Sounds of the South a report and selected papers from a Conference on the Collecting and Collections of Southern Traditional Music, held in Chapel Hill, April 6-8, 1989, to celebrate the opening of the Southern Folklife Collection with the John Edwards Memorial Collection in the Manuscripts Department of the Academic Affairs Library, University of North Carolina edited by Daniel W. Patterson
Author:
Conference on the Collecting and Collections of Southern Traditional Music (1989 : Chapel Hill, N.C.) Search this
Patterson, Daniel W (Daniel Watkins) 1928- Search this
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library Southern Folklife Collection Search this
Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Search this
Type:
Archival materials
Introduction:
The Olympic Games join athletes from across the globe in the highest levels of competition and excellence. The games have included, since their inception, a cultural component, but never before as extensively as in Atlanta in 1996. The Centennial Olympic Games brought together musical and dramatic performances, exhibitions, and artists from around the world. But most importantly, the Olympic Arts Festival highlighted the American South.
Southern culture was born from the interactions over past centuries of Native Americans, European settlers, and peoples from Africa. In the South, various forms of expression have arisen and transcended boundaries of race, gender, religion, and geography. So powerful have these expressions been - jazz, blues, gospel, rock 'n' roll, civil rights songs, Southern oratory, and food - that they have constituted unique American contributions to world culture. At the 1996 Festival on the National Mall, these forms of expressive culture were celebrated. Later the same summer in Atlanta during the Olympic Games, the program was the core of Southern Crossroads, a festival of Southern culture mounted in the new Centennial Olympic Park - the gathering spot for several hundred thousand visitors a day and billions more through television coverage. An Enhanced-CD Smithsonian Folkways recording with Internet connections and other educational material derived from the Festival program reached countless more after the Olympic Games.
The 1996 program not only exposed regional cultural roots but also showed how many of them have become part of traditions known to America and the world. Technology amplified the stories and songs of Southern rivers and roads, travails and struggles - as documenters recorded, disk jockeys broadcast, and performers toured these cultural expressions, helping them bridge race, gender, class, and ethnicity and producing forms of music now identified with American culture as a whole.
The world of Southern culture celebrated in the 1996 Festival was one of family, home, and community. The program explored new points of juncture and the evolution of new identities. In these could be discovered in today's South the roots of a new, evolving American culture.
Philippa Thompson Jackson was Program Curator and Phyllis K. Kimbrough was Program Coordinator.
The American South was made possible by and was produced in collaboration with The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Cultural Olympiad and in cooperation with the Southern Arts Federation. Additional support was provided by The Recording Industries Music Performance Trust Funds.
Presenters:
Dori Addison, Tara Browner, Katherine Hagedorn, Joyce Jackson, Worth Long, Derek Lowery, Tim Patridge, Henry Willett Ill, Otis Williams, Joe Wilson
Particpants:
Performance Traditions
BEAUSOLEIL AVEC MICHAEL DOUCET
Jimmy Breaux, Acadian accordion, Lafayette, Louisiana
