Catalog Record:
While Sam Eskin's interests were broad in scope, his multi-format collection of manuscripts, published materials, sound recordings, and still images concentrates and builds upon his early interests in American folk music.
The collection centers around field recordings Eskin made in the
United States from 1938 to 1966. Not only are these recordings the source
material for a number of his original song notations and transcriptions,
certain performers' names reappear in his correspondence, business records,
notes, and photographs. Another topical connection between the manuscript and
audio portions of the collection is bawdy humor. From the beginning, Eskin
marked risque field recordings with a Greek delta symbol, and created a
The manuscript portion of Sam Eskin Collection contains original and printed material, broken into eight main categories: 1) administrative records related to the transfer and acquisition of the collection; 2) clippings/articles related to folk music; 3) Eskin's correspondence with other enthusiasts, performers, and scholars; 4) Eskin's notes and drafts for lectures, presentations, and radio interviews; 5) mailings and advertisements from societies and studios, including festival programs and newsletters; 6) ideas, notes, quotations, and song lists jotted or typed onto slips of paper; 7) a collection of bawdy limericks; and 8) a comprehensive collection of song notations and transcriptions. The last category includes the majority of the manuscript items. Many of these notations were taken directly from original disc and reel-to-reel field recordings and remain in subdivided categories organized by Eskin. It should also be noted that, while a handful of these manuscript items are related to traditional Mexican music, the majority of these manuscripts are directly related to folk music in the United States.
Prominent individuals Eskin corresponded with include: Jorge Luis Arriola, Sidney Robertson Cowell, Arthur Kyle Davis, E.L. Doctorow, J.D. Elder, Alta and Austin Fife, Jim Geary, Bess Lomax Hawes, Joseph Hickerson, Joe Helmer, George List, Seymour B. Liebman, Alan Lomax, Ben Gray Lumpkin, Dorothy Mehrton, Archie Leroy Musick, Tom Paxton, Pete Seeger, Irwin Silber, and Margaret Valiant.
The audio portion of this collection consists of disc and reel-to-reel field recordings, duplicates, and commercial recordings. A complete list of commercial recordings transferred to the Motion Picture, Broadcast, and Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress is available in the Folklife Reading Room. Even more than the manuscript series, these sound recordings reflect Eskin's diverse musical interests, his exploration into different genres, and his experimentation with field recording techniques. Although Eskin did not keep formal records of field recording sessions, information regarding songs, locations, and performers are noted on disc sleeves, reel-to-reel boxes, and select items located in the manuscript portion of the collection. While a few of the American performers in these recordings were prominent artists at the time, Eskin made a number of recordings with artists who did not achieve commercial recognition until much later in their careers. Some of Eskin's recordings are performed by unidentified artists.
Eskin's first field recordings were made on discs, which he used from 1940 to 1949. During this time, his many cross-country trips from New York to California were spent recording American folk music. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Eskin made audio copies of these field recordings on 16-inch preservation discs. Concerned over the viability of magnetic tape, he also made 16-inch discs of reel-to-reel field recordings made from the early 1950s, and transferred a small selection of commercial jazz and blues songs, commercial releases of international music, radio broadcasts, and miscellaneous recordings onto the 16-inch disc format. The 12-inch discs included in this collection appear to be given to Eskin by an unidentified collector.
Eskin switched to reel-to-reel tape in 1949. When it was clear that magnetic tape had become a recording standard, Eskin migrated his disc recordings onto tape, and began duplicating of his own tapes, other collectors' recordings, and commercial songs or albums. While he continued making field recordings in the United States, beginning in 1950 Eskin collected music during his more frequent travels abroad. His visits to Mexico, Israel, Spain, and the British Isles yielded a respectable cache of field recordings, which are supplemented by recordings he made in the Middle East, the Caribbean, and East Asia. Also included in AFC 1999/004 are two sets of commercial recordings containing songs performed by Eskin: Sam Eskin Songs and Ballads (four 10-inch discs, 2 sets) and Vistas of Israel (four 16-inch discs).
In 1952, Eskin duplicated thirty-one of his reel-to-reel tape field recordings for the Archive of Folk Song (AFS 10,501-10,506). Eskin also collaborated on a second duplication project to make copies of his earliest disc field recordings for the Archive of Folk Song in 1960 (AFS 11,712-11,719). Additional original recordings used in these duplication projects are included in this collection.
The graphic images in this collection consist of 55 black-and-white prints of various sizes, one color print, two negatives, and a handful of unused postcards depicting views of instruments and instumentalists. Two thirds of the photographic subjects have been identified as field recording performers.
The remaining subjects, while unidentified, are also assumed to be performers. The database created for this collection contains listings and locations for the graphic images and musical transcriptions and notations, as well as searchable title, performer, and descriptive fields pertaining to Eskin's instantaneous discs, reel-to-reel tapes, and original field recordings. This database is available in the Folklife Reading Room.
