island , will develop educational materials that link Guthrie's philosophy with a broadly defined sense of Native American values. Originally from Australia, Hronopoulos has a strong background in education and an active interest in Native American culture which together provide a solid basis for her research, in which she will attempt to discover what Guthrie's lyrics reveal about Native Americans Sandra Hale Schulman is a filmmaker and writer who has conducted extensive research on Peter LaFarge, a folksinger who was greatly incluenced by Guthrie. Schulman's research at the Archives will culminate in book entitled The Ballad of Peter LaFarge: Native America's Protest Pioneer . Joe Seamons is a young musician and teacher based in Portland, OR whose project, Woody's Journey Up the Columbia Travelogue , will develop public performance programs, classroom material, and a website that focus on the time Guthrie spent in along the Columbia River in 1941. In addition, this Spring, the Archives will participate in a three-day international conference dedicated to Woody Guthrie, co-sponsored by the University of Bologna and the Gramsci Institute, with additional presentations being planned for the Circolo Gianni Bosio in Rome and Fondazione Feltrinelli in Milan. As you can see, Guthrie has gone global! And we welcome the opportunity to bring his “voice” to whatever corner of the world it is needed. I'm gonna change it, change it... Jorge Arévalo Mateus
Archives Projects Additional Finding Aids have recently been added to the Archives website to provide access to new donations, including a complete listing of our holdings of Broadside and People's Songs periodicals. Special thanks to volunteer Intern Caleb Bissinger for his dedicated work on this project .
The Archives has also added a Finding Aid for Woody Guthrie's Personal Record Collection , which consists of albums personally owned by Guthrie, as well as albums released by Guthrie. An in-house Listening Library has been set-up in the Archives, allowing researchers to browse through the extensive audio collection, which includes music recorded by Guthrie and others, as well as over 100 oral interviews conducted with individuals close to Guthrie. For the first time, researchers now have access to the entire collection of interviews conducted by Joe Klein in preparation for his 1980 biography Woody Guthrie: A Life .
Exhibits and Programs The Archives most recent program, Global Woody, premiered to a packed house at the Green Street Arts Center in Middleton, CT this past September. Hosted by Curator Jorge Arévalo Mateus, Global Woody examines the international spread of Guthrie's influence through a multimedia presentation that contains music, film and rare archival material. Tao Rodriguez Seeger accompanied this program with a one-hour multilingual musical set. Researchers can listen to this unique performance recording by visiting the Archives.
Farrell V. Moose. Green as A Gourd, Newfound Land Dyptic 2, 72” x 88”. 2006.
2006 BMI Fellow Farrell V. Moose exhibited work he produced as a result of his research at the Archives in an event co-sponsored by the Woody Guthrie Foundation and the Wesleyan University Orchestra composers residency program at the Middleton Artists Cooperative in Connecticut. The exhibition, entitled From God's Country to Boys Dreaming ran from February 5 to March 2, 2008, and featured a special performance by American composer David Amram. Since 2004, the Archives has loaned items to the traveling multi-media museum exhibit Bob Dylan's American Journey , 1956–1966 , organized by Experience Music Project . Material on loan from the Archives includes original artwork, song lyrics, photographs, and notebooks, as well as a t-shirt worn by Guthrie during his time at Greystone Park State Hospital. The exhibit is currently on display at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, California, where it runs until June 8, 2008. This is the final opportunity to see these items, as the loaned materials return home from California this summer.
New Productions and Publications
Recent Researchers and Visitors
Musician Mary Gauthier visited the Archives to view lyrical material. Musicians Mike Scott, of the Waterboys, and Steve Wickham visited the Archives from Scotland to look through a variety of materials, including Guthrie's artwork and song lyrics.
Also from Scotland, singer-songwriter and peace activist David Ferrard conducted several weeks of research at the Archives, examining Guthrie's ideas regarding peace & war, and looking at Guthrie's wartime Scottish journal from 1944. Researcher Andy Hardman spent time in the Archives seeking to uncover information about folk music shows at New York City landmark Webster Hall. Victoria Jenssen, of Nova Scotia Canada, conducted research at the Archives on the Ambellan family tile business, in whose New York City home studio Guthrie lived for a period. Alice Haggerty, in whose Los Angeles home Guthrie stayed several times in the late-1940s/early-1950s, visited the Archives to view lyrics written at her home, photographs of herself and Guthrie, and artwork, safeguarded by Guthrie, that was composed by her 5-year old son. Cynthia Tannehill Faulk Ryland visited the Archives to research materials relating to her mother, Hally Wood, and in the process found letters she herself penned to Guthrie almost fifty years ago.
Alvin Singh of the Leadbelly Foundation visited the Archives to view materials relating to Leadbelly, such as Guthrie's personal annotated copy of LeadBelly's 1943 recording "Negro Sinful Songs” , and to share information about the forthcoming book and film documenting the life and legacy of Leadbelly.
Special Accessions
Of particular note, the Archives recently received a donation of over 1500 record albums documenting the American folk music from the 1940s through to the 1960s. These albums include music by Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, the Weavers, Joan Baez, Peter, Paul, and Mary, The Babysitters, and Buffy Saint Marie, among others. Accession # 2008.01.
Internships Job Description : The Woody Guthrie Archives seeks to hire two summer interns to work concurrently on a variety of independent and collaborative projects. This internship seeks to provide students who are currently pursuing a Master of Library Science ( MLS ) or some variation, or who have recently graduated, with summer work experience in the field of Archives Management. Tasks will be assigned dependent on the intern's skills and interests, and may include the following:
Internships run from June until August 2008. The duration of Summer Internships vary depending upon the applicants' availability; however, a minimum commitment of four weeks is required for all internships. Job Requirements: Qualified applicants will possess an academic or practical background in Archives or History. Applicants without an archival background but who demonstrate a dedication to the subject material may be considered. A strong academic record combined with previous Archival experience, including arrangement and description of Archival materials, is preferred. An appreciation for or knowledge of American Folk Music is beneficial. Current students or recent graduates are encouraged to apply. Ideal candidates are highly motivated and detail oriented with effective written and verbal communication skills. A resume and cover letter are required for application. Please include days/hours of availability in your cover letter and contact information for three references at the end of your resume. Job Location : Woody Guthrie Archives, New York City, NY. Salary : All summer internships at the Woody Guthrie Archives are unpaid. Contact Information: Please email complete applications to Tiffany Loiselle at tloiselle@woodyguthrie.org by April 27 th , 2008.
Applications for Conducting Research at the Archives Encouraged by the range of scholarship, creativity, and inspiration that the Woody Guthrie Collection offers, the Archives welcomes researchers, scholars, artists, musicians, publishers, filmmakers, and those pursuing interests related to the life, works, and times of Woody Guthrie. Interested researchers must complete an Application for Research Form. Successful applicants are invited to set up an appointment with the archivist on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays between 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM. We encourage visitors to look at the Online Collection Finding Aids on our website before visiting the archives. At this time, due to limited staff time and to protect the delicate collection, we are unable to accommodate general interest visits. We hope that our ever-improving website will satisfy general interest. For further information or questions, please contact the archivist. |
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