David Doucet, lead and backing vocals, acoustic guitar, Lafayette, Louisiana
Michael Doucet, lead vocals, fiddle, Lafayette, Louisiana
Al Tharp, vocals, banjo, bass, fiddle, Lafayette, Louisiana
Billy Ware, percussion, Lafayette, Louisiana
THE BIRMINGHAM SUNLIGHTS
Reginald Speight, tenor, Birmingham, Alabama
Barry Taylor, bass, Birmingham, Alabama
James Taylor, light tenor, Birmingham, Alabama
Steve Taylor, bass, Birmingham, Alabama
Wayne Williams, tenor, Birmingham, Alabama
CALLIOPE HIGHSTEPPERS
Henry Freeman, dancer, New Orleans, Louisiana
Johnny Stevenson, dancer, New Orleans, Louisiana
James Taylor, dancer, New Orleans, Louisiana
THE FREEDOM SINGERS
Betty Mae Fikes, 1946-, vocals
Rutha Harris, vocals
Charles Neblett, 1941-, vocals
Cordell Hull Reagon, 1943-1996, vocals
GENO DELAFOSE & FRENCH ROCKIN' BOOGIE
Geno Delafose, diatonic, Acadian & piano accordion, vocals, Eunice, Louisiana
Bobby Broussard, guitar, Eunice, Louisiana
John Espre, bass, Eunice, Louisiana
Germaine Jack, drums, Eunice, Louisiana
Steven Nash, rub board, Eunice, Louisiana
IFÉ ILÉ
Philbert Armenteros, congas, Miami, Florida
Rodolfo L. Caballero, vocals, Miami, Florida
Catalino Diaz, dancer, Miami, Florida
Ruben Romeu, congas, Miami, Florida
Luis E. Torres, bata, congas, chekere, Miami, Florida
Neri Torres, lead dancer, Miami, Florida
Tony Littleturtle Clark, Lumberton, North Carolina
Kat and Ray Littleturtle, Lumberton, North Carolina
Willie Lowery, Lumberton, North Carolina
MAGGIE LEWIS WARWICK WITH TILLMAN FRANKS' OLD TIME LOUISIANA HAYRIDE BAND
Maggie Lewis Warwick, guitar, vocals, Shreveport, Louisiana
Larry Wietstruck, food demon¬strations, Katy, Texas
Sara Wilson, food demonstrations, St. Helena, South Carolina
Gospel Sing
THE CHAPLIERS, UNION CHAPEL BAPTIST CHURCH
Rev. Jimmy Strickland, minister, Pembroke, North Carolina
PROSPECT UNITED METHODIST CHURCH CHOIR
Rev. Bill James Locklear, minister, Maxton, North Carolina
Harold Dean Jacobs, diatonal minister, Maxton, North Carolina
THE SPIRITUAL TONES, WEEPING MARY FULL GOSPEL BAPTIST CHURCH
Rev. Henson F. Brooks, pastor, Salisbury, Maryland
Rev. Russell Campars, Sr., Salisbury, Maryland
Timothy Waters, II, manager, Salisbury, Maryland
WESLEY TEMPLE GOSPEL CHOIR, UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Rev. Grant Johnson, minister, Salisbury, Maryland
Diane West, choir director, Salisbury, Maryland
Mary Winder, pianist, Salisbury, Maryland
Janet Ames, president and business manager, Salisbury, Maryland
WHITE HILLS FREE WILL BAPTIST CHURCH CHOIR
Rev. Jerry Locklear, minister, Maxton, North Carolina
Eddie Carter, music director, Maxton, North Carolina
Collection Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1996 Festival of American Folklife, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
Kenesaw Mountain rag (Seven Foot Dilly and His Dill Pickles) -- She's got good dry goods (Little Buddy Doyle) -- Green meadow waltz (Adolph Hofner and His Orchestra) -- Polska from Boda / Soldier's Joy (Edwin Johnson Swedish Trio) -- Alabama blues ; Boot that thing (Booker T. Sapps, Roger Matthews and Jesse Flowers) -- Days of '49 (The Bog Trotters) -- Far in the mountain (The Red Headed Fiddlers) -- Warm wipe stomp (Macon Ed and Tampa Joe) -- Aldeline waltz (East Texas Serenaders) -- Waltz (Mike Enis Group) -- The rabbit in the pea patch (Uncle Dave Macon and the Fruit-Jar Drinkers) -- John Henry / Cripple Creek (Paul, Vernon, and Wade Miles) -- Belle of Point Clare (Arteleus Mistric) -- Acadian air (Evangeline Band) -- Old Joe (Nashville Washboard Band)
Track Information:
101 Kenesaw Mountain Rag / John Dilleshaw, Seven Foot Dilly and His Dill Pickles. Guitar,Fiddle,Banjo,Bass. English language.