Sam Eskin was a self-made man who tried his hand at a variety of professions and eventually found an outlet for his artistic expression in folk music. Born in Washington, D.C. on July 5, 1898, Eskin grew up in Baltimore but left home at a young age to explore the world. Consequently, his formal education ended with the eighth grade. Over the course of the next twenty-five years, Eskin's experiences as a taxi driver, clerk, magazine reporter, logger, merchant seaman, cattle hand, cannery worker, and traveling United Parcel Service (UPS) consultant exposed him to a wide variety of songs, including work songs, sea shanties, and American versions of traditional ballads. In 1938, he began seriously collecting and performing folk music. With the job security and benefits accrued after a fifteen-year stint with UPS, by 1945, Eskin was free to pursue his interests in the collection and performance of folk music.
During the period between 1938 and 1945, Eskin gathered material with a growing awareness of folksong scholarship, reading widely on the subject to familiarize himself with the significance of folksongs as cultural and social documentation, and as an aesthetic means of expression for the people who sang them. As a self-taught folklorist, Eskin's primary interests were the collection, preservation, and evaluation of American folksongs, indigenous music, dance music, primitive drumming, oral storytelling, and oral histories. Eskin's papers and correspondence document an awareness of folk music's connection with folklore and musicology, which is reflected in the sound recordings he collected in the field.
Eskin's interest in recording folk music came at a period of technological transition, and his early and successful investments in UPS stock provided him with the financial freedom to experiment with newly emerging recording formats. Eskin embraced new technologies and upgraded his disc and reel-to-reel tape recorders, amplifiers, and speakers on a regular basis. At his permanent home in Woodstock, New York, he was infamous for showing new friends and visitors the eight foot long wooden optimal base speaker he had built. The evolution of sound recording techniques in America from the 1930s to the 1960s is reflected in Eskin's own moves from acetate discs to wire recordings to reel-to-reel magnetic tape.
From 1945 to 1953, Eskin embarked on several cross-country trips through the United States and Mexico, traveling from state to state in a silver trailer from which he made field recordings, notations, and transcriptions. By the mid 1950s, Eskin began a series of trips abroad, visiting Jamaica, Cuba, England, Scotland, Spain, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Morocco, Hong Kong, the Philippines, India, and Thailand, while often recording and collecting samples of the local music and lore he encountered. With his casual demeanor and energetic passion for music, Eskin easily made new acquaintances and maintained correspondence with a number of musicians he met in his travels.
Eskin also shared his thoughts on folk music through correspondence and visits with other folklorists in the field, including renowned collectors and performers Pete Seeger and Sydney Robertson Cowell. Professionally, Eskin lectured at various universities, workshops, and folk festivals, and released two commercial albums,
Bibliography:
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.
Listening and viewing access is unrestricted. Listening copies of the
recordings are available at the American Folklife Center's Folklife Reading
Room, Library of Congress. Restrictions may apply concerning the use,
duplication, or publication of items in this collection. Consult a reference
librarian in the Folklife Reading Room for specific information regarding this
collection. See
In 1970, Sam Eskin donated all of the field and commercial recordings he made between 1940 and 1969 to the folklore department of the Cooperstown Graduate Program (CGP) in Cooperstown, New York. Upon the collector's death in 1974, all personal manuscripts related to the collection of folk music were presented to CGP by his sons. The collection remained there until the discontinuation of the CPG folklore department in 1979. For the next twenty years, Sam Eskin Collection resided at the New York State Historical Association's (NYSHA) archives until 1999. The materials were transferred to the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress in 1999.
Graduate students Simon Bronner and Lee Livney were the first to process this collection at Cooperstown Graduate Program. Bronner organized and created a track list and outlined a processing procedure for all of Eskin's reel-to-reel tapes, while Livney arranged and cataloged manuscripts in the collection. When the collection was transferred to the New York State Historical Association, it underwent another partial re-organization. Once at the American Folklife Center, Nora Yeh supervised the final processing of Sam Eskin Collection. In the summer of 2000, Sondra Smolek reorganized, rehoused, and created the database for the manuscript portion of the collection. Patricia Baughman processed the documentation on the reel-to-reel tape collection in the fall of 2000. In the summer of 2001, T. Chris Aplin reviewed the sound recordings, completed documentation on the reel collection, and processed the acetate disk collection. In the fall of 2001, Judy Ng rehoused the sound recordings, updated the collection's finding aid, and updated the collection database.
Sam Eskin Collection, 1939-1969 (AFC 1999/004), Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Sam Eskin personally duplicated select original field recordings from his collection for the Library of Congress in 1952 and 1960. The first duplication project was accessioned by the Archive of Folk Culture in June 1952 (AFS 10,501-10,506 or LWO 1923), and consists of 6 10-inch preservation reel-to-reel tape recordings from 31 of Eskin's reel-to-reel tapes. The second duplication project was accessioned by the Archive of Folk Culture in June 1960 (AFS 11,712-11,719 or LWO 2995), and consists of 8 10-inch preservation reel-to-reel tape recordings from 142 of Eskin's acetate discs.
