Title
WPA field recordings in Kenansville and Glades County (March-July 1940 recording expedition)
Subject
Fieldwork
New Deal, 1933-1939
Interviews
Public service employment
Folklorists
Public welfare
United States. Work Projects Administration
African Americans
Fiddle music
Old time music
Performing arts
Singing
Music performance
Seminole Indians
Native Americans
Religious music
Spirituals (Songs)
Fiddlers
Banjoists
Guitarist
Singers
Description
One reel to reel. These recordings were created by FWP's folklore section between March and July 1940. A total of twenty-two 12-inch acetate records during that period. For more detailed information on the recordings, see S 1579, box 3, for copies of the original LOC indexes. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) – after 1939, the Works Projects Administration – was a work-relief program created in 1935 by the Roosevelt Administration that employed over 8.5 million people between 1935 and 1943. One of its programs was the Federal Writers Project (FWP), which included the Folklore Section. This section conducted fieldwork, recording songs, traditions, and stories across the nation. Originally created to gather material for the American Guide Series, but later emphasis was placed upon fieldwork for preservation of folk traditions for future use. In Florida, the FWP was based out of Jacksonville, and directed by historian Carita Doggett Corse. Folklorist Stetson Kennedy directed the Florida Folklife section. Seven recording expeditions were conducted in Florida. Two were conducted between 1935 and 1937, before the creation of the Florida Folklore Section: one by Alan Lomax and Zora Neale Hurston, and the other by John and Ruby Lomax. After 1939, five more were conducted by Florida’s FWP staff: Kennedy, Hurston, Robert Cook, Alton Morris, Corse, Robert Cornwell, John Filareton, and Herbert Halpert (of the Joint Committee on Folk Art’s Southern Recording Expedition.) Recording equipment was loaned to Florida’s WPA program by the Library of Congress’ Archive of the American Folk Song (later the American Folk Center). The field recordings were made on acetate disks, usually recorded at 78 rpm (although occasionally at 33 rpm). Because these disks were shipped from Washington DC to Florida, then to the recording site, and then back to Washington, these disks often were not of the highest sonic quality. Several had surface scratches and many had various recording speeds. In 1986, the FFP staff made copies of many of these recordings onto reel to reels for inclusion to the Florida Folklife Archive. The originals are still housed with the Library of Congress.
Source
State Archives of Florida, Series S1576
Contributor
United States. Work Projects Administration.
United States. Works Progress Administration
United States. Works Progress Administration. Federal Writers Project
Federal Writers Project of the Work Projects Administration for the State of Florida
United States. Federal Emergency Relief Administration.
Identifier
a_s1576_t86-254
Title of Work
Alligator song (Morgan Smith, John Barfield, Sam Hutts, Richard Osceola, Naha Tiger)
Song about departure of Seminole Indians
Steal Partner (Richard Osceola, Naha Tiger, John Josh, Morgan Smith)
A Lament (Ella McMullen)
Christmas Song (Ella McMullen)
Virginia Reel (Ella McMullen)
On the Old Kissimmee Prairie (Bob Hall, Walter Van Bass, Ned Hugh Bass, J.C. King)
Share em (Bob Hall, Walter Van Bass, Ned Hugh Bass, J.C. King)
Hurriace (James Brown, Walter Van Bass, Ned Hugh Bass)
Pastime Annie (Bob Hall, Walter Van Bass, Ned Hugh Bass, J.C. King)
Way Upon the Sierra Peaks (Walter Van Bass & Ned Hugh Bass)
Leading Me On (James Brown & Rufus Bland)
Days a Breaking (James Brown & Rufus Bland)
John the Revelator (James Brown & Rufus Bland)
Uncle Bud (James Brown & Rufus Bland)
I am In His Care (James Brown & Rufus Bland)
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