102 She's Got Good Dry Goods / Little Buddy Doyle. Guitar,Harmonica. English language.
103 Green Meadow Waltz (Louka Zelena) / Adolph Hofner. Guitar,Fiddle,Hawaiian guitar,Piano,Accordion. English language.
104 Polska From Boda/Soldier's Joy / Edwin Johnson Swedish Trio, Edwin W. Johnson. Violin.
105 Alabama Blues / Booker T. Sapps, Willy Flowers, Roger Matthews. Guitar,Harmonica. English language.
106 Boot That Thing / Booker T. Sapps, Willy Flowers, Roger Matthews. Guitar,Harmonica. English language.
107 Days of '49 / Bogtrotters. Guitar,Fiddle,Banjo,Autoharp. English language.
108 Far in the Mountain / Red Headed Fiddlers, A.L. Steeley, J.W. Graham. Fiddle,Banjo. English language.
201 Warm Wipe Stomp / Tampa Joe, W.K. Amoaku. Violin,Bottleneck (Guitar playing). English language.
202 Aldeline Waltz / East Texas Serenaders. Guitar,Banjo,Violin,Violoncello. English language.
203 Waltz / Mike Enis Group, Marvin Enis, Mike Enis. Accordion,Saxophone,Bajo sexto.
204 The Rabbit in the Pea Patch / Uncle Dave Macon & the Fruit-Jar Drinkers, Uncle Dave Macon. Guitar,Fiddle,Banjo. English language.
205 John Henry/Cripple Creek / J. Paul Miles, Vernon Miles, Wade Miles. Guitar,Banjo,Mandolin. English language.
206 Belle of Point Claire / Arteleus Mistric. Harmonica. Cajun French dialect.
207 Acadian Air (Waltz) / Evangeline Band. Cornet,Clarinet,Trombone,Tuba.
208 Old Joe / Nashville Washboard Band. Guitar,Mandolin,Washboard band music,Can.
Local Numbers:
FP-RINZ-LP-0922
Library of Congress.LBC 3
Publication, Distribution, Etc. (Imprint):
Washington, D.C. Library of Congress 1976
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Nashville (Tenn.), Saint Martinville (La.), New Orleans (La.), Louisiana, Cherry Lane (N.C.), North Carolina, New York (N.Y.), New York, Tucson (Ariz.), Arizona, Dallas (Tex.), Galax (Va.), Virginia, Belle Glade (Fla.), Florida, Saint Paul (Minn.), Minnesota, San Antonio (Tex.), Texas, Memphis (Tenn.), Tennessee, Atlanta (Ga.), Georgia, United States.
General:
"A bicentennial project : Library of Congress, Archive of Folk song"; includes recordings from field and commercial sources. Songs sung in English, Czech or French. Program notes with words of the songs, translations, and bibliographical and discographical sources (7 p.) in container.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. No duplication allowed listening and viewing for research purposes only.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
101 Bluegrass / New Coon Creek Girls, Kathy Kuhn, Vickie Simmons. Guitar,Fiddle,Banjo.
102 African-American Gospel / Birmingham Sunlights, Barry Taylor, Reginald Speight.
103 Zydeco / French Rockin' Boogie (Musical group), Bobby Broussard, Geno Delafose. Guitar,Bass,Drum,Washboard band music,Diatonic,Acadian,Accordion.
Local Numbers:
FP-1996-CT-0009
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 28, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
101 Songs of Stuggle / Freedom Singers, Bettie Mae Fikes, Rutha Harris.
102 Low Country Blues / Highway 61 (Musical group), Armand Lenchek, Skeeter Brandon. Keyboards (Music),Guitar,Saxophone,Trombone.
103 Zydeco / French Rockin' Boogie (Musical group), Bobby Broussard, Geno Delafose. Guitar,Bass,Drum,Washboard band music,Diatonic,Acadian,Accordion.
Local Numbers:
FP-1996-CT-0010
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 28, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
101 African-American Gospel / Birmingham Sunlights, Barry Taylor, Reginald Speight.
102 Zydeco / French Rockin' Boogie (Musical group), Bobby Broussard, Geno Delafose. Bass,Drum,Washboard band music,Guitar,Diatonic,Acadian,Accordion.
Local Numbers:
FP-1996-CT-0017
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 30, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
101 Zydeco / French Rockin' Boogie (Musical group), Bobby Broussard, Geno Delafose. Bass,Drum,Washboard band music,Guitar,Diatonic,Acadian,Accordion.
102 Songs of Stuggle / Freedom Singers, Bettie Mae Fikes, Rutha Harris.
103 Bluegrass / New Coon Creek Girls, Kathy Kuhn, Vickie Simmons. Guitar,Fiddle,Banjo.
Local Numbers:
FP-1996-CT-0018
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 30, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
102 Zydeco / French Rockin' Boogie (Musical group), Bobby Broussard, Geno Delafose. Guitar,Bass,Drum,Washboard band music,Diatonic,Acadian,Accordion.