Since some of the original tapes and almost all of the original discs used for both duplication projects can be found in Sam Eskin Collection (AFC 1999/004), cross-references to both sets of duplicated recordings and all information pertaining to original recordings have been incorporated into the collection database (See zip disk in Folder 1, Box 1).
In addition to the materials in this collection, the Library holds
eight commercial recordings with ties to Eskin appearing as a performer,
contributor, or producer. Refer to the Library of Congress' Online Public
Access Catalog (
Some materials related to recordings Eskin made for the Folkways Record label, including clippings, correspondence, record covers, notes, and magazine articles, are held at the Ralph Rinzler Archives at the Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
Includes collection guide, correspondence, publications, song transcriptions and notations, notes, and ephemera.
Correspondence with: Sally Adams; Dwight Akers; Charles B. Barker; Yvonne Belmont (Gregory); Julie Bidou; Homer Brown; Terrence Burrow; Ken Carter; Norman Cohen; Al Cox; and Marian Curtis
Correspondence with: R. Davidson, Arthur Drayton; Jacob Elder; Frank Fletcher; Folkworld Inc. (Beth Bryant); Laurie Forti; Livingston Gearhart; Clifford Gessler; Sylvia Woodall Gibson; Edmund Gilligan; Arthur [Harp]; Mrs. James H. Haight; Frances Hannett; Bess Lomax Hawes; Joseph Hickerson; and Frank Hoffman
Correspondence with: Indiana University (George List); Instituto Indigenista Nacional (Jorge Luis Arriola); Norma Keleti; Mr. D. Joshlin; Edgar C. Leaycraft; George Lennon; Liberty Mutual; Seymour B. Liebman; Alan Lomax; and Ben Gray Lumpkin
Correspondence with: Mrs. Guy Manley; Mrs. John T. Manning; [?] Manning; Archie Musick; New American Library (E.L. Doctorow); Tom Paxton; Joe Nicholas; Royal McBee Corp.; Clem Richardson; Nathan Resnick; Mrs. Peter R. [Paris]; Joseph Opperman; Dan O'Meara; Raymond Olitt; William Oliver
Correspondence with: Salisbury State College (Grace S. Chaires); Pete Seeger; C.A. Southwick Jr.; O. Strong; Lannis Sutton; [Mrs. I. Taylor]; Tiger Thompson; Arnold Tubman; United States National Student Association; Virginia Folklore Society (Arthur Kyle Davis Jr.); [A. Weaver]; WHAT-FM (Richard Harvey); Helen Wolfert; and Parker Woods
Correspondence with: Barry; Bob; Carmelia; Des; Edith; Joe; Margaret; Paul; Ruth; Sara; and [Stan]
Six letters with illegible signatures
1) Release forms signed by the following performers
(additional information written on the back of some slips): Luvicie Beasley;
Ruth Ellen Becker; Mrs. F.A. Cogswell; Dorothy Cravath; Jaime de Angulo; Myrtle
G. Street Downing; Lloyd Fowler; Francis Frost; Emma Gibson; Sara Hinton;
Willie [Holt]; Mary Ellen Miller; Moon Mulligan; Vernon Nash; Desmond S.
Powell; Isabel Seabrook; Kathleen Anna Seabrook; Lannis Sutton; Mrs. Peggie
Tharp; and Fred A. Uncklus
2) Royalty receipts for the album
Three form letters, dated 1963 and 1964
Three form letters, dated 1957, 1962, and 1963; two conference programs; member rules; and one newsletter dated 1963
Correspondence that discusses Eskin's role in the formation of the society
Contains the following:
Listings, programs, flyers, and invitations from: Library of Congress Archive of Folk Song
Listings, programs, flyers, and invitations from:
Listings, programs, flyers, and invitations from:
Eskin's performing requirements (typed form letter, 1 p.) and pre-performance voice exercises (handwritten notations, 4 pp.)
Five lists of American folksongs: List 1 (typed; indicates major and minor keys, 3 pp.); List 2 (typed, 1 p.); List 3 (typed, 2 pp.); List 4 (typed, 4 pp.); and List 5 (handwritten, 1 p.)
Six lists of American folksongs: List 1 (handwritten, 1 p.); List 2 (typed, 2 pp.); List 3 (typed, 2 pp.); List 4 (typed, indicates major and minor keys, 2 pp.); List 5 (typed, 1 p.); List 6 (typed, 1 p.). Genres include: American; ballad; British ballads (tragic; other); British songs (humor; other); carousing; children; history; holler; humorous; Irish; lawbreakers; lively; loggers; love; miners; moral; Negro secular work songs; non-folk; nostalgia; outlaws; pioneer/cowboy; shanty; short sentimental; spiritual; trouble; White spirituals; and work songs
Eleven lists of American folksongs: List 1 (typed, 2 cards); List 2 (typed, 6 cards); List 3 (typed; 4 cards); List 4 (typed; 1 card); List 5 (typed; 10 cards); List 6 (typed; 2 cards); List 7 (handwritten; 20 cards); List 8 (2 cards); List 9 (typed; 1 card); List 10 (handwritten; 12 leaves); and List 11 (handwritten; 5 pp.)
