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Moses and Frances Asch Collection

Creator:: Asch, Moses Search this; Distler, Marian, 1919-1964 Search this; Folkways Records Search this

Names:: Courlander, Harold, 1908-1996 Search this; Guthrie, Woody, 1912-1967 Search this; Jenkins, Ella Search this; Leadbelly, 1885-1949 Search this; Ramsey, Frederic, 1915-1995 Search this; Seeger, Pete, 1919-2014 Search this

Extent:: 841 Cubic feet

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Business records; Correspondence; Phonograph records; Photographic prints; Audiotapes

Date:: 1926-1986; bulk 1948-1986

Summary:: This collection, which dates from 1926-1986, documents the output of Moses Asch through the various record labels he founded and co-founded, and includes some of his personal papers. The Asch collection includes published recordings, master tapes, outtakes, business records, correspondence, photographs, and film.

Scope and Contents:: The Moses and Frances Asch Collection measures 841 cubic feet and dates from 1926-1987, with some contemporary, relevant correspondence, clippings, and ephemera added after 1987.

Most of the collection consists of audio recordings (commercial 78 rpm and long-playing records, open reel tapes, acetate discs, and test pressings), correspondence with recording artists and producers, artwork, photographs, ephemera, clippings, record production materials, writings, and business papers relating to Folkways Records. Materials relating to Folkways Records can be found primarily in the Correspondence, Folkways Production, Business Records, Photographs, Artwork, Sound Recordings, and Film series.

The collection also contains some biographical materials and personal correspondence, including materials related to Asch's first business, Radio Laboratories, located in the Biographical Materials series. Correspondence, ephemera, photographs, record production materials, business papers, and recordings relating to Asch's record labels before Folkways Records (Asch Recordings, Disc Company of America, Cub Records) are located in the Early Label Materials series as well as the Audio Recordings and Photographs series.

Arrangement note:: The collection is arranged in 10 series:

Series 1: Correspondence, 1942-1987

Series 2: Folkways Production, 1946-1987

Series 3: Business Records, 1940-1987

Series 4: Woody Guthrie papers, 1927-1985

Series 5: Early Label Materials, 1940-1949

Series 6: Biographical Materials, 1926-1987

Series 7: Photographs

Series 8: Artwork

Series 9: Audio Recordings

Series 10: Film

At this time, the collection is partially processed. Please contact rinzlerarchives@si.edu for more information.

Biographical/Historical note:: The son of Yiddish writer Sholem Asch, Moses Asch was born in Poland in 1905. His childhood was spent in Poland, France, Germany, and New York. While young, Asch developed an interest in radio electronics, which ultimately lead him to his life's work, recording the music and sounds of the world. He established several record labels in succession, sometimes partnering with other record companies. Two of his fist record companies, Asch Recordings and DISC Co. of America, went bankrupt. They were followed by his best-known label, Folkways Records, which was founded in 1948 with Marian Distler (1919-1964). He was still working on Folkways recordings when he died in 1986.

Folkways Records sought to document the entire world of sound. The 2,168 titles Asch released on Folkways include traditional and contemporary music from around the world, spoken word in many languages, and documentary recordings of individuals, communities, and current events. Asch's business practices revolved around the commitment to keep every recording issued by Folkways in print, despite low sales. Asch stayed afloat by cutting costs where he could (such as color printing) and offering a high-quality product, meticulously recorded and accompanied by extensive liner notes. In doing this, he could charge a slightly higher price than other commercial outfits. Despite a tenuous relationship with financial solvency, Folkways grew to be not only one of the most important independent record companies in the United States in the 20th century, but also one of the largest and most influential record companies in the world.

Moses Asch's record labels featured famous and lesser known American writers, poets, documentarians, ethnographers, and grass roots musicians on commercial recordings. American folk icon Woody Guthrie recorded on the Asch, Disc, and Folkways labels, and the Asch Collection includes some of his correspondence, lyrics, drawings, and writings. The collection also includes correspondence with other notable musicians and artists such as John Cage, Langston Hughes, Margaret Walker, Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter, Pete Seeger, Peggy Seeger, Ewan MacColl, Alan Lomax, Henry Cowell, and Kenneth Patchen. Also in the collection are ethnographic field notes and photographs by as well as correspondence with Béla Barók, Sidney Robertson Cowell, Harold Courlander, Helen Creighton, Laura Boulton, and Samuel Charters. Asch hired various prominent artists and graphic designers including David Stone Martin, Ben Shahn, John Carlis, and Ronald Clyne to create album cover art for his recordings. Much of the original art and designs for these covers can be found in the Asch Collection.

Asch's output of recordings on various labels, including published recordings, open reel master tapes, outtakes, and acetate disks, in addition to his business papers, correspondence, photographs, and other files were acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987. The collection came to the Smithsonian with the understanding that all 2168 titles under the Folkways label would be kept available in perpetuity.

Shared Stewardship of Collections:: The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://folklife.si.edu/archives#shared-stewardship.

Provenance:: Ralph Rinzler arranged the Smithsonian's acquisition of the Moses and Frances Asch Collection in 1987, beginning with Asch before his death in 1986 and continuing with extensive discussions between Rinzler and the Asch family. Since its acquisition, archivist Jeff Place and others have added contemporary, relevant correspondence with Folkways artists and related individuals.

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.

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.

Topic:: Folk music Search this; Folk dance music Search this; Electronic music Search this; Oral interpretation of poetry Search this; Oral interpretation of fiction Search this; Music -- 20th century Search this; Music -- 19th century Search this; Music -- 18th century Search this; Jazz Search this; Folk music -- United States Search this; World music Search this; Sounds Search this; Vocal music Search this; Popular music -- 20th century -- United States Search this

Genre/Form:: Business records; Correspondence; Phonograph records; Photographic prints; Audiotapes

Citation:: Moses and Frances Asch Collection, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:: CFCH.ASCH

See more items in:: Moses and Frances Asch Collection

Archival Repository:: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections

GUID:: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/bk533b8a927-559a-44ac-98d2-f32d871058b4

EDAN-URL:: ead_collection:sova-cfch-asch

Online Media:

Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1995 Festival of American Folklife

Creator:: Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Search this

Names:: Smithsonian Folklife Festival Search this

Extent:: 1 Cubic foot (approximate)

Type:: Collection descriptions; Archival materials; Business records; Sound recordings; Negatives; Video recordings; Correspondence; Plans (drawings); Memorandums; Photographic prints; Videotapes; Notes; Audiocassettes; Contracts; Slides (photographs); Audiotapes; Digital images

Date:: June 23-July 4, 1995

Summary:: The Smithsonian Institution Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998. The materials collected here document the planning, production, and execution of the annual Festival, produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present) and its predecessor offices (1967-1999). An overview of the entire Festival records group is available here: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.

Scope and Contents note:: This collection documents the planning, production, and execution of the 1995 Festival of American Folklife. Materials may include photographs, audio recordings, motion picture film and video recordings, notes, production drawings, contracts, memoranda, correspondence, informational materials, publications, and ephemera. Such materials were created during the Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as well as in the featured communities, before or after the Festival itself.

Arrangement note:: Arranged in 6 series.

Missing Title

Series 1: Program Books, Festival Publications, and Ephemera

Series 2: The Cape Verdean Connection

Series 3: The Czech Republic: Tradition and Transformation

Series 4: Heartbeat: The Voices of First Nations Women

Series 5: Russian Roots, American Branches: Music in Two Worlds

Series 6: Special Events

Historical note:: The Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998.

The 1995 Festival of American Folklife was produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies and cosponsored by the National Park Service.

For more information, see Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.

Introduction:: The 1995 Festival featured American Indian women's musical traditions, the heritage of the Czech Republic and Czech Americans, music of Russian and Russian American groups, and the cultural life of the Cape Verdean community. These programs testified to the vitality of the human spirit, and to how people, ideas, and forms of cultural expression increasingly cross boundaries of geography, politics, language, race, and gender. Special events included evening concerts devoted to African immigrant communities in the Washington, D.C. area and a memorial concert for Festival founding director, Ralph Rinzler.

Heartbeat: The Voices of First Nations Women presented the musical culture of American Indian women. The program examined how these women express their identity through the use of a variety of musical forms - from traditional songs of home to contemporary songs of Indian life, from the appropriation of men's music to the fusion of root music with country, folk, blues, and gospel.

The Czech Republic: Tradition and Transformation provided a broad survey of the ways national, regional, ethnic, and local traditions have been defined in a complex state located at the crossroads of Central Europe. The "Velvet Revolution" of 1989 and the separation of the Czech and Slovak Republics in 1993 have prompted further examinations of cultural identity, the relationship between the state and popular expression, creativity and tradition. Czech Americans, too, have looked at these changes and the reestablishment of relationships to their ancestral homeland.

A third program, Russian Roots, American Branches: Music in Two Worlds, explored the musical culture of Old Believers and Molokans, Russian religious communities created in the 17th and 18th centuries. The program united immigrant communities long established in the United States with those from Russia, and brought together people who, although separated by generations and different social environments, have nonetheless faced parallel issues with regard to cultural persistence and adaptation.

All these programs involved complex institutional arrangements, local-level research and documentation, and strong commitment to and pride in Festival representation. The Cape Verdean Connection program well demonstrated these processes. Cape Verde is an independent island nation and former Portuguese colony located off the west coast of Africa. Cape Verdean Americans, now numbering about 400,000, most born and raised here, historically settled in New England during the 18th century, playing instrumental roles in the whaling and cranberry industries. Cape Verdeans had an important story to tell about their role in American life, their immigrant and continuing transnational cultural experience, their multiracial heritage, and their enduring sense of community - a story with much to tell others as well. Cape Verdeans provided the impetus for the Festival program, carried out most of the research in concert with Smithsonian scholars, led the effort to raise funds from governments, foundations, corporations, and individuals through benefit dances, auctions, and other community events, and, as is fitting, joined with the Smithsonian to share their experiences with the American public.

The 1995 Festival took place during two five-day weeks (June 23-27 and June 30-July 4) between Madison Drive and Jefferson Drive and between 10th Street and 13th Street, south of the National Museum of American History and the National Museum of Natural History (see site plan). It featured four programs and several special events.

The 1995 Program Book included schedules and participant lists for each program; essays provided background on the Festival and each of the four programs.

The Festival was co-presented by the Smithsonian Institution and National Park Service and organized by the Center for Folklife Programs & Cultural Studies.

Center for Folklife Programs & Cultural Studies

Richard Kurin, Director; Richard Kennedy, Deputy Director; Diana Parker, Festival Director; Anthony Seeger, Director, Smithsonian/Folkways Recordngs; Peter Seitel, Senior Folklorist; Thomas Vennum, Jr., Senior Ethnomusicologist; Betty Belanus, Olivia Cadaval, Amy Horowitz, Marjorie Hunt, Diana Baird N'Diaye, Curators, Folklorists, Educational and Cultural Specialists; Carla M. Borden, John W. Franklin, Charlene James-Duguid, Program Managers; Felicia Erickson, Arlene L. Reiniger, Mary Van Meter, Program Specialists; Jeffrey Place, Archivist; Kenneth M. Bilby, Roland Freeman, Ivan Karp, Corrine Kratz, Alan Lomax, Worth Long, Yook Jung Park, Kate Rinzler, Research Associates & Collaborators

Folklife Advisory Council and Folkways Advisory Council

Roger Abrahams, Jacinto Arias, Michael Asch, Jane Beck, Don DeVito, Pat Jasper, Ella Jenkins, Jon Kertzer, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, John Nixdorf, Bernice Reagon, John Roberts, Carol Robertson, Gilbert Sprauve, Jack Tchen, Ricardo Trimillos, Carlos Vélez-Ibáñez

National Park Service

Roger Kennedy, Director; Robert G. Stanton, Regional Director, National Capital Region

Shared Stewardship of Collections:: The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://folklife.si.edu/archives#shared-stewardship.

Forms Part Of:: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1995 Festival of American Folklife forms part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival records .

Smithsonian Folklife Festival records

Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: Papers

1967 Festival of American Folