Abstract: The Lewis family arrived in Raleigh, N.C., in 1923, when John D. Lewis Sr. took a job as a district manager for North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company of Durham, N.C. He and his wife, Luella Alice Cox Lewis, and their two children, J.D. Lewis (John D. Lewis Jr.) (1919-2007) and Vera Lewis Embree (1921-2004), lived in southeast Raleigh and were members of First Baptist Church. J.D. Lewis was a Morehouse College graduate, one of the first African American members of the United States Marine Corps, and the first African American radio and television personality, corporate director of personnel, and director of minority affairs for WRAL of the Capitol Broadcasting Company (CBC). J.D. Lewis also worked as the special markets representative for the Pepsi Cola Bottling Company; as the project director of GROW, Incorporated, a federally funded program for high school dropouts; and as the coordinator of manpower planning for the state of North Carolina. Lewis was active in many civic and community organizations as well. Vera Lewis Embree (1921-2004) graduated from the Palmer Institute for Young Women and Hampton Institute. She built a successful and celebrated career as a choreographer and professor of dance at the University of Michigan. The collection consists of papers, photographs, and audiovisual materials that chiefly relate to J.D. Lewis’s working life and the civic and community organizations he supported. Lewis’s career is documented by materials from Capitol Broadcasting Company, including editorials he wrote and produced; GROW, Incorporated; Manpower; Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company; National Association of Market Developers; and the National Business League. Lewis’s civic leadership is evident in records of the Raleigh Community Relations Committee, which worked to integrate Raleigh public schools; political campaigns; and the Team of Progress, a group interested in political leadership at the city and county levels of government. Community organizations represented in the collection include the Garner Road YMCA; Alpha Kappa Alpha Debutante Ball; the Eastside Neighborhood Task Force; the Citizens Committee on Schools; Omega Psi Phi; and Meadowbrook Country Club, which was founded in 1959 by a small group of African American community leaders. Other materials document the Method Post Office dedication in 1965; the Montford Point Marine Association; and a youth charrette, possibly on integration of Durham schools. There are also clippings and printed materials on such topics as black power, African American history, Morehouse College, and Shaw University. There are several issues of Perfect Home, a home design and decorating magazine published by John W. Winters, a real estate broker, home builder, city councilman, state senator, and civic leader. Family materials are mainly biographical and include newspaper clippings, funeral programs, school materials, awards and certificates, and photographs. There are a few family letters, including one from 1967 with a first-hand account of rioting on Twelfth Street in Detroit and a copy of a 10 January 1967 letter in which the Lewis family opposed the selection of Mark Twain’s Mississippi Melody for student performance on the grounds that it perpetuated stereotyped images of African Americans. Photographs include portraits and snapshots of four generations of the Lewis and related Cox families, documenting family life from the 1910s through the 2000s. There are non-family group portraits of Omega Psi Phi members of Durham, North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company employees on its 21st anniversary, and of unidentified groups at other civic and community events. There is one folder of J.D. Lewis photographs that depict him in various work contexts. Also included is a portrait of a young Clarence Lightner, who owned a funeral home business and later served as the first African American mayor of Raleigh. Audiovisual materials chiefly relate to J.D. Lewis’s work at Capitol Broadcasting Company/WRAL and his interest in African American community and history. Included are audiotapes of his editorials for WRAL; videotape of Harambee, a public affairs program about the concerns of the general public and especially African Americans; audiotape of musical performances, possibly for Teen-Age Frolic, a teenage dance and variety show; audiotape of Adventures in Negro History, an event sponsored by Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Raleigh; and film of unidentified wedding and seashore scenes. Also included are several published educational film strips on African American history with accompanying audio.

Repository: Southern Historical Collection

Collection Highlights: Of particular note are the letters J.D. Lewis received from musicians and students desiring to appear on Teen-Age Frolic, the dance/variety show Lewis hosted on WRAL (Folder 140). There are also numerous editorials Lewis did during his years as a broadcaster, on a variety of topics (Folders 21-140). Additionally, there is corresponding audio for many of these transcripts (See Series 3).