Eight lists of American folksongs: List 1 (3 copies, typed, indicates major and minor keys, 1 p.); List 2 (typed, indicates major and minor keys, 1 leaf); List 3 (handwritten, 1 card); List 4 (typed, 1 leaf); List 5 (typed, 1 leaf); List 6 (typed, indicates full running times, 1 leaf); List 7 (typed, 1 leaf); and List 8 (typed, 1 leaf)
Includes correspondence with: Cy Grant; E.L. Doctorow; Nathan Resnick, and Irwin Silber. Also includes: header notes and background information on fourteen songs (typed, 14 pp.); notes on folk music taken from other published sources (typed, 16 pp.); quotations and notes defining folk music (typed and handwritten, 35 leaves)
Includes quotations and notes on the following folk music topics: evolution (typed and handwritten, 14 leaves); interpretation (typed and handwritten, 3 leaves); miscellaneous (typed and handwritten, 21 leaves); and vocabulary (typed and handwritten, 10 leaves). Also includes a list of bibliographic resources (typed, 2 pp.)
Includes a title index of American folksongs, 87 songs. Also includes song notations and transcriptions from field interviews and recordings (typed and handwritten, 34 songs)
14 songs; includes a title index of American folksongs (1 draft and 2 final copies, typed, 94 songs), and a genre index to American folksongs
21 songs
22 songs
15 songs
19 songs
Notations and/or transcriptions of songs; also includes notes on individual songs and/or performers (typed and handwritten, 11 songs)
"As I Walked..." to "Little Old..."; lyrics to cowboy songs (typed, 15 songs)
"My Love..." to "Zebra..."; lyrics to cowboy songs (typed, 13 songs)
Notations of songs in the following Flamenco styles: Bulerias, Farruca, Granadinas, Sevillanos, Soleares, and Zambra (handwritten, 22 songs)
"Andalusian Music" (essay, typed, 3 pp.); "Randolph Victor" (essay, typed, 10 pp.); "Cante Flamenco" (essay, typed, 23 pp.); notes on Andalusian music (handwritten, 2 leaves); "Ramon Montoya" (essay, typed, 3 pp.); and "The Rasgueado" (essay, typed, 3 pp.)
"A soldier..." to "Bully-O-Rio" (16 songs)
"Canadian..." to "Down in the..." (15 songs)
"Engineer's..." to "Humoresque" (14 songs)
"I Don't..." to "Lydia..." (15 songs)
"Mademoiselle..." to "Now My..." (14 songs)
"Of all the..." to "Prettiest..." (15 songs)
Song Genre: Humor (7 of 8) Q-S (20 songs)
"Tailor's..." to "Winnipeg..." (19 songs)
"Canada I.O." to "Jimmy Whalen"; includes Eskin's title index to loggers' songs. Also includes notations and/or transcriptions to loggers' songs (typed and handwritten, 8 songs)
"Lass of..." to "Shanty-man's Life"; includes notations and/or transcriptions of loggers' songs (typed and handwritten, 13 songs)
"Alabama" to "Boston Come..."; also includes Eskin's title index to shanty songs (10 songs;)
"Calton Weaver" to "Dreadnought" (9 songs)
"Firedown Below" to "Joshua..." (11 songs)
"Leave Her..." to "Roving" (8 songs)
"Sailor Loves" to "Sur la route..." (10 songs)
"There's a fire..." to "Whiskey..." (6 songs)
Transcribed sea songs from Lydia Parrish's
16 anti-rent songs
3 lists, 7 American folksongs
7 American folksongs
9 American folksongs
7 American folksongs
1 list, 12 American folksongs
4 American folksongs
8 American folksongs
10 songs
7 songs
8 songs
letter of correspondence; 3 songs
10 American folksongs
12 American folksongs
9 American folksongs
3 letters of correspondence; 8 American folksongs
7 American folksongs
8 American folksongs
8 American folksongs
17 American folksongs in numerical order
Notebook:
Notebook:
12 American folksongs
Letter of correspondence; 3 songs
"Abdul..." to "All..." (12 songs)
"Amsterdam" to "As I Walked Out..." (13 songs)
"As I Walked Over..." to "Away..." (7 songs)
"Bad..." to "Barbara..." (18 songs)
"Barley..." to "Better..." (12 songs)
"Biddy..." to "Bless..." (15 songs)
"Blind..." to "Boloed" (16 songs)
"Boney" to "Bowling..." (11 songs)
"Boys..." to "Brose..." (10 songs)
"Brown..." to "Buttermilk..." (10 songs)
"C.C. ..." to "Charly..." (14 songs)
"Charming..." to "Climbing..." (14 songs)
"Coal..." to "Come..." (15 songs)
"Commanche" to "Crazy..." (14 songs)
"Croodin'..." to "Cutty..." (10 songs)
"Dabbling..." to "Dearest..." (10 songs)
"Death..." to "Die..." (13 songs)
"Diggers..." to "Don't..." (12 songs)
"Down..." to "Dying..." (14 songs)
"Earl..." to "Evolution" (15 songs)
"Fair..." to "Farmer's..." (11 songs)
"Farther..." to "Footsteps" (12 songs)
"Fortune..." to "Fuller..." (11 songs)
"Gae..." to "Get..." (11 songs)
"Gipsy..." to "God..." (13 songs)
"Goin..." to "Grasshopper" (11 songs)
"Great..." to "Gypsy..." (13 songs)
"Had..." to "Hearts..." (11 songs)
"Heave..." to "Henry..." (5 songs)
"Here..." to "Holy..." (9 songs)
"Home..." to "Hush..." (15 songs)
"I Am..." to "I Know..." (10 songs)
"I Loathe..." to "I Was..." (12 songs)
"I Wish..." to "In Good..." (14 songs)
"In My..." to "In The..." (9 songs)
"Indian's..." to "I've..." (9 songs)
"Jack..." to "Janet..." (7 songs)
"Jaybird..." to "Jody" (11 songs)
"Joe..." to "John Heilaman" (8 songs)
"John Henry" to "Johnny..." (6 songs)
"John's..." to "Jumbo" (5 songs)
"Kansas..." to "Kenny..." (12 songs)
"Kentucky..." to "Kirtle..." (10 songs)
"Kisses..." to "Koska..." (5 songs)
"Ladies..." to "Lavender's..." (12 songs)
"Learn..." to "Li'l..." (12 songs)
"Lincolnshire" to "Little Ooma" (14 songs)
"Little Rosewood..." to "Lord..." (12 songs)
"Lorinia" to "Lyndon's..." (9 songs)
"Mai..." to "Mary..." (12 songs)
"Mattie..." to "Meidel..." (8 songs)
"Mermaid..." to "Money..." (14 songs)
"Moonlight" to "Mr." (9 songs)
"Mudderless..." to "My Lodging" (7 songs)
"My Love..." to "My Sweetheart's..." (9 songs)
"Naomi..." to "Night..." (6 songs)
"Nine..." to "Now..." (12 songs)
"O Bury Me..." to "Oh Fathers..." (13 songs)
"Oh Mary..." to "Old Ewe..." (13 songs)
"Old Grey..." to "Old Stormy..." (10 songs)
"Ole Shady" to "Ox-Driving..." (11 songs)
"Paddy..." to "Peter Gray" (10 songs)
"Picnic..." to "Poor Old Man" (10 songs)
"Poor Paddy..." to "Pudding" (10 songs)
"Quart Bottle" (1 song)
"Raggle..." to "Renfro..." (13 songs)
"Ridge..." to "Rosie..." (13 songs)
"Rosy McGee" to "Rye Whisky" (9 songs)
"Safe..." to "Seeds..." (11 songs)
"September Song" to "Shoot..." (15 songs)
"Shortenin..." to "Sir Robert..." (11 songs)
"Sir Simon..." to "Somebody" (15 songs)
"Son..." to "Spanish..." (10 songs)
"Spotted..." to "Squire..." (4 songs)
"St. James..." to "Storms..." (12 songs)
"Strawberry..." to "Swonanoa..." (11 songs)
"Tall..." to "This Old..." (13 songs)
"This Train" to "Titanic" (10 songs)
"To Work..." to "Tune..." (14 songs)
"Turkish..." to "Two..." (14 songs)
"Uncle..." to "Utah..." (5 songs)
"Venezuela" to "Voyageur's..." (6 songs)
"Wabash..." to "We..." (14 songs)
"Weaver..." to "Whaler's..." (10 songs)
"What's..." to "When..." (11 songs)
"Where..." to "Who..." (12 songs)
"Whoopee..." to "Wreck..." (15 songs)
"Yankee..." to "You..." (9 songs)
"Young Albun" to "Young Man..." (7 songs)
"Zeb..." to "Zek'l..." (2 songs)
"A small..." to "My mammy tol' me..." (17 songs)
"No mo' moanin'..." to "Two things I" (16 songs)
"Up rode the..." to "You've got to..." (15 songs)
Index to American folksongs (not complete, master photocopy, handwritten, 3 pp.)
Title index to songs created by the American Folklife Center; lists song titles and their corresponding folder and original sheet number
5 songs
10 songs
6 songs
8 songs
1 song
2 songs
7 songs
7 songs
6 songs
2 songs
2 songs
9 songs
8 songs
2 songs
6 songs
4 songs
6 songs
10 songs
5 songs
1 song
11 songs
2 songs
Includes master photocopy transcriptions of American folksongs from the
Notations and transcriptions of American folksongs recorded in a bound music book belonging to Sam Eskin (7 3⁄4" by 6 3⁄4", Sit Lux Music Book No. 1815, handwritten, 41 songs)
Notations and transcriptions of American folksongs and Jewish songs recorded in a bound music book belonging to Sam Eskin (7 1⁄4" by 4 3⁄4", Schirmer's Manuscript Music Book No. 1, handwritten, 19 songs; pages 5-10 have been cut out)
Notations and transcriptions of American folksongs recorded in a bound music book belonging to Sam Eskin (9" by 7 3⁄4", Presser's Music Writing Books, handwritten, 23 songs; many of the songs have been crossed out)
Notations and transcriptions of American and Spanish (Flamenco) folksongs recorded in a spiral bound music book belonging to Sam Eskin (9 1⁄4" by 11 3⁄4", Coles' Wire Bound Music Blank Book, handwritten, 24 songs)
Notations and transcriptions of American folksongs recorded in a bound music book belonging to Sam Eskin (9 1⁄2" by 8", Warner's Harmony Student's Blank Music Book, handwritten, 35 songs)
"A Wonderful Dream" written by Doctor Watts (4" by 6 1⁄4", handwritten, 12 pp.; binding and cover are gone)
A poem or song written by anonymous author (8" by 6 1⁄2", handwritten, 52 pp.; cover is gone, binding is loose, adhesive tape on the front page)
A poem or song titled "Wishing You A Very Good 1941" written by [Martha from Connie] (7" by 10", typed, 6 pp.; stapled binding)
Notations and transcriptions of Flamenco songs recorded in a bound blank book belonging to Sam Eskin (5" by 8", handwritten, 35 songs; hardback, tan canvas cover). Song genres include: Bulerias (4 variations); Farruca (3 variations); Granadinas (6 variations); Sevillanas (12 variations); Soleares (15 variations); Zambra (1 variation)
Notations and transcriptions of American folksongs recorded in a bound blank book belonging to Sam Eskin (5 1⁄4" by 6 1⁄2", handwritten, 23 songs; hardback, brown canvas cover, water damage from top to bottom of 1/3 of the book)
Index
Index
"A base drummer..." to "But the Bishop was..."; Bawdy limerick clippings; also includes typed and handwritten limericks (60 limericks)
"From Brooklyn..." to "There was a young maid..."; Bawdy limerick clippings; also includes typed and handwritten limericks (40 limericks)
"There was a young maiden..." to "With..."; Bawdy limerick clippings; also includes typed and handwritten limericks (76 limericks)
Quotations recorded in a bound blank book belonging to Sam Eskin (5" by 7", handwritten, 25 pp. filled; hardback, red cover)
Names of 30 performers and informants gathered by Eskin; additional information can be found on the back of some slips (handwritten, 30 leaves)
Contact information for performers and informants gathered by Eskin; (handwritten, 19 leaves)
Song fragments, poems, and quotations gathered by Eskin (handwritten, 26 leaves)
Limerick and rhyming fragments gathered by Eskin (handwritten, 5 leaves)
Includes oeuvre of folklorist Alberto Hemsi (typed, 1 p.) and notes (handwritten, 2 leaves)
Includes correspondence defining "Creole" (typed, 2 pp.) and Andalusian music (typed, 2 pp.). Also includes definitions for the following terms: shanties, Calypso, Calypso instruments, Chinese instruments, and ethnomusicology (handwritten, 5 leaves)
Includes notes on folksong and folk music (handwritten, 4 leaves)
Includes a bibliography of folksong resources (typed and handwritten, 1 p.); also includes published clippings and personal references to folksong resources (typed and handwritten, 20 leaves)
Eskin's notes for a radio program interview, "F.S.L." (handwritten, 8 pp.); also includes related notes (handwritten, 3 leaves), and a transcript of a program interview given for KYIM (typed, 1 p., [December 1948 February 1949, Yuma, AZ])
Includes a drawing of a cotton picker's hand position (hand drawn, 1 p.); fingerings and guitar hand positions (handwritten, 4 pp.); diagram depicting how to make a wooden whistle from a twig (master photocopy, 1 p.); guitar fret diagrams (handwritten, 3 pp.); and a clipping of an English concertina keyboard (published, 1 p.)
Includes the following articles: "Australia" (published, 2 pp.); "Revolutionary Movements in Canada" (typed, 2 pp.); and "A Short History of New York State" (typed, 1 p.)
Includes the following: a photograph clipping of an Easter egg cracking tradition; notes on Easter tradition (typed, 1 leaf); notes and questions concerning the tradition (handwritten, 2 leaves); and excerpts from The Easter Book by Francis Weiser (handwritten, 2 pp.)
Excerpts from
Drafted by Eskin and intended to be used as a publicity release; provides background history, experiences, philosophy, and growing involvement with folk music (handwritten, 3 pp.)
