NAFOH: Music & Dance

Here we have finding aids for collections of accessions focused on music and dance. As some of these collections were created around a theme (rather than based on a single donation or class), there is some overlap in the collections.

 

MF008 Norman Cazden Collection
Number of accessions: 12
Dates when interviews were conducted: 1960 – 1999
Time period covered: 20th century
Principal interviewers: Norman Cazden
Finding aides: catalogs
Access restrictions: NA0857, 1395, 2578, 2581, 2582,
Description: Norman Cazden was a composer, musicologist, and faculty member of the University of Maine who had a long-standing interest in traditional American folk music. This collection reflects his career as both collector and composer and is comprises twelve accessions and approximately 60 hours of tape. See also Norman Cazden Papers in Folger Library Special Collections which also include tape recordings of Cazden’s own compositions and teaching tapes. Material related to Cazden’s involvement with Camp Woodland in the Catskill Mountains of New York can be found in the Norman Studer Collection at SUNY-Albany.

MF011 R. B. Hall and the Community Bands of Maine/ Gordon W. Bowie
Number of accessions: 8
Dates when interviews were conducted: 1968, 1969, 1998, 1992, 1993
Time period covered: 20th century
Principal interviewers: Gordon W. Bowie
Finding aides: transcript
Access restrictions: NA2580
Description: Interviews and photographs compiled by Gordon Bowie relating to band music in Maine, and leading to Bowie’s UM dissertation entitled R. B. Hall and the Community Bands of Maine (May, 1993). This collection includes nine cassette tapes with interviews with nine individuals. Topics covered include local performances at dance halls, theaters, and radio stations, musicians, Musicians Union Local 768, and other matters relating to community bands. NOTE: A very large collection of materials relating to R. B. Hall and community bands of Maine and New England is also located in Raymond H. Fogler Library Special Collections Department. This collection includes approximately 800 reels of tape containing performances and interviews recorded (ca. 1950-1985) by Thomas Bardwell, Sr. and Thomas Bardwell Jr. of Vineyard Haven, Mass.

MF018 Folksong Student Papers
Number of accessions: 35
Dates when interviews were conducted: 1960s – 1980s
Time period covered: 20th century
Principal interviewers: various
Finding aides: transcripts
Access restrictions: yes
Description: At the time this collection was created, there appeared to be only one small accession related to this project (NA0816). Later, it was discovered that Edward D. Ives taught a course called “Folksong in America”. It was taught roughly between 1968 and 1973 (or 1979) (possibly other years as well). The accessions below form a series, but they are cross-listed in the Maine / Maritimes Folklore Collection (MF 076).

MF032 Louise Manny/Lord Beaverbrook Collection of New Brunswick Folksong
Number of accession: 1
Dates when interviews were conducted: 1976
Time period covered: ca. 1890-1940
Principal interviewers: Joan Brooks; Jack Beard
Finding rides: brief indexes and full transcripts
Access restrictions: none
Description: NA0853 Wilmot MacDonald, Frank Ramsay, Thomas W. Coughlan, Ernest Tozer, Basil Thibodeau, John Stymiest, George Campbell, Jared MacLean, Fred MacMahon, Willie MacDonald, Stanley MacDonald, E. Robichaud, Arthur MacDonald, Bessie Crocker, and G. E. Duplessis, Marie Hare, and many others, donated by James Reginald Wilson, 1974, Miramichi area, New Brunswick. Accession consists of eleven tape reels containing approximately 125 songs and ballads dubbed in the early 1960s from Louise Manny’s original acetate disc field recordings (1950s-1960s) which are collectively known as known as the “Lord Beaverbrook Collection of New Brunswick Folksong.” The tape copies were supplied by Wilson in conjunction with the National Museum of Canada which also has taped copies. Singers include MacDonald, Ramsay, Coughlan, Tozer, Thibodeau, Stymiest, Campbell, MacLean, MacMahon, W. MacDonald, S. MacDonald, Robichaud, A. MacDonald, Crocker, Duplessis, Hare, and many others. Note: not all of the material is contained on these service copy reels. Text: 9 pp. brief catalog. Recordings: T 0794 – T 0797 / PM 0219 – PM 0227 3 hours.

MF039 Traditional Music of Maine Project Collection
Number of accessions: 34
Dates when interviews were conducted: 1987-1991
Principal interviewers: Jeffrey “Smokey” McKeen
Finding aides: partial transcripts
Access restrictions: NA2256
Description: Field recordings made primarily by Jeffrey “Smokey” Mckeen for use in developing a series of radio programs devoted to traditional music in Maine. The collection includes 37 cassette recordings of interviews with 44 individuals in addition to performances. The programs were later packaged and released by the Maine Folklife Center as a series of four cassettes entitled “Traditional Music of Maine, Vols. 1 – 4.” Traditional Music of Maine celebrates the musical legacies of a variety of Maine folk communities by exploring their cultural and historical significance through oral history interviews with musicians and other community members. The tapes introduce the general public to the remarkable diversity and vitality of Maine’s musical traditions. Originally developed as a radio series for the Maine Public Broadcasting Network, the project was funded by grants from the Maine Arts Commission and the Maine Community Foundation. This series consists of four cassette tapes containing a total of eight half-hour programs documenting Maine’s rich, traditional musical heritage. / Program themes included: Songs of the Maine Lumberwoods; Music of the Maine Grange; Swedish Music of Aroostook; Music of Maine’s Finnish Communities; Slavic Music of the Lower Kennebec; Acadian Music of the St. John Valley; Pioneers of Maine Country Music; and Songs of the Passamaquoddy. To date, no accessions have been specifically linked to the last three program themes. Topics discussed in the interviews include: life in lumber camps; working in the lumberwoods; working on river drives; transition from river driving to using trucks to haul logs; the Maine Grange; changing role of the Grange in Maine life; immigration; and the Swedish and Russian communities in Maine. Interviewees sing traditional songs; and play the harmonica; piano; concertina; mandolin; and other instruments. Program themes included: Music of the Maine Lumberwoods, Music of the Maine Grange, Swedish Music of Aroostook, Maine’s Finnish Communities, Slavic Music of the Lower Kennebec.

MF077 Sister Saint Jude Poulin Folksong Collection
Number of accessions: 1
Dates when interviews were conducted: 1962
Time period covered: mid-20th century
Principal collectors: Sister St. Jude Poulin
Finding aides: brief indexes
Access restrictions: yes
Description: NA0331 Linwood Brown, Carl E. Kelley, Robert French, Mrs. Elwood Nickerson, Dale Potter, others, interviewed by Sister St. Jude Poulin, 1962, Machias, Vanceboro, Franklin, Kingman, and Gardiner, Maine. Interviews, correspondence, and notes pertaining to Sister Poulin’s M.A. thesis titled “A Classification and Literary History of the Ballads Known in Hancock and Washington Counties, Maine, Mid-Century” (Boston College, 1962). Accession includes correspondence, song texts, manuscript texts from her informants, field notes, and a photocopy of the thesis. A Maine native, Sister Poulin interviewed 23 individuals (including Nickerson of Corrina and Potter of Mattawamkeag) but based her thesis only on contributions from three Brown of Vanceboro; Kelley of East Machias; French of Franklin).

MF084 Linda Gilbert Collection of Penobscot Indian Music
Number of accessions: 2
Dates when interviews were conducted: 1976
Principal interviewers: Linda Gilbert
Finding aides: brief indexes
Access restrictions: NA1062 (copyright retained by interviewee and interviewer)
Description: This collection consists of two brief tape-recorded interviews conducted by Davenport apparently for her master’s thesis on Penobscot Indian Music. In all, Davenport interviewed thirty-two informants but most were not recorded. For more information see Music Among the Contemporary Penobscot Indians, (MA Thesis, University of Illinois, 1977), available in the MFC library.

MF102 Miramichi Folksong Festival Collection
Number of accession: 11
Dates when interviews were conducted: 1950s – 1980s
Time period covered: mid 20th century
Principal interviewers: James Reginald Wilson
Finding aides: catalogs
Access restrictions: NA0850
Description: This collection includes a series of interviews relating to the Miramichi Folksong Festival and recordings of various years of the festival. The Miramichi Folksong Festival takes place annually in Newcastle, New Brunswick. It was founded by Louise Manny in 1958 as a means of showcasing and preserving the traditional songs and ballads of New Brunswick, especially those found in the Miramichi River region. See also: MF 032 Louise Manny / Lord Beaverbrook Collection; MF 008 Norman Cazden Collection; and MF 027 Edward D. Ives Collection.

MF109 Folk Traditions Festival Collection
Number of accessions: 2
Dates when interviews were conducted: 1998
Principal interviewers: Pauleena MacDougall
Finding aides: index
Access restrictions: NA2591 is for private research use only.
Description: Sponsored by the Maine Folklife Center, the first annual Folk Traditions Festival was held November 6-7, 1998 at the University of Maine. The festival featured musicians and dancers from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.

MF111 Folksongs in February Collection
Number of accessions: 1
Dates when interviews were conducted: 1977
Finding aides: 36 page index
Access restrictions: yes
Description: NA2596 David Mallett, David Ingraham, Charlie Nevells, Larry Kaplan, Edward D. “Sandy” Ives, Kendall Morse, Margaret MacArthur, Norman Kennedy, Louis and Sally Killen, Yodeling Slim Clark, Charlotte Cormier, Sparky Rucker, Sandy and Caroline Paton, Hazel Dickens, Tim Woodbridge, Joe Hickerson, Debby McClatchy, Gordon Bok, Sean Corcoran, Bill Shute and Lisa Null, by Maine Folklife Center, February, 1977, Orono, Maine. Recordings of a folk music concert program called “Folksongs in February” held at the University of Maine in February, 1977. Accession includes 8 black & white contact sheets of 35 mm photos of the performances. RESTRICTED. Text: 36 pp. index and copies of photos. Recordings: mfc_na2596_cd0407_01 – mfc_na2596_cd0419_12 721 minutes (12 hours). Photographs: P00880, P00881, P01114 – P01399.

MF125 David Ingraham Collection
Number of accessions: 12
Dates when interviews were conducted: 1970s – 1980s
Time period covered: 20th century
Principal interviewers: David Ingraham
Finding aides: brief indexes
Access restrictions: none
Description: This collection consists of a variety of interviews and other accessions about writing songs in Maine, by David Ingraham. Ingraham was a local songwriter and singer from Ellsworth, Maine. Seven of these accessions consist of recordings of Ingraham talking about his songwriting and singing songs he composed about local people and incidents. The other 5 accessions include interviews with other songwriters and singers about the process of writing songs; interviews with local people about the incidents Ingraham described in his songs, and about traditional songs and how they related to local history in Ellsworth and Chesterville, Maine.

MF137 Joseph Ogando Collection
Number of accessions: 4
Dates when interviews were conducted: 1988
Time period covered: early-to-mid-20th century
Principal interviewers: Joseph Ogando
Finding aides: transcripts
Access restrictions: none
Description: This collection consists of three interviews conducted by Joseph Ogando about country music in Maine and the Maritime Provinces and the paper that was written about the interviews for an independent study course with Edward D. “Sandy” Ives at the University of Maine in 1988. See also MF 094 Country Music Series (1975). Themes include early years of radio; the importance of stories in early country music; and why country music was popular in northern Maine.

MF145 Jeffrey “Smokey” McKeen Collection
Number of accessions: 44
Dates interviews were conducted: 1949, 1959, 1985-2005
Time period covered: 20th century
Principal interviewers: Jeffrey “Smokey” McKeen
Finding aides: transcripts
Access restrictions: none
Description: The original donation, which focuses on country music in Maine, was added to the archive in the summer of 2006. The focus was expended to music in Maine generally as well as storytelling (especially about Herbert F. Jackson) and jokes when other interviews were added by McKeen. Fifteen accessions comprise the collection, which include Hal Lone Pine radio shows and oral interviews. These materials were gathered and donated by Jeff “Smokey” McKeen. The interviews were conducted by McKeen with country musicians and listeners in the 1990s to the present. Several other accessions outside of this collection are related to McKeen, especially in MF 039 (Traditional Music of Maine Series) and MF 130 (Fieldwork in Folklore and Oral History/AY 425).

MF149 Country Music in New England/ Clifford R. Murphy Collection
Number of accessions: 6
Dates when interviews were conducted: June-August 2005
Time period covered: 1930-2000s
Principal interviewers: Clifford R. Murphy
Finding aides: transcript
Access restrictions: yes (NA3862)
Photographs: P09901-P09940
Description: In this series of six interviews, Clifford R. Murphy interviews New England country music musicians. Spanning the 1930s to the 2000s and multiple generations of musicians, these interviews provide an intimate look at country music in New England. As members of a close-knit community, the interviewees talk about each other, other influential musicians like “Hal Lone Pine” Breau, Lenny Breau, Hawkshaw Hawkins, and Wilf Carter, the various bands they were in, performing in festivals and in small-town halls, working on radio and television, the musician lifestyle, their challenges and successes, and the changes they have witnessed over the years. This series of interviews resulted in the book New England Country and Western Music: Self-reliance, Community Expression, and Regional Resistance of the New England Frontier (Brown University, 2008) by Murphy.

MF158 Musical Instrument Making Collection
Number of accessions: 11
Dates when interviews were conducted: 2003
Time period covered: 20th century
Principal interviewers: Pauleena MacDougall
Finding aides: transcripts
Access restrictions: NA3036
Description: Interviewees talk about violin, guitar, drum, harp, and cello making, as well as playing instruments and music shops.

MF172 Dances in rural New England thesis/ Nora Groce
Number of accessions: 6
Dates when interviews were conducted: 1976 (thesis was completed in 1977).
Principal interviewers: Nora Grace
Finding aides: catalogs and some transcripts.
Access restrictions: none
Description: A collection of five interviews conducted as research for her Master’s thesis at Brown University on dances in rural New England. The thesis is titled “Dances as an Integrative Mechanism in the Rural New England Community.”

MF180 Woods Music Collection
Number of accessions: 35
Dates when interviews were conducted: various
Time period covered: late 19th and 20th centuries
Principal interviewers: Jeffrey “Smokey” McKeen and various others
Finding aides: some indexes and transcripts
Access restrictions: none
Description: These are all accessions containing songs from or about the lumberwoods. Some are the written version, some are sung.

MF185 Country, Western, and Bluegrass Music Collection
Number of accessions: 44
Dates when interviews were conducted: 1960s – 2000s
Time period covered: late 19th, 20th, and early 21st centuries
Principal interviewers: various
Finding aides: some indexes and transcripts
Access restrictions: NA0365, 0538, 0546, 0674, 0677, 2280, 2605, 2902, 3302, 3862
Description: This is an arbitrary collection of accessions created in June 2014 to bring together interviews that deal with country & western music. A number of the accessions are cross-listed with MF 149 (Country Music in New England/ Clifford R. Murphy Collection), MF 076 (Maine / Maritimes Folklore Collection), AY 123 (Folksong, introduced in 1980), and ANT 325 (Oral History and Folklore: Fieldwork, introduced in 1985). MF 094 AY 123 (Country Music in Maine Series) used to be a separate collection, but was brought into this one instead. That was a series of interviews about country music in Maine recorded for a class (AY 123) taught at the University of Maine by Edward D. “Sandy” Ives in 1975. Most focus on country music in the 1930s in the Bangor, Maine, area. Topics covered include bands and performances and country music on the radio.

MF199 North Pond Hermit Songs
Number of accessions: 2
Dates when interviews were conducted: October 12-14, 2013
Principal interviewer: Hilary Warner-Evans
Finding aides: transcripts
Access restrictions: none
Description: Interviews of folk songwriters on their songs on Christopher Thomas Knight, the North Pond Hermit.