Folder 16 also contains a 1967 letter with a first-hand account of the rioting in Detroit and a copy of a 10 January 1967 letter in which the Lewis family opposed the selection of Mark Twain’s Mississippi Melody for a school-wide student performance on the grounds “it will by no means further relationships in an integrated situation, where students as a whole, do not have a sufficient background or appreciation of Negro History to comprehend this as perhaps an exaggerrated situation of a particular and past era, but rather, would perpetuate an image already deeply established as stereotyped.”

There are also numerous photographs of the Lewis and Cox Family, including J.D. and Vera Lewis’s father during his time at Morehouse College. There are also photographs of J.D. Lewis on the set of Teen-Age Frolic, introducing different bands, and at different community events (Image folders 1-10).

Abstract: Howell Begle is an entertainment and media lawyer and long-time activist on behalf of early rhythm and blues recording artists. In 1982, Begle met Ruth Brown, recording artist with the Atlantic Recording Corporation in the 1940s and 1950s, who had had difficulty securing royalty payments. He agreed to represent her pro bono against the recording company. Over time, his list of pro bono clients grew to more than 30 artists who had recorded for Atlantic. Begle was also a major figure in the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, founded in 1988 in Washington, D.C., with $1.5 million in initial funding from Atlantic in partial fulfillment of a legal settlement with Brown and others represented by Begle. The collection includes detailed royalty statements from the Atlantic Recording Corporation that document payments to Ruth Brown, 1955-1964. There are also copies of contracts and correspondence related to royalty payments owed to other artists who recorded for Atlantic and other labels during the 1950s and 1960s, among them Nellie Lutcher, Jimmy Scott, Joe Turner, Harry Van Walls, the Clovers, the Coasters, and the Drifters. Also included are legal documents, articles of incorporation, correspondence, news articles, and other materials relating to the formation and administration of the Rhythm & Blues Foundation; scattered correspondence between Begle and Atlantic executives, including Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler, Michael Resnick, and Sheldon Vogle, documenting negotiations leading to the royalty settlement of 1988; correspondence with musicians involved in the Foundation, particularly board member Bonnie Raitt; letters relating to Begle’s dissatification with and 1998 resignation from the Rhythm & Blues Foundation; photocopied news and periodical articles relating to Foundation; and calendars and promotional materials for the Foundation, some relating to the Foundation’s annual award ceremony. Other items include Billboard chart research documents, 1950s-1960s; a chronology documenting efforts to reform royalty payment accounting at Atlantic Records, 1983-1993; programs from Ruth Brown’s memorial service in 2006; correspondence with activists including Jesse Jackson, politicians including Congressmen John Conyers Jr. and Dennis J. Kucinich, and members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA); and 45rpm, 78rpm, and LP record albums collected by Begle.

Repository: Southern Folklife Collection

Collection Highlights: Series 1 contains correspondence, contracts, and news clippings related to Begle’s work with the Rhythm and Blues Foundation, which included a number of African American musicians such as Ruth Brown and the Drifters.

Folders 7-10 also contain correspondence with political activists such as Jesse Jackson as well as Democratic representative John Conyers.

Series 2 (Audio Recordings) also contain Begle’s personal collection of albums, which include records by Bessie Smith and B.B. King.

Abstract: This collection comprises field notes, transcripts, memos, ephemera, and other items associated with sound and video recordings assembled at the Southern Folklife Collection. The identifying number for the associated recording as well as provenance information (where available) is noted in the finding aid. Materials in this collection are associated with recordings from a wide variety of collections, including those of Andy Cahan, Guy Carawan and Candie Carawan, Bob Carlin, Cecelia Conway, the John Edwards Memorial Foundation, Joan Fenton, Alice Gerrard, Peter Hartman, Glenn Hinson, the Goldband Recording Corporation, John Huddle, A. P. Hudson, Beverly Patterson, Daniel Patterson, Mike Seeger, Brett Sutton, and many others. The recordings in those collections include materials produced for commercial distribution as well as (predominantly) materials gathered in a field context by folklorists. The notes include information on African American music, banjo music, Primitive Baptist church music, country music, fiddle tunes, folk music, folklorists, old-time music, popular music, storytelling, and other topics, chiefly but not exclusively relating to North Carolina or the American South.