Local Numbers:
FP-1996-CT-0043
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 26, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
103 Zydeco / French Rockin' Boogie (Musical group), Bobby Broussard, Geno Delafose. Guitar,Bass,Drum,Washboard band music,Diatonic,Acadian,Accordion.
Local Numbers:
FP-1996-CT-0044
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 26, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
101 Zydeco / French Rockin' Boogie (Musical group), Bobby Broussard, Geno Delafose. Bass,Drum,Washboard band music,Guitar,Diatonic,Acadian,Accordion.
102 Jazz,Parade,Rhythm and Blues / Treme Brass Band, Frederick Shepard, Lionel Baptiste. Drum,Trumpet,Tuba,Trombone,Snare drum.
Local Numbers:
FP-1996-CT-0045
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 26, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
101 Country / Louisiana Hayride Band, Margaret Lewis Warwick, Tillman Franks. Hawaiian guitar,Keyboards (Music),Guitar,Fiddle.
102 Zydeco / French Rockin' Boogie (Musical group), Bobby Broussard, Geno Delafose. Guitar,Bass,Drum,Washboard band music,Diatonic,Acadian,Accordion.
Local Numbers:
FP-1996-CT-0046
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 27, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
101 Jazz,Parade,Rhythm and Blues / Treme Brass Band, Frederick Shepard, Lionel Baptiste. Drum,Trumpet,Tuba,Trombone,Snare drum.
102 Zydeco / French Rockin' Boogie (Musical group), Bobby Broussard, Geno Delafose. Drum,Bass,Washboard band music,Guitar,Diatonic,Acadian,Accordion.
103 Afro-Cuban Music and Dance / Ife Ile (Musical group), Luis E. Torres, Neri Torres. Conga (Drum),Bata (Drum).
Local Numbers:
FP-1996-CT-0048
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 27, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
102 Afro-Cuban Music and Dance / Ife Ile (Musical group), Luis E. Torres, Neri Torres. Conga (Drum),Bata (Drum).
103 Zydeco / French Rockin' Boogie (Musical group), Bobby Broussard, Geno Delafose. Guitar,Bass,Drum,Washboard band music,Diatonic,Acadian,Accordion.
Local Numbers:
FP-1996-CT-0054
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 29, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
101 Zydeco / French Rockin' Boogie (Musical group), Bobby Broussard, Geno Delafose. Bass,Drum,Washboard band music,Guitar,Diatonic,Acadian,Accordion.
102 Jazz,Parade,Rhythm and Blues / Treme Brass Band, Frederick Shepard, Lionel Baptiste. Drum,Trumpet,Tuba,Trombone,Snare drum.
103 Bluegrass / New Coon Creek Girls, Kathy Kuhn, Vickie Simmons. Guitar,Fiddle,Banjo.
Local Numbers:
FP-1996-CT-0055
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 29, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, June 30, 1996.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Most of Ruth Landes's papers relate directly or indirectly to Landes's American Indian research, her work in Brazil, and her study of bilingualism. There is also a considerable amount of material that relates to her experiences (sometimes fictionalized) at Fisk University. There is only small amount of material related to her other interests. Her collection also has material of and relating to the Brazilian folklorist and journalist Edison Carneiro. There is also noteworthy material concerning Herbert Baldus, Ruth Benedict, Elmer C. Imes, Charles S. Johnson, and Robert E. Park. There is a large amount of printed and processed materials in the collection, mainly in the form of newspaper clippings and a collection of scholarly papers.
Scope and Contents:
This collection is mainly comprised of the professional papers of Ruth Schlossberg Landes. Included are correspondence, journals, published and unpublished manuscripts of writings, research materials including field notes and reading notes, photographs, drawings, scholarly papers and publications by other scholars, and clippings from newspapers and periodicals.
Landes's field research on Candomblé in Brazil is well-represented in this collection, consisting of her field journals, writings, and photographs. Also present are Maggie Wilson's stories that were the basis for Landes's The Ojibwa Woman. Unfortunately, Landes was unable to locate her journals for her early research with the Ojibwa/Chippewa, Potawatomi, and Dakota. There are, however, field photographs of the Ojibwa/Chippewa and Potawatomi in the collection. There is also a great deal of her research on groups, especially minorities, in multilingual states with particular focus on the French of Quebec, Basques of Spain and the United States, Boers and Blacks of South Africa, the several socio-linguistic groups of Switzerland, and Acadians (Cajuns) of Louisiana. In the collection are several drafts of her unpublished manuscript on bilingualism, "Tongues that Defy the State." There is also a small amount of material about Black Jews of New York and considerable material about Landes's experience among African Americans when she taught briefly at Fisk University, including her unpublished manuscript "Now, at Athens," containing fictional and autobiographical accounts of her time at Fisk.
Reflections of other facets of Landes's professional activities are also included. Some materials concern her teaching activities, and there is also documentation of her work with the Fair Employment Practices Commission (a federal government agency during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt) and a similar private organization which immediately succeeded the FEPA; Gunnar Myrdal's research into the plight of African Americans ("The Negro in America"); the Research in Contemporary Cultures project at Columbia University; and the American Jewish Congress.
Among Landes's correspondents are Ruth Benedict, Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, Ralph Bunche, Herbert Baldus, Edison Carneiro, Sally Chilver, Frances Densmore, Sol Tax, Elmer S. Imes, Charles S. Johnson, Robert E. Park, and Hendrik W. van der Merwe.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into 6 series: (1) Correspondence, 1931-1991; (2) Research Materials, circa 1930s-1990; (3) Writings, circa 1930s-1990; (4) Teaching Materials, 1935-1975, undated; (5) Biographical and Personal Files, 1928-1988; (6) Graphic Materials, 1933-1978, undated
Biographical Note:
Ruth Schlossberg Landes was born on October 8, 1908 in New York City. Her father was Joseph Schlossberg, an activist in the Yiddish labor socialist community and one of the founders of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. She studied sociology at New York University (B.A. 1928) and social work at the New York School of Social Work, Columbia University (M.S.W. 1929). While in graduate school, Landes studied Black Jews in Harlem for her master's thesis, a topic that developed her interests in anthropology.
After graduating in 1929, she worked as a social worker in Harlem and married Victor Landes, a medical student and son of family friends. Their marriage ended after two years when she enrolled in the doctoral program in anthropology at Columbia against her husband's wishes. She kept his surname due to the stigma of being a divorced woman.
At Columbia, Landes studied under Franz Boas and Ruth Benedict, her main advisor. Under the guidance of Benedict, Landes moved away from further study of African Americans to focus on Native American communities. Upon Benedict's suggestion, Landes studied the social organization of the Ojibwa in Manitou Rapids in Ontario from 1932 to 1936 for her Ph.D. fieldwork. Her dissertation, Ojibwa Sociology, was published in 1937. Landes also contributed "The Ojibwa of Canada" in Cooperation and Competition among Primitive Peoples (1937), a volume edited by Margaret Mead. In 1938, Landes published Ojibwa Women (1938), a book written in collaboration with Maggie Wilson, an Ojibwa interpreter and informant.
In addition to studying the Ojibwa in Ontario, Landes also conducted fieldwork with the Chippewa of Red Lake, Minnesota in 1933, working closely with shaman or midé Will Rogers. Her book, Ojibwa Religion and the Midéwiwin (1968) was based largely on her research with Rogers and Maggie Wilson. In 1935 and 1936, she undertook fieldwork with the Santee Dakota in Minnesota and the Potawatomi in Kansas. Like Ojibwa Religion and the Midéwiwin, her books on the Santee Dakota and Potawatomi were not published until several years later—The Mystic Lake Sioux: Sociology of the Mdewakantonwan Sioux was published in 1968 while The Prairie Potawatomi was published in 1970. In between her field research in the 1930s and the publication of The Prairie Potawatomi, Landes returned to Kansas to study the Potawatomi in the 1950s and 1960s.