Includes the following:
Draft of Eskin's lecture on American folk music, "Lore of the Folk, From the Folk, To All the Folk" written for the Ulster County Folklore Society (1 original copy, 3 onion skin copies, typed, 2 pp.)
Includes the following: introduction notes for a lecture (typed, 1 leaf); lecture "#1," which introduces American folksongs, leaves space for them to be played, and ends with an interpretive tie-in (typed, 9 pp.); lyrics to "Salt Horse" (typed, 1 leaf); and an untitled lecture that follows the same format as "#1," using different material (typed, 6 pp.)
Includes the following: an untitled lecture that introduces American folksongs, leaves space for them to be played, and ends with an interpretive tie-in (typed, 5 pp.); an untitled lecture that follows the same format using reel-to-reel tapes (typed, 8 pp.); an untitled radio show talk with a play list of American folksongs (typed, 4 pp.); draft of an untitled lecture on American folksongs (handwritten, 3 pp.); another draft of an untitled lecture with notes on potential folksongs (handwritten, 4 pp.); and a draft written for a talk given on the KFDM radio station [Beaumont, TX] (typed, 3 pp.)
Includes: a syllabus for an English Literature class, Folksongs and Narrative Poems (typed, 2 pp.); song lists marked UCLA (handwritten, 2 cards, November 3, 1948); and a song list for a memorial program (handwritten, 1 leaf, Woodstock, N.Y. May 28, 1949)
Clippings on: hoop-snakes (1 p.); and animal kingdom (1 p.)
Clippings on: ceilidh folk celebration (1 p.) and related term hootenanny (1 p.)
"Games Little People Play" (2 pp.)
Clippings on: constructing a dulcimer (3 pp.)
Includes the following articles: "Sun Valley Ketchum Folk Festival" (1 p.); "Festival of Music" (International Folkmusic Council, 2 pp.); "1st Annual Newport Folk Festival" (1 p.); and "5th Annual Miramichi Folksong Festival" (3 pp.)
Articles and clippings on the following performers: Joan Baez, Napoleon Coste, Richard Dyer-Bennet, Woody Guthrie, Sam "Lightnin" Hopkins, Mance Lipscomb, John Jacob Niles, Harry Partch, Jeannie Robertson, and Jean Thomas
Includes the following articles: "Songs for Our Time" (20 pp.); "Listen to the Folksingers" (February 1963, 6 pp.); and "Folk Frenzy" (July 1960, 1
Clippings on: the album
Clippings on: Bahamas, Colonial Williamsburg, (French) Canada, Israel, Mallorca, New Orleans, Rome, South Africa, and Trinidad
Includes the following article: "I Drove Mules on the C. and O. Canal" (1 p.); and an untitled essay published in
Includes the following articles: "Problems of Collecting Oral Literature" (6 pp.); "Comeback of Goldilocks et al." (4 pp.); and "Ghost on the High Tor" (1 pp.)
Clippings on the following collectors: Richard Dorson, Alan Dundes, Sam Eskin, Douglas Kennedy, and Alan Lomax
Clippings on the Houston Folklore Group and Houston folk musicians: "Down Beat" (1 p.); and "Sound of Houston" (2 pp.)
Clippings on: bagpipes (highland), bluegrass, blues, carols, convivial songs, Creole slave songs, freedom songs, Indian (India) traditional songs, Israeli traditional folk music, Jewish music, and rock and roll
Includes the following articles: "The She in Ships" (1 p.);
and "Life on the
Clippings on American folksongs including song lyrics and/or scores (13 songs)
Includes the following articles: "Nuestra Musica" (written in Spanish, five-day article series, 5 pp.); and "Margen" (3 pp.)
Includes the following articles: "A Glossary of Fight Terms for TV Fans" (1 p.); "Gullah Dialect and Humanities" (1 p.); and a clipping on corrido narration (2 pp.)
Includes articles with references to the following: Sam Eskin, performers (Nigerian Trinidad Artists and Pete Seeger), organization of the Society, organizing a hootenanny festival, and individuals belonging to the Woodstock folk music coterie
Includes the following articles: "Graffiti" (1 p.); "60 Ft. Serpent, Sighted Off Nantucket, Is Cross-eyed" (1 p.); and "Red Net Grows, Rightists Hear" (1 p.)
Includes the following articles: "Marcus Daly Enters Heaven" (6 pp.); and "Leadbelly in New York" (master photocopy, 4 pp.)
The Ethnic Culture Survey Report of the Middle States' Conference on Folk Culture provides an overview of the conference, abstracts discussion by morning session presenters, and summarizes other events in the conference (typed, 11 pp.)
Includes releases and cards for the following individuals: H. Crab and Son, Daniel and the Deacon [Gerald E. Parsons, Jr.], Bill Hoffman, Paul C. Johnson, and Art Sutton
For books related to folk music, history, and music instruments (5 ads)
For travel related to world touring and folk music (4 ads)
Includes the following:
Includes advertisements for the following: Mari guitar strings, Limberjack (folk toy), the Autoharp, La Casa de Las Guitarras (written in Spanish), and nylon strings for guitar
Includes the following album advertisements:
Includes the following:
1) Recording notes for the Old
Harp Singers; includes notes on Jim Trentham, Dewey Cook, and Edna Cook (8" by
10", Knoxville Writing Tablet, handwritten, 20 pp.
2) Recording notes for
Ayala Kaufman and George Woddail (5 leaves); typed lyrics from songs sung by
Pete Seeger (2 songs), Robin Roberts (3 songs), Ruth Welcome (3 songs), and
Lori Campbell (2 songs)
3) Eskin's notes on the UNESCO World Collection
of Recorded Folk Music and Collection Universelle (7 pp.)
4) Evening set
lists and notes on songs performed at the 5th Annual Miramichi Folksong
Festival (typed, 10 pp.)
5) Notes on sound recordings made in Malaga
(handwritten, 3 pp., March 14th, 1960)
6) Track list for two recorded
tapes of Spanish and Cuban music recorded by Eskin (typed, 3 pp.)
7)
Notes on recordings made in Mexico (handwritten, 6 pp., January 1957)
8)
Transcribed song lyrics (3 songs)
9) Track list of songs recorded (typed,
1 p., February 7, 1957)
10) Notes (3 songs) and track lists (5 tapes) for
Spanish songs (master photocopy, 7 pp.)
Includes the following material:
Booklet: Bible chapter (3" by 4 1⁄2", 79 pp.)
Photocopies of disc labels and the spines and back covers of reel-to-reel tape boxes
6 1/2-inch and 8-inch discs
10-inch discs (1 of 3)
10-inch discs (2 of 3)
10-inch discs (3 of 3)
12-inch discs
16-inch discs (1 of 2)
16-inch discs (2 of 2)
American Folkmusic, original Eskin numbers 1-68
American Folkmusic, original Eskin numbers 69-136
Mexico, original Eskin numbers 2-48
Recordings Abroad (folder 1 of 3)
Recordings Abroad (folder 2 of 3)
Recordings Abroad (folder 3 of 3)
Individuals
Duplicates--commercial and Eskin field recordings
Duplicates--Eskin field recordings
Migrant Camp
Duplications, Commercial (folder 1 of 3)
Duplications, Commercial (folder 2 of 3)
Duplications, Commercial (folder 3 of 3)
Contains a 10-inch disc sleeve with handwritten lyrics to the song "Pretty Mohee" and "Many Years Ago"
Photocopies of
Contains the following items: 3 typed/handwritten track listings that had fallen from the original 16-inch disc sleeve; 1 disc label; and 3 canvas index tabs that had fallen from the original disc sleeve
Contains items removed from the following reel-to-reel boxes:
(SR # )
160, 176, 282, 287, 288, 293, 297, 299, 302, 304, 307, 310, 313,
321, 322, 323, 324, 331, 350, 359, 360, 361, 368, 369, 370, 376, 377, 380, 384,
386, 392, 399, 408, 409, 416, 417, 418, 419, 421, 422, 451, 466, 473, 497, 506,
513, 519, 520, 521, 524, 525, 526, 533, 554, 559, 560, 563, 570, 571, 581, 584,
585, 588, 592, 594, 598, 601, 607, 608, 609, 612, 614, 632, 638, 640, 643, 645,
647, 648, 649, 661, 670, 671, 672, 673, 674, 675, 676, 677, 678, 679, 684, 687,
691, 693, 696, 697, 705, 713, 714, and 716. Items removed include:
typed/handwritten track listings, notes, business cards, transcriptions, and
correspondence. Note: the majority of these items are typed/handwritten track
listings for individual boxes; concordances between AFC SR and NYSHA #s in
Folder 277.
Contains the back cover of a reel-to-reel box, which is not part of any other box in the current collection. Handwriting on the box indicates this box may have once housed "BOUN Tape #2", recorded on Oct. 22, 1957
See Collection Concordance for a summary of sound recordings by format. See Collection Database (Folder 1) for a full description of recordings, as well as searchable title, performer, and descriptive fields pertaining to Eskin's instantaneous discs, reel-to-reel tapes, and original field recordings.
Photographic images of informants and graphic images of postcards. For additional description of images, please refer to the Collection Database (Folder 1) for a Log of Visual Images.
Includes photographs of Myrtle Downing, Luvicie Beasley, and Yvonne Belmont Gregory (9 images)
Includes black and white photographs of three unidentified females (4 images)
Includes black and white photographs of [Harry/Haywire Mac] McClintock, Captain Robinson, Ernest Wardell, and Charlie Rose (21 images)
Includes black and white photographs of five unidentified males (14 images)
Includes 7 postcards and 1 postcard envelope. Four postcards depict bombard and biniou (Breton bagpipe) players; one card depicts a statue of a guitar player, one card depicts a harp player, and one card depicts a hurdy-gurdy player
See Folder 1 for the 100 mb zip disk containing the Collection Database.