Woody Guthrie Archives Newsletter
June - November 2009
From the Curator: Jorge Arévalo Mateus
The flow carries us along for the ride
In a recent online piece, blogger James Grady describes Guthrie's legacy in terms of "the evolution of a controversial American entertainment dynasty," one where the underlying political focus at this particular moment in time (and history) has shifted back to Woody's "children." Despite whatever generational moment we are part of, each of us is transported along this historical "flow." And if this season's much heralded Guthrie Family Rides Again tour brings cultural acknowledgement and "entertainment" value to audiences, through performance of many of Guthrie once unknown, unpublished songs, evidently the Guthrie clan extends well beyond Arlo's talented branch to include so many individuals for whom the problematic "little guy" is still meaningful. For it is not just the growing circle of folk musicians, artists and scholars that are finding inspiration in Woody Guthrie's life and music. Here, for example, is a photograph of Coast Guard Colonel Ludwig K. Rubinsky of Niantic, Connecticut, with his young daughter Melissa.
A lifelong Guthrie fan, Col. Rubinsky left his collection of folk music recordings, including many by Guthrie, to Melissa. In honor of her late father, Ms. Rubinsky generously donated them to the Woody Guthrie Archives this past summer. By doing so, the Rubinskys joined in with the Guthrie family, thus becoming a part of the "dynasty." Our archives interns, too, become part of the "family." (On a personal note, I wish to give a special thank you to Lisa Sparks, who has been an invaluable resource, spending hours assisting with various projects). The point here is that, yes, the Guthrie Family Rides Again! but that family has been and continues to be a result of all of you who continue to support the Purpose, Vision and Mission of the Woody Guthrie Archives. When cultural historian and author Greil Marcus recently shared with me that he has finally heard Guthrie's real voice (on the recently released My Dusty Road recordings on Rounder Records), he has embraced Woody in an entirely fresh way, opening up a discussion of Woody's larger significance-he is part of the family. Finally, in her first personal contribution to our regular "newsletter," archivist Tiffany Colannino further confirms this train of thought, emphasizing not only what we do at the Woody Guthrie Archives but why we do it!
Railway Traces indeed!
Let it ride!
Jorge Arévalo Mateus
Curator
A note from the Archivist:
The past six months seem to have gone by so quickly at the Woody Guthrie Archives! There are new Guthrie albums to listen to, researchers to assist, students to teach, film makers and authors to locate material for, collections to process, and - of course - the myriad of other surprise projects that pop up unexpectedly (like working with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to provide images for their 25 th Anniversary Concert series). With all that's going on, it's important not to get too caught up in the often detail-oriented work required of an Archivist, and to keep the larger goals of the Woody Guthrie Foundation in mind. The Woody Guthrie Archives are unlike 'traditional' archives in that we not only work to ensure the long-term preservation of documents held in our collection, but we also actively nurture, grow, and share material from the Collection, and the ideas contained therein, with the world.
Sharing these ideas with the world may seem like an impossible task; however, we have a pretty clear set of instructions to follow to help us achieve this goal: our Purpose, Vision, and Mission. It is during times like this, when I loose track of the days working on interesting projects, that I find it especially beneficial to sit back and review our recent activities in light of these guidelines to make sure we're still running true to our Purpose, fulfilling our Vision and Mission, and staying on track.
We all know that a train is only as good as the tracks it runs on, and after looking through our activities from the past six months to see how the stack up against our Purpose, Vision, and Mission, our tracks appear to be both strong and far reaching. I hope that after reading through some of the activities we've engaged in since June 2009, you'll agree! We always look forward to hearing from you, our supporters - I urge you to contact me with any comments or suggestions. We exist solely because of the generous contributions from individuals who share our goals and ideals, and are continually seeking input and inspiration.
We are thankful for your support.
Tiffany Colannino
Archivist
Our Purpose: To preserve and perpetuate the legacy of folk musician and artist Woody Guthrie for the benefit of the public by preserving, maintaining and sharing with the public, through exhibition, display, performance, or other means available, the Woody Guthrie Archives including artifacts and memorabilia of Woody Guthrie, his art, life, and times;
To provide educational programs for the benefit of the public concerning the life and legacy of Woody Guthrie, his art, his times, and his ideals;
To support research, scholarship, and outreach programs that bring Woody Guthrie's life and legacy to the public.
Our Vision:
We believe that the knowledge of Woody Guthrie's life and creative legacy enhances, educates and broadens our identity as Americans and as world citizens. By maintaining the Woody Guthrie Archives and presenting it to the world; by developing public programs, museum exhibitions, and educational programs; and by sponsoring research and the creation of new art, the Woody Guthrie Foundation serves and benefits local, national and global audiences.