Landes's plan to continue her studies with the Potawatomi in 1937 changed when Benedict invited her to join a team of researchers from Columbia University in Brazil. Landes was to conduct research on Afro-Brazilians in Bahia, Brazil, while Walter Lipkind, Buell Quain, and Charles Wagley studied indigenous people in the Amazons. To prepare for her research, Landes was at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee in 1937 and 1938 to consult with Robert Park and Donald Pierson and to use the university's library collections of African and African American materials. During that time, Landes also held a teaching position at Fisk and lived in the non-segregated women's residence on campus. Landes later wrote "Now, at Athens," an unpublished memoir containing fictional and true accounts of her experiences at Fisk.
From 1938 to 1939, Landes conducted fieldwork on the role of Afro-Brazilian women and homosexuals in the Candomblé religion in Bahia, Brazil. Unable to move freely by herself in Brazil as a single woman, Landes was accompanied by Edison Carneiro, a Bahian journalist and folklorist. With Carneiro as her companion, Landes was allowed access to rituals and people that would have been closed off to her otherwise. Due to her association with Carneiro, a member of the Brazilian Communist Party, Landes was suspected of being a communist and was forced to leave Bahia early. Publications from her research in Brazil include "A Cult Matriarchate and Male Homosexuality" (1940) and City of Women (1947). She returned to Brazil in 1966 to study the effects of urban development in Rio de Janeiro. In 1967, a Portuguese translation of City of Women was published, a project that Carneiro had commissioned as the first director of the Ministry of Education and Culture's Special National Agency for the Protection of Folklore.
Landes returned to New York in 1939, working briefly as a researcher for Gunnar Myrdal's study of African Americans. Unable to obtain a permanent position at a university, she worked in several other short term positions throughout most of her career. During World War II, Landes was a research director for the Office of the Coordinator for Inter-American Affairs (1941) and consultant for President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Fair Employment Practices Committee on African American and Mexican American cases (1941-44). In 1945, Landes directed a program created by Pearl S. Buck and a group of interdenominational clergy to analyze pending New York anti-discrimination legislation. She moved to California the following year to work for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Welfare Council on a study of race and youth gangs. After her contract ended, she moved back to New York and was hired as a contract researcher for the American Jewish Congress (1948-50). She also participated in Columbia University's Research in Contemporary Cultures (1949-51), studying Jewish families. She coauthored with Mark Zborowski, "Hypothesis concerning the Eastern European Jewish Family." From 1951 to 1952, Landes spent a year in London, funded by a Fulbright fellowship to study colored colonial immigrants and race relations in Great Britain.
After her fellowship ended, Landes returned to the United States and held short term appointments at several universities. She taught at the William Alanson White Psychiatric Institution in New York (1953-54), the New School for Social Research in New York (1953-55), University of Kansas (1957, 1964), University of Southern California (1957-62), Columbia University (1963), Los Angeles State College (1963), and Tulane University (1964). At Claremont Graduate School, Landes helped to develop and direct the Claremont Anthropology and Education Program (1959-62).
It was not until 1965 that Landes obtained a permanent faculty position at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario; she was recruited for the position by Richard Slobodin. Due to Ontario's age retirement law, Landes was forced to retire in 1973 at the age of 65. She continued to teach part-time until 1977, when she became professor emerita.
Landes passed away at the age of 82 on February 11, 1991.
Sources Consulted
Cole, Sally. 2003. Ruth Landes: A Life in Anthropology. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press.
Chronology
1908 October 8 -- Born Ruth Schlossberg in New York City
1928 -- B.A. in sociology, New York University
1929 -- M.S.W., New York School of Social Work, Columbia University
1929-1931 -- Social worker in Harlem Married to Victor Landes
1929-1934 -- Studied Black Jews in Harlem
1931 -- Began graduate work in anthropology at Columbia University
1932-1936 -- Studied the Ojibwa in Ontario and Minnesota (in field periodically)
1933-1940 -- Research Fellow, Columbia University
1935 Summer-Fall -- Studied the Santee Sioux (Dakota) in Minnesota
1935-1936 -- Studied the Potawatomi in Kansas
1935 -- Ph.D., Columbia University
1937 -- Instructor, Brooklyn College
1937-1938 -- Instructor, Fisk University
1938-1939 -- Studied Afro-Brazilians and Candomblé in Brazil, especially at Bahia
1939 -- Researcher on Gunnar Myrdal's study, "The Negro in America"
1941 -- Research Director, Office of Inter American Affairs, Washington, D.C.
