Woody Guthrie Archives Newsletter
Spring / Summer 2009

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IMLS Grant Awarded to the Woody Guthrie Archives
BMI Foundation, Inc. Woody Guthrie Fellowship recipients announced
Bronze Busts of Seeger, Dylan, Lead Belly and others donated to Archives

From the Curator: Jorge Arévalo Mateus

Recently I came across the following Guthrie lyric again, from a song called "Meanest Man," (the song was recorded by Billy Bragg and Wilco for Mermaid Avenue, Volume II):

If it wasn't for them songs I hear all of you sing
I'd put a crown on my dome and I'd say I'm your king
I'd kidnap some and blackmail others
I'd peddle black market stuff and rob sisters and brothers

For some reason this text has "stuck in my craw" as they say, but not because they communicate something unacceptable, unreasonable, or unfamiliar. Perhaps it's the way in each of the verses Guthrie balances the darker, selfish motivations of people with an even greater, more powerful force: their inherent goodness. Somehow, in these times-times echoing economic, environmental, and socio-cultural revolutions of the past-I often wonder where Woody Guthrie's legacy both lives and is needed most. Where in the world is the equilibrium teetering dangerously toward malevolence? Is it in Europe? Africa? The Middle East? North Korea? Iran? Sri Lanka? In his Oklahoma birthplace? The California coast? Or New York City? Guthrie's final resting place. Curiously, I also came across another verse, an international variant of "This Land is Your Land"; this one from Taif Jany, a 19-year old Iraqui refugee, who was invited to join Pete Seeger onstage for his 90th birthday celebration in Beacon, NY. Taif sang:

This land is your land, this land is my land
From old Ramadi on to Baqouba
From the Zahko Mountains to the Basra waters
This land is made for you and me.

What I gather from this ongoing perpetuation of Guthrie's ideas- through his words-is that they still speak for people as they confront basic questions of morality, survival, and dignity. While recently speaking in front of an auditorium full of young Jr. and High School students in Chicago, I asked "what word comes to mind, when you hear the name Woody Guthrie?" A boy quickly thrust his waving hand into the air, and exclaimed, "Revolutionary!" In that young man's answer, I was reminded that revolutions, of all kinds, will continue to happen-indeed, must happen. So to answer the question of where the Guthrie legacy lives, and is needed most, the answer lies wherever revolutions must take place. Thankfully, Guthrie's words can live anywhere when sung with the greater, more powerful force of its intent:

But I can't be this bad because my folks are too good

As we enter, what promises to be a long, hot summer season, be assured that Woody's words and ideas are living within the Woody Guthrie Archives and are there for you!

Finally, we join with the family, friends, and fans of musician Jay Bennett to say thank you and farewell to this kind and talented artist, who recently left us.

From the Archives: Tiffany Colannino

Archives Projects:

The Woody Guthrie Archives has been awarded a Grant from the prestigious Institute of Museum and Library Services. Administered through the New York State Education Department, this Grant will allow the Archives to conduct important preservation and conservation work, which will greatly assist in increasing accessibility to the more fragile materials in the Collection. This grant will also help ensure the long-term preservation of the Archives' entire collection of Journals and Notebooks, all of which include original writings, lyrics, artwork, and drawings by Guthrie. In addition, the Archives will be able to conserve a half-dozen unique scrapbooks kept by Guthrie and other family members, chronicling his life and career as he traveled through Oklahoma, Texas, New York, California, and Florida. The Archives is honored to be the recipient of this award.

The Archives is pleased to announce the recipients of the Fourth Annual Woody Guthrie Fellowship Dr. Martin 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 2007 dissertation, Voices of the Down and Out: The Dust Bowl Migration and the Great Depression in the Songs of Woody Guthrie was awarded "Best Dissertation in the Humanities in 2008 at the University of Duisburg-Essen" by Sparkasse in Essen. 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. Dr. Darryl Holter, Adjunct Associate Professor in the History Department at the University of Southern California, and CEO of the Shammas Group, located in Los Angeles, is the author of numerous articles and publications examining labor history, focusing specifically upon union efforts, labor law, and workers. His current project, Woody Guthrie in Los Angeles, 1937-1941, will build upon Holter's foundational knowledge of the region, as well as his solid background in social and labor history. An active musician, Holter brings an appreaciation and understanding of folk music to complement his strong academic background, culminating in research that will explore this oft-overlooked period in Guthrie's life, offering insight into the importance of the Los Angeles years on the formation of Guthrie's music and politics.

Dr. Mark Allan Jackson is Assistant Professor of Folklore and English at Middle Tennessee State University. His 2007 book Prophet Singer: The Voice and Vision of Woody Guthrie, was recently awarded "Outstanding Academic Title: by the American Library Association's Choice Magazine. Jackson's current project, Playing Legend Maker: Woody Guthrie's 'Jackhammer John', will explore how Guthrie drew upon the folksong tradition to help him craft legendary figures. His research will result in an essay to be included in an upcoming collection of scholarly work on Guthrie.

Dr. Darryl Holter, Dr. Mark Allan Jackson, and head archivist Tiffany Colannino at the Woody Guthrie Archives

Matthew Sutton is a Ph.D candidate in American Studies at the College of William and Mary, where he is working towards a dissertation entitled Storyville: Discourses in Southern Musicians' Autobiographies. Sutton's current project, 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.

We have strong aspirations for this year's Fellows, who truly demonstrate that the academic study of Guthrie's life is very much alive!

American band Wilco has recorded and released the most recent Woody Guthrie cover. "The Jolly Banker," a topical song written by Guthrie in the 1930s, yet relevant to today's economic climate, is available for download via Wilco's Website for a suggested donation of $2.00. All money raised will go directly to fund the activities of the Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives, and all donations are tax-deductible. Guthrie recorded this track in session with Alan Lomax in March 1940, and it is included on The Library of Congress Recordings.

Archives Programs and Exhibits: This past Winter has been a busy time for the Archives when it comes to curating exhibits and presenting programs. It seems like all roads lead to Woody, and we are more than glad to help spread his life and legacy through exhibits and multimedia programs.

Current Programs and Exhibits:

Curated by Woody Guthrie Archives Curator Jorge Arévalo Mateus, It's Been Good To Know Yuh: Woody Guthrie in Pampa, 1929-1936 is presently on exhibit at the Panhandle Plains Historic Museum in Canyon, Texas. This exhibit illustrates how the years Woody Guthrie spent in Pampa, Texas, from age 17 formed the foundation of a life that was to influence the folk music genre for the generations to come. Family tragedy, the Depression and Dust Bowl years, and picking up a guitar and giving a voice to the plight of the American worker were the driving forces that guided Woody throughout his prolific, but too-short career. For more information, visit the Panhandle Plains Historic Museum online. This exhibit runs through July 31st, 2009.

Past Exhibits and Programs:

Monmouth University hosted an exhibit curated by the Archives entitled Strokes Of Electricity. Composed of visual material from the Archives holdings, including political cartoons, pen and ink illustrations, watercolors, children's art, and oil paintings, this exhibit ran from March 21st through April 25th, 2009, and is available through the Archives for exhibit at other venues.

Archivist Tiffany Colannino, and past Archives Assistant Hillel Arnold, along with Steve Rosenthal, co-producer of the Grammy Award winning Live Wire; Woody Guthrie in Performance 1949, presented a multimedia program at the New York City Chapter of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections detailing the audio holdings at the Woody Guthrie Archives.

North Shore Country Day School Teacher with Events and Publicity DIrector Anna Canoni (Left) and Curator Jorge Arévalo Mateus (right)

Students at the North Shore Country Day School in Evanston, Illinois, were treated to two very special public programs from WGA staffers on May Day. Anna Canoni met with K - 5th grade children, sharing stories of Woody's empathetic relationship with them; while Jorge Arévalo Mateus did a multimedia presentation for grades 7 through 12 about the local to global spread of Guthrie's music. The packed auditorium even got the chance to watch the curator dancing onstage to his favorite cover version of "This Land is Your Land," by Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings.

Hard Travelin', an exhibit curated by the Woody Guthrie Foundation, is was recently on exhibit at the Red Cloud Opera House in Red Cloud, Nebraska. Using photographs and lyrics, this exhibit tracked Guthrie's 'Hard Travels,' beginning with his youth in Pampa, Texas in 1939, and ending with hand written lyrics, penned by Guthrie during his stay at Brooklyn State Hospital in 1954. For more information, please visit the Red Cloud Opera House online. This exhibit ran through May 15th.

The Piacenza Literature and Blues Festival taking place in Piacenza, Italy from May 10th - 17th focuses on blurring the line between audience and artist while presenting various concerts and lecture series. A number of the festivals concerts featured Woody Guthrie songs and a few programs on his life which Nora Guthrie had participated in.

Also taking place in Italy, the Fortezza Firmafede, located in Sarzana, has selected Woody Guthrie to receive their inaugural Strings & Voices for Dialogue & Civil Rights Award. Nora Guthrie, Director of the Woody Guthrie Archives, accepted this award on Guthrie's behalf at the Acoustic Guitar International Meeting. This meeting, which also included workshops, seminars, and conferences on songwriting and the adaptation of texts to musical structures for the guitar, photographic exhibitions, and an afternoon concert/workshops with various artists with the collaboration of Cultural Associations involved in the study of Woody Guthrie's life, ran from May 20th - 24th, 2009. Some of the musicians participating in the meeting are Joel Rafael, David Bromberg, Ed Gerhard, Sarah Lee Guthrie, and Johnny Irion, among others. For more information, visit the Acoustic Guitar International Meeting online.

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:

August 25th, 2009 marks an exciting day for the Woody Guthrie fans and the Archives. On that date, Rounder Records is set to release My Dusty Road, a four-disc set of original Guthrie recordings, including six previously unreleased tracks. This set includes collaborative tracks by Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, and Sonny Terry. Possibly more exciting than the tracks themselves, is their story. 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. Rounder Records has worked to transfer these fresh, clear-sounding metals, which will be released in an innovative boxed-set package design with a 64-page full color book containing an introduction by Nora Guthrie, historical and technical notes by Ed Cray and Bill Nowlin, and previously unpublished photographs, artwork, and original lyrics from the Woody Guthrie Archives.

Folk America, a notable three part documentary series produced by the BBC UK in January 2009, included many never-before-released photographs and rare moving image footage of Woody Guthrie from, all from the Archives. Volume 2 of this series is entitled "This Land Is Your Land," and includes interviews with Nora Guthrie, footage shot in the Archives, and unique archival documents. Visit the Folk America website for more information about this in-depth documentary series.

Dutch periodical New Folk Sounds published a feature article on Guthrie and his Dust Bowl Ballads albums . The Archives worked with author Rene van Peer to provide a scan of Guthrie's own copy of this 1940 Victor Records release for inclusion in his article, which can be downloaded, in Dutch, from our website.

The Woody Guthrie Archives has worked with several students or groups of students on their National History Day projects, contributing photographs, archival material, and other information about Guthrie, and conducting filmed interviews in the Archives and with Nora Guthrie, all in an effort to assist these students in learning how to conduct archival research, and helping to ensure that the life and legacy of Woody Guthrie are perpetuates by a new, bright generation of students. Best of luck to all!

Visitors and Researchers at the Archives:

	After working with the Klezmatics on Wonder Wheel and Happy Joyous Hanukkah, two albums of previously unreleased Guthrie lyrics, Susan McKeown has found herself back in the Archives, continuing her research into Guthrie.
	Bucky Halker, musician, historian, and Woody Guthrie Foundation board member, spent one week conducting research at the Archives in preparation for an upcoming work focusing on Guthrie and his notion of labor and unions.
Lila Downs, a Mexican singer whose music and performance is featured in the award-winning film Freida, visited the Archives with musician Paul Cohen, and Curator Jorge Arévalo Mateus gave them a special tour.

Special Events:

Photo taken by Timothy A. Clary

The Archives staff is honored to have been invited to attend the celebration of Pete Seeger's 90th birthday at Madison Square Garden on May 3rd, 2009. Thank you to Clearwater for a fantastic show featuring artists who have truly had an influence on folk music, including Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Joan Baez, Richie Havens, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Tom Paxton, Guy Davis, Taj Mahal, Dave Matthews and many, many others. A group performance of Guthrie's This Land is Your Land had the whole house of 20,000 people at Madison Square Garden on their feet.

Accessions:

Special thanks go out to Natalie Leventhal, wife of the late Harold Leventhal, for her recent donation of nine bronzed busts, which she created in the 1970s and which depict artists with whom Harold worked, including Judy Collins, Bob Dylan, Lead Belly, Pete Seeger, and others. These busts have been on display in the offices of the Woody Guthrie Foundation for many years, and the Archives are pleased to include them in the Collection, where they will be available to researchers and visitors for years to come! (Accession # 2009 - 25)

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 online.