Our Mission:
The mission of the Woody Guthrie Foundation is to promote, perpetuate, and preserve the social, political and cultural values that Woody Guthrie contributed to the world through his life, his music, and his work.
Archives Projects
The application period for the 2010 Woody Guthrie Fellowship program is presently open! Already in it's fifth year, the Woody Guthrie Fellowship, generously supported by the BMI Foundation, Inc, is aimed at assisting researchers to defray the travel and lodging costs associated with conducting research at the Woody Guthrie Archives in New York by providing a limited number of fellowships with a value of up to $2,500.00 USD. The Fellowship program seeks to support individuals pursing topics related to Guthrie by facilitating access to the Archives, which houses the largest collection of Woody Guthrie primary source material in the world. Researchers are encouraged to read more about the Fellowship and application guidelines. The application deadline is January 2nd, 2010.
Information about past recipients, and their projects, is available through the 2009 Press Release. Questions concerning the Woody Guthrie Fellowship program may be directed to fellowship@woodyguthrie.org.
August 25th, 2009 marked an exciting day for the Archives and Guthrie enthusiasts everywhere - on that date, Rounder Records released the latest Woody Guthrie album: My Dusty Road, a 4-disc box set of previously unreleased Guthrie recordings, including six never before heard songs! The Woody Guthrie Archives collaborated with Rounder Records to conduct extensive research through the collection in order to uncover rare photographs, hand written lyrics, and original artwork to include in the 64-page book that accompanies the box set; and unique postcards and booking slips, which are printed at their original size and included as archival reproductions, in the set, which itself takes the form of a vintage traveling suitcase. My Dusty Road is currently available in the vintage suitcase box set through the Woody Guthrie Online Store. In addition, each album is available as a limited edition vinyl directly through the Woody Guthrie Online Store.
Even more amazing than the My Dusty Road albums, upon which Guthrie's voice and guitar can be clearly and strongly heard performing original and traditional songs both solo and accompanied by friends, including Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee; and more intriguing than the book, which features historical information both about Guthrie and about each track, penned by noted Guthrie biographer Ed Cray and Rounder Records President Bill Nowlin; is the story behind the recordings themselves. Uncovered in the basement of an apartment building in Brooklyn , these are the original Stinson Masters, recorded over a period of five days in a New York City studio by Moe Asch, in 1944, and financed by Herbert Harris. More information about the story behind these recordings, and how they were transformed into the My Dusty Road set, can be found in the accompanying booklet, and in this short video produced by Rounder Records.
Three previously unrecorded Woody Guthrie children's lyrics have been delightfully set to music by Guthrie's granddaughter, Sarah Lee, along with husband Johnny Irion, their children Sophia and Olivia, their grandfather Arlo Guthrie, and friends, including Pete Seeger and Tao Rodríguez -Seeger. Released in October 2009 on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, these three tracks, "Go Waggaloo"; "Bright Clear Day"; and "Fox and the Goose" appear on the album Go Wagaloo!, and are a lovely addition to Guthrie's growing collection of songs for children . The liner notes contain extensive commentary on the making of the album, and include original artwork, hand drawn by Woody Guthrie, from the collection at the Archives.
Summer and Fall 2009 saw the Archives traveling far and wide, with programs and exhibits in Italy, Germany, and France - demonstrating a strong international interest in Guthrie and his message. This interest is also strong stateside, as evidenced through programs and exhibits we delivered in California, Illinois, and even Guthrie's birthplace: Oklahoma! We certainly feel that we are living up to our Vision, and are glad to share with you some highlights from Programs and Exhibits we have delivered since summer 2009.
Current & Upcoming Programs and Exhibits
Archivist Tiffany Colannino will present a new program, entitled Secrets of the Archives, at the People's Music Network Winter Gathering, to be held January 29th - 31st, 2010, in New York City. This multimedia program incorporates rare video footage and home audio recordings of Guthrie, as well as unique items, such as handwritten lyrics, manuscripts, and artwork, from the Collection, guiding the audience through a virtual tour of the Archives, and demonstrating how materials from the collection can be used to further understand Guthrie the musician, the songwriter, and the visual artist. Further information about the People's Music Network, and the schedule for the Winter Gathering, can be found via their Website.
Past Exhibits and Programs
Nora Guthrie and Bucky Halker represented the Woody Guthrie Foundation at this year's Well-Sung Heroes: a concert benefiting the Illinois Labor History Society, held at the Chicago History Museum on Sunday November 22nd, 2009. Performers included Waco Brother/country-punk icon Jon Langford, jazz artists Jimmy Ellis, Art Hoyle and Willie Pickens. Bucky Halker, board member of the Woody Guthrie Foundation, was one of three individuals inducted into the Illinois Labor History Society's Union Hall of Honor.
In November 2009, the Rouen Public Library (France): hosted The Faces of Woody Guthrie exhibit, curated by the Woody Guthrie Foundation as part of their free exhibit entitled "Le Folk." The Faces of Woody Guthrie exhibit consists of 15 photographs of Woody Guthrie dated from 1939-1954 that include publicity stills and personal family photographs.
Michael Kleff represented the Woody Guthrie Foundation at the Woody Guthrie Festival Münster, held in Germany from October 20th - 25th, 2009 . This festival focused on Guthrie's music and politics, and included a multi-media program presented by Kleff in which he discusses the Life and Work of Woody Guthrie. More information about the full 2009 program can be found via their Online Schedule.
The Woody Guthrie Archives traveled to Guthrie's birthplace of Okemah, Oklahoma to celebrate his 97th Birthday on July 12th, 2009 at the 12th Annual Woody Guthrie Folk Music Festival. Tiffany Colannino presented an educational program, entitled Secrets of the Archives, providing the audience with a glimpse the Woody Guthrie Archives, and a sample of some never-before-heard audio of Guthrie, in the historic Crystal Theatre, where Guthrie himself went to watch films over 90 years ago! Anna Canoni also represented the Woody Guthrie Foundation and presented a multimedia educational program entitled BOUND FOR GLORY: The Legacy of Woody Guthrie that allowed audiences to learn about Guthrie's contemporary influence on musicians today.
For additional information about these, or any other Exhibit and Program offered through the Woody Guthrie Foundation & Archives, please visit us online, or call Anna Canoni at 914-241-3844. We can work with organizations to best select an Exhibit or Program that will suit your requirements.
New Productions and Publications
The past few months have seen the Woody Guthrie Archives providing archival material for use in publications and film productions well across Europe and at home here in the United States . We are glad, at the Archives, to be at the hub of this activity, as it allows us to aggregate all these fantastic projects about Guthrie, and truly provide a complete idea of how the Woody Guthrie Archives are helping present Guthrie to a contemporary, global audience.
We would like to share with you some of these global projects that have conducted research through the Woody Guthrie Archives in New York City, and that include primary source documents from the Archives. Many of these resources are available online, and all are available through the Woody Guthrie Archives in New York City.
The December 2009 issue of MOJO - The Music Magazine (#193 - United Kingdom ) features a 8-page article about Woody Guthrie by Phil Sutcliffe, which includes a historical photograph of the Guthrie family in Oklahoma 1926 provided from the still image collection at the Woody Guthrie Archives. In this article, Sutcliffe interviews Nora Guthrie and others to provide an overview of the Guthrie's musical career, and of the man who influenced a multitude of musicians.
No Depression, the alt country folk music periodical that ran from 1995 - 2008, has been reformatted, and is now published by the University of Texas Press in a 'bookazine' format. For their Fall 2009 edition, the third in this new format, editors Grant Alden and Peter Blackstock explored the families of musicians, examining how their art has been passed through generations. Included among the interviews with Nora Guthrie, Arlo Guthrie, and other family members are photographs from the still image collection at the Woody Guthrie Archives. This issue (no. 78) of the No Depression 'bookazine' (i.e. long format magazine - this one clocks in at 144 pages) is available via the University of Texas Press.
The Woody Guthrie Archives are pleased to have worked closely with the Smithsonian Channel's recent documentary film project, Worlds of Sound: The Ballad of Folkways, which highlights Asch's career, providing rare archival photographs of Guthrie and other artists for inclusion in this educational documentary film production, which also features music by Guthrie.
During the early 1940s, Moe Asch (1905 - 1986) operated a recording studio in New York City, and during 1944 -1945 he conducted extensive, marathon recording sessions with Woody Guthrie, laying down over 150 songs in less than 10 days, including one marathon session where Guthrie recorded over 50 songs in one sitting. Asch would go on to found Folkways Records in 1948, and through this label he would collect, record, and document folk, blues, and world music; spoken word poetry; and everyday sounds of animals and machines. By Asch's death some 40 years later, the Folkways label had released almost 2200 albums.
After Asch's death, the Smithsonian Institution acquired Folkways Records, and will ensure that all 2168 albums will stay in print indefinitely regardless of market sales.
French periodical Telerama sent a reporter to the United States in search of insight into the life of Woody Guthrie. Traveling from New York City to Texas, where Guthrie lived during his adolescence, Laurent Rigoult met individuals connected to and knowledgeable on the subject of Woody Guthrie, including Tiffany Colannino at the Woody Guthie Archives in New York City, and Josh Paulson at the Woody Guthrie Folk Music Center in Pampa, TX; all in an effort to more fully understand the life, work, and music of Woody Guthrie. The Archives are pleased to have been able to provide Telerama with a historic photograph of a young Guthrie in Pampa, TX for publication in their French weekly periodical alongside Rigoulet's article "Woody Guthrie dans la poussière de Pampa, Texas" ( Woody Guthrie in the dust of Pampa, Texas ), which can now be viewed online. (Telerama # 3107)
Alan Yentob, BBC Creative Director (United Kingdom), visited the Archives to conduct research for the summer 2009 BBC One program Art in Troubled Times: A New Deal for Art, part of the imagine series, which included photography from the Woody Guthrie Archives.
Visitors and Researchers at the Archives
The Woody Guthrie Archives appreciates and understands the value of repository visits as playing an important role in the education of future archivists, and is proud to accommodate individual students, pursuing their Masters of Library and Information Sciences, for one-on-one site visits with the archives' professionally trained archivist, Tiffany Colannino. These visits are tailored for student's particular classes (i.e. Preservation & Conservation; Audio Visual Archives; Archival Management etc.), and aim to act as an intersection between the student's practical and theoretical knowledge of archives. This Fall, the Woody Guthrie Archives accommodated over 10 students for such visits from institutions including Queens College and Pratt Institute.
2009 Woody Guthrie Fellowship recipient Matthew Sutton spent two weeks conducting research at the Woody Guthrie Archives during the month of July. Sutton is a Ph.D candidate in American Studies at the College of William and Mary, and his current project on Guthrie, Green Pastures of Plenty, builds upon his earlier work to explore Guthrie's notions of environmental preservation. Sutton's research will further examine drafts of Guthrie's semi-autobiographical manuscripts in detail in an attempt to better understand the scale of Guthrie's sense of environmentalism.
Martin Butler, also a 2009 Woody Guthrie Fellowship recipient, conducted research over a two week period at the Archives in August. Butler is Assistant Professor for the Chair of North American Literature and Culture, and for the Chair of British and Anglophone Literature and Cultures at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. His current project, I'm Here in Buchenwald, My Number's on My Skin, seeks to examine German fascism in the songs and writings of Woody Guthrie. Butler 's research at the Archives will result in a chapter in a forthcoming collection of essays on Woody Guthrie.
The Archives has also accommodated over a dozen other scholars to conduct research into the Collection since this summer, with topics varying from the way Guthrie was perceived by the FBI, as evidenced through his FBI File, to Guthrie and his relationship with early New York City artists.
The Woody Guthrie Archives are open to researchers Monday thru Thursday from 9:00a - 5:00p. To schedule a research appointment, please use our Online Research Application or contact:
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, into which Woody Guthrie was inducted in 1988, recently celebrated their 25th Anniversary with a series of amazing mega concerts at New York City's Madison Square Garden, featuring artists including Bruce Springsteen; Stevie Wonder; Simon & Garfunkel; Paul Simon; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Friends; U2; Aretha Franklin; Eric Clapton; and Metallica (among others!). The Woody Guthrie Archives is honored to have played a small role in the evening, providing the RnRHoF with archival photographs of Woody Guthrie for use in a short video retrospective, shown during the concert, highlighting Bruce Springsteen's background and musical influences. Congratulations to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and to all the artists who made the Benefit Concerts a success!
Accessions
The Ludwig K. Rubinsky Collection of Record Album Accession 2009-28
The Ludwig K. Rubinsky Collection consists of 16 10" 33 RMP record albums donated to the Woody Guthrie Archives by Rubinsky's daughter. This Collection highlights original Guthrie recordings, including a copy of "Documentary #1: Struggle" upon with Guthrie collaborated with Sonny Terry. In additon, this collection includes other collaborative works, such as "Midnight Special" (Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, and Leadbelly), and rare albums, including an original 1942 edition of Alan Lomax's "Smoky Mountain Ballads."
The Marjorie Mazia Guthrie Dance Book Collection consists of an assortment of books, periodicals, and dance instruction manuals and written music that belonged to Woody Guthrie's second wife, Marjorie Mazia Guthrie. The collection suggests that Marjorie frequently referred to dance instruction books, evidence of which exists in her personal notes and annotations, which appear throughout the books, particularly among the dance instruction sections and within the musical scores. This Collection also indicates that Marjorie maintained a scholarly approach to dance, and strove to remain current and up-to-date regarding literature about dance, dance instruction, choreography, music, and the visual arts.
The Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Individuals conduct research at the Archives free of charge, and we rely on the support of like-minded individuals, such as you, to assist in fulfilling our mission to promote, perpetuate, and preserve the social, political and cultural values that Woody Guthrie contributed to the world through his life, his music, and his work. For more information on the Woody Guthrie Foundation, please visit our information page.