1941-1945 -- Representative for Negro and Mexican American Affairs, Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC), President Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration
1944 -- Interim Director, Committee Against Racial Discrimination, New York
1946-1947 -- Researcher, study of Mexican American youth, gangs, and families, Los Angeles Metropolitan Council
1948-1951 -- Researcher, American Jewish Congress, New York
1949-1951 -- Research consultant, study on Jewish families in New York for Research in Contemporary Cultures Project, Columbia University
1951-1952 -- Fulbright Scholar, to study colored colonial immigration into Great Britain
1953-1954 -- Lecturer, William Alanson White Psychiatric Institution, New York
1953-1955 -- Lecturer, New School for Social Research, New York
1956-1957 -- Married to Ignacio Lutero Lopez
1957 Summer -- Visiting Professor, University of Kansas
1957-1958 -- Visiting Professor, University of Southern California
1957-1965 -- Consultant, California agencies (Department of Social Work, Bureau of Mental Hygiene, Department of Education, Public Health Department) and San Francisco Police Department
1958-1959 -- Director, Geriatrics Program, Los Angeles City Health Department
1959-1962 -- Visiting Professor and Director of Anthropology and Education Program, Claremont Graduate School
1962 -- Extension Lecturer, University of California, Los Angeles and University of California, Berkeley
1963 -- Extension Lecturer, Columbia University Extension Lecturer, Los Angeles State College
1963-1965 -- Consultant, International Business Machines (IBM)
1964 January-June -- Visiting Professor, Tulane University
1964 Summer -- Field work with Potawatomi in Kansas Professor, University of Kansas
1965-1975 -- Professor at McMaster University
1966 -- Studied urban development in Rio de Janeiro
1968-1975 -- Studied bilingualism and biculturalism in Spain, Switzerland, South Africa, United States, and Canada (in Spain and the United States concentrated on Basques)
1975 -- Became part-time faculty member at McMaster University
1977 -- Professor Emerita, McMaster University
1978 -- Award of Merit from the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay
1991 February 11 -- Died in Hamilton, Ontario
1991 -- Establishment of the Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund at Research Institute for the Study of Man (RISM)
Related Materials:
Correspondence from Ruth Landes can be found in the William Duncan Strong Papers, the Leonard Bloomfield Papers, and MS 7369. The Ruth Bunzel Papers contains a copy of a grant application by Landes.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Ruth Landes in 1991.
Restrictions:
The Ruth Landes papers are open for research. The nitrate negatives in this collection have been separated from the collection and stored offsite. Access to nitrate negatives is restricted due to preservation concerns.
Access to the Ruth Landes papers requires an appointment.
Ruth Landes papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
The revision of this finding aid and digitization of portions of the collection were made possible through the financial support of the Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund.
SILAS HUBBARD JR. AND THE HOT RIBS, T.MCMULLEN, C.ROBINSON, E.WILLIAMS; SEAMUS CONNOLLY, GERALD ROBICHAUD, EDMOND BOUDREAU, HELEN KISIELTHE MOTIVATORS, D.BASS, G.BASS, J.BURGESS, R.WINSTON, J.WINBERLY, S.WINBERLY BOSTON BLUES AND JAZZ; ACADIAN AND IRISH FIDDLING; AFRO-AMERICAN GOSPEL MUSIC; TAPE 3 OF 5
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, July 2, 1988.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
GERALD ROBICHAUD, EDMOND BOUDREAU, SEAMUS CONNOLLY, HELEN KISIEL, JULIE HARKON, PAM SWING; MOTIVATORS, JOHN WINBERLY, SHOWNDU WINBERLY, DAVID BASS, GARY BASS, JESSE BURGESS, LEON WINSTON, JAMES MILNER; LEBRE FAMILY ACADIAN AND IRISH FIDDLING; AFRO-AMERICAN GOSPEL MUSIC; PORTUGUESE FADO SINGING; TAPE 2 OF 4
Recorded in: Washington (D.C.), United States, July 4, 1988.
Restrictions:
Restrictions on access. Some duplication is allowed. Use of materials needs permission of the Smithsonian Institution.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
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