Repository: Southern Folklife Collection

Collection Highlights: The field notes contain information on African American music and musicians. Several collections, such as the Goldband Recording Corporation, the Guy and Candie Carawan, and Glenn Hinson Collections, contain recordings and documentation on African American music and musicians.

Repository: Southern Folklife Collection

Collection Highlights: Folders 421-424 in Series 3 (Subject Files) are entitled “African American Music and Culture”.

Folders 4444-4515 are entitled “Labor Landmarks: African American Landmarks”.

In Suberies 10.1 (Audio materials), Audiocassette FS-11486is entitled “Tape 373: African American Congregational Singing: Nineteenth-Century Roots, 1994 (Smithsonian Folkways release)”

Subseries 10.2 (Video Materials) contains a DVD entitled Plenty of good women dancers: African-American women hoofers from Philadelphia (Digital Video Disc DVD-20002/2)

The additions of 2006, 2009, and 2010 also contain many interrelated subject files with the original materials, including materials on Hudie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter (Folder 2258; 4947-53)

 

 

Abstract: George C. Stoney (1916- ), a documentary filmmaker who specialized in socially relevant films, was a mentor and teacher to generations of filmmakers and media activists worldwide and a pioneer in the movement for the creation and use of public access television to enact social change. The collection consists of papers chiefly relating to George C. Stoney’s professional work as a documentary filmmaker, teacher, and early advocate of public access television. Correspondence, 1944-1993 (bulk 1960-1990), is chiefly work-related in content, though many of Stoney’s correspondents were long-time friends and colleagues and wrote personally as well. Letters, 1944-1945, from Stoney to his future wife, Mary Bruce (1926-2004), are chiefly personal in nature and include love letters, but also, to a lesser extent, describe Stoney’s experiences as a photo intelligence officer with the 8th United States Army Air Forces in England, France, Belgium, and Germany. Correspondence between Stoney and his long-time companion Betty Puleston (d. 2009), 1967-1968, also blend description of personal and working life. Subject files comprise the bulk of the collection and include materials relating to films Stoney wrote, directed, and/or produced for the Southern Educational Film Production Service and George C. Stoney Associates. Topics include sexually transmitted disease; outreach programs of the Methodist Church; cardiovascular healthcare; education; community mental health; race relations in the South; police training; old age and retirement; midwifery; urban redevelopment in New York, N.Y., Philadelphia, Pa., Pittsburgh, Pa., and Washington, D.C.; and other social issues. Some of Stoney’s early work as a journalist and social researcher is also documented in essays, a report on race relations in Mississippi, and materials relating to his work for the Farm Security Administration. Subject files also document classes and workshops Stoney taught, especially at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, and his involvement with the growth of public access and local cable television, the Challenge for Change project of the National Film Board of Canada, the Alternate Media Center, and the National Federation of Local Cable Programmers. Additionally, there are film treatments and research materials for prospective projects and printed and other material relating to the documentary film and cable television industries. Loose papers, 1980-1990s, consist of memobooks that likely relate to Stoney’s filmmaking, and clippings, reports, readings, conference advertisements, miscellaneous printed materials, handwritten notes, and writings by others that are not clearly connected to his film projects or cable and public access advocacy work. Photographs depict the documentary filmmaking process for several of Stoney’s films, public access projects and the Alternate Media Center, the work of Farm Security Administration photographers in the South in the early 1940s, and Stoney’s family life. The audio-visual materials consist of films, tapes, and sound reels from various Stoney productions, 1950s-1990s.

Repository: Southern Historical Collection

Collection Highlights: Folder 675 contains some of Stoney’s work as a Southern field assistant for Gunner Myrdal’s study on race relations in the U.S., An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy.

There are a number of Subject Files that relate to Stoney’s research for Myrdal’s study as well as many of Stoney’s own films. There are several that deal with race relations and various topics:Folder 162 (Auburn, Ala./Race Relations and the Methodist Church, 1963); Folder 214 (Brewster Methodist Hospital (Jacksonville, Fla.)/Race Relations and the Methodist Church, 1963); Folder 216 (Bunche, Ralph: Political Status of the Negro in the Age of FDR (1973)); Folders 625-626 (Kytle, Calvin, 1947, 1960, 1973 – materials related to anti-discrimination protests and land use); Folder 666-667 (Methodist Church 1962– Chiefly concerning “The Church and the Inner City”); Folders 752-760 (Newspaper Clippings, 1960s-1980s – dealing with issues such as segregation, race relations, and Christianity)

Several of Stoney’s films also discuss the African American community and various topics. Notable documentaries include All My Babies and The Shepard of the Night Flock

All My Babies (1953) was an award winning film that focuses on An African American midwife. Folder 101-113, 671-672, 887,  contains articles, correspondence, and other materials related to the film. Folder PF-4970/1-3 contain photographs related to the film. There is a copy of the film as well (Film F-4970/203).

The Shepard of the Night Flock (1975) is a documentary discussing the life of Father Joseph Gensel and his role ministering to the Jazz community in New York. Influential musicians such as Duke Ellington appear in this film. There is a Reference folder (between Folders 972 and 973) for this film. Subseries 5.2 contains numerous clips and edits from the feature film, as well as audio tapes of the performances featured in the film.

Abstract: The North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources is the state agency responsible for arts, history, and library programs; among its divisions is the State Library of North Carolina. The North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources films collection documents a variety of topics, some relating to North Carolina and others to the wider world, covered in films made by a variety of filmmakers, 1951-1988. Topics include folklife, folk dancing, folklore, and folk art in various parts of the world; tattooing; women’s folklore; African American history, culture, and music; Indians of North America; Canadian Iroquois Indians; Aboriginal Australians; folk, gospel, jazz, and blues music; folk singers and composers Woody Guthrie, Elizabeth Cotten, and Malvina Reynolds; gospel singer Mahalia Jackson; various religious communities; Colonial Williamsburg; poet Carl Sandburg; filmmaker Tom Davenport; and the social life and customs of the American South. All of the films are 16mm commercial release prints with sound. Both narrative and documentary films are represented.

Repository: Southern Historical Collection

Collection Highlights: Several of the films in this collection relate to African American history and  culture. A few examples include

Afro-American Music: Its Heritage (1969): This film traces the history and evolution of black American music from enslavement to contemporary music ( Film 20448/22)

Black Genesis: The Art of Tribal Africa (1970 ): The film shows masks, carving sculptures, statues, drawings jewelry and tattoo art of different areas of tribal Africa, as well as songs and musical rhythms (F-20448/15)

Black Music in America: From Then Till Now (1987):  traces the evolution of African American music from its African origins today and showcases  of Louis Armstrong, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, Leadbelly, Count Basie, Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, Billie Holiday, Cannonball Adderley, and others (F-20448/60)

 

 

 

 

Abstract: The Susan Massingale collection consists of 243 videotapes from four documentary productions, 1987-1995. Massingale co-produced and co-directed one of the productions, Step It Up and Go: Blues in the Carolinas, with Glen Hinson. The other productions are Boogie in Black and White, a film about the Cherokee Indians, and another film about Black Mountain College. Massingale’s connection to these three documentaries is unclear, but they appear to related to UNC-TV and are chiefly about North Carolina. Videotape formats include Betacam, Umatic, and VHS. Step It Up and Go: Blues in the Carolinas traces the development of blues music in the Carolinas through interviews with musicians and still photographs of them. North Carolina musicians talk about how they learned to play and perform different styles on the banjo, fiddle, guitar, piano, bottle, and spoons. Performers include Odell Thompson, Nate Thompson, Joe Thompson, Etta Baker, Cora Phillips, Junior Thomas, Thomas Burt, Guitar Slim, Moses Roscoe, and Anthony Pough. The UNC-TV documentary Boogie in Black and White is a film about the making of Pitch a Boogie Woogie, a film shot in Greenville, N.C., in 1947 by John W. Warner, then owner of Greenville’s Plaza Theatre. Pitch a Boogie Woogie, released by Lord-Warner Pictures, Inc., in 1948, was the first movie made by a production company based in North Carolina. It had an all-African American cast of mostly local Greenville musicians and actors and enjoyed success in the Carolinas, but was never shown outside that area. The Cherokee Indian production appears to be mostly about Joyce Dugan, who was elected Principal Chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in 1995. She was the first woman to hold that position. The Black Mountain College production appears to be about the history of Black Mountain College in Black Mountain, N.C. Black Mountain College was founded in 1933 and guided by the principle that the study of art was central to a liberal arts education. Black Mountain College closed in 1957.

Repository: Southern Folklife Collection

Collection Highlights: Series 1 contains video of the documentary Step It Up and Go: Blues Music in the Carolinas

Series 2 contains video from the documentary Boogie In Black & White, about the making of the 1947 film Pitch A Boogie Woogie, featuring a primarily African American cast of musicians mostly from Greenville, N.C.

Series 3 contains video from a documentary about Joyce Dugan, who was elected Principle Chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokees in 1995.

Abstract: During the 1950s and 1960s, collector, folklorist, and traditional music performer Mike Seeger recorded interviews and performances of many legendary old-time and bluegrass musicians.The collection consists of open reel tape and DAT audio recordings from 1955 to 2002, along with supporting logs and films. The audio recordings include both live performances and Seeger’s interviews with many notable bluegrass and old-time musicians; master tapes from various LP recording projects; and recordings of Seeger’s own band, the New Lost City Ramblers. Of particular interest are live concert recordings featuring such musicians as Tony Alderman, E. C. Ball, Dock Boggs, Buzz Busby, Alex Campbell and Ola Belle Reed, Maybelle Carter, Elizabeth Cotten, Sady Courville, Cousin Emmy, Hazel Dickens, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, Roscoe Holcomb, Mississippi John Hurt, Tommy Jarrell, the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, Grandpa Jones, the Lilly Brothers, the Louvin Brothers, Carl Martin and Ted Bogan, Dennis McGee, Sam McGee and Kirk McGee (the McGee Brothers), Bill Monroe and Charlie Monroe (the Monroe Brothers), the Osborne Brothers, Don Reno, Marc Savoy, Red Smiley, Kilby Snow, the Stanley Brothers, Ernest V. Stoneman, J. C. Sutphin, Merle Travis, Wade Ward, Mac Wiseman, and the New Lost City Ramblers. Also includied are recordings of various performances and workshops at festivals, including the American Old-Time Music Festival, the Bean Blossom Music Festival, and the Culpeper Music Festival. There are also recordings from the New Lost City Ramblers’ European tour with Adam Landrenau and Cyp Landrenau, Cousin Emmy, and the Stanley Brothers. Performances were recorded at large and small venues, including New River Ranch near Rising Sun, Md.; Sunset Park, Pa.; and the Union Grove Fiddlers Convention in North Carolina. Seeger recorded in-depth interviews with many musicians, including Clarence Tom Ashley, the Benfield Family, Dock Boggs, Charlie Bowman, Maybelle Carter, Tommy Jarrell, Kirk McGee, Sam McGee, Eck Robertson, Leslie Riddle, Kilby Snow, Ernest V. Stoneman, and Wade Ward. Of particular interest is Seeger’s interview with Columbia Records talent scout Frank Walker. Other New Lost City Ramblers recordings include raw tracks and master tapes for the group’s albums; live recordings at folk festivals, colleges, and other venues; and band meetings. Supporting documentation includes Seeger’s logs for all of the audio recordings and an artist index. The Addition of February 2003 contains films of Mike Seeger and other musicians, including films of an old-time music workshop in 1977 and an interview with Mike Seeger. The Addition of July 2009 contains audio recordings featuring many of the musicians already represented in the collection and others, including Eddie Adcock, Howard Armstrong, Kenny Baker, the Balfa Brothers, Dewey Balfa, Ted Bogan, Hylo Brown, Vassar Clements, Sady Courville, Kyle Creed, Bobby Durham, Flick Flaharty, Alice Gerrard, the Goins Brothers, Ted Gossett, Sarah Gunning, Bill Harrell, Doc Hopkins, Tommy Jarrell, Lily May Ledford, Tex Logan, Carl Martin, Jimmy Martin, Dennis McGee, Melvin Robinette, Montana Slim, Ralph Stanley, Carl Story, Tut Taylor, Doc Watson, Nimrod Workman, and others. The addition also contains recordings of Mike Seeger’s interviews with musicologist Charles Seeger. The Addition of May 2010 includes video footage from Seeger’s documentary project, “Talking Feet.”

Repository: Southern Folklife Collection

Collection Highlights: This collection features several recordings of African American artists, as well as discussions of interactions between white and black musicians.

There are live performances of folk singer Elizabeth Cotten [Audiotape FT-3754; FT-3756];  country blues singer Mississippi John Hurt (who was recorded in the 1930s, and rediscovered in the 1960s).

There are also recordings of African American Appalachian string musicians Carl Martin and Ted Bogan [Audiocassette FS-9655; 9656; 9658-60; 9689-90; 9694; 9696]

There are also a number of Caucasian musicians who describe being influenced by African American musical traditions, such as the Seeger’s own band the New Lost City Ramblers [See Series 1: Audio Recordings, 1955-2002] , as well as the Jim Kweskin Jug Band [Audiotape FT-5704].

There are also a number of interviews, including from Maybell Carter [Audiotape FT-8821], Clarence Tom Ashley [Audiotape FT-5582], and Dock Boggs [Several recordings, including Audiotape FT-5603 thru FT-5611] discussing the influence of African American musicians on their music.

Mike Seeger’s documentary “Talking Feet” is available online through the SFC on Folkstreams. Click here to access the film and see other documentaries.

Abstract: Benjamin F. Swalin (1901-1989) was conductor and director of the North Carolina Symphony, musician, composer, performer, author, teacher, and advocate for music in North Carolina. His wife, Maxine M. Swalin (1903-2009), also an accomplished musician, supported the work of the North Carolina Symphony as its executive assistant for many years. The collection contains biographical information, writings, correspondence, subject files, and photographs of Benjamin F. Swalin and Maxine M. Swalin. Materials document Benjamin F. Swalin’s life from childhood through his music studies, teaching career at the University of North Carolina, and his 33 years as conductor and director with the North Carolina Symphony. Published and unpublished writings include notes, poetry, musical scores, and materials relating to Benjamin F. Swalin’s Hard Circus Road (1987), a history of the North Carolina Symphony, and to Maxine M. Swalin’s An Ear to Myself (1996), a reminiscence of her childhood in Iowa and life with her husband and with the North Carolina Symphony. Correspondence chiefly concerns North Carolina Symphony operations and the Swalins’ social and professional relationships with acquaintances and advocates in the arts and legal communities. Subject files include materials relating to the Symphony, especially Benjamin Swalin’s forced retirement in 1971; a run of Symphony Stories that Adeline McCall wrote for the Symphony’s Children’s Concert Division, 1950-1973; items relating to music education and appreciation in North Carolina; and other materials. Photographs document the Swalins from early childhood to old age.

Repository: Southern Historical Collection

Collection Highlights: Folders 16 – 18 contain various addresses and articles, some of which includes drafts of “Music in a Chaotic World,” which addresses racial conflict, war attitudes, and other social dilemmas in North Carolina.

Folders 248 – 249 contain  a summary of legislation efforts made by Benjamin F. Swalin, and  his discussion of the challenges surrounding the use of state busses during the 1960s to transport African American children to desegregated symphony concerts in areas of North Carolina where “mixed” audiences were not permitted; and drafts of his Jukebox bill.

Folder 371, entitled “American Black Music, includes notes and research gathered on African American art and music used in creating “Painted Music”, a performance by Maxine Swalin

Folder 376, “Black Art,” contains articles, picture postcards, and handwritten notes about African American art for “Painted Music”.

Repository: Southern Folklife Collection

Collection Highlights: Included are an interview and 32 Ohio River songs, sacred songs, and camp meeting songs sung by “Uncle” Jim Drain, African American singer from Paducah, Ky. [2 sounds recordings, FT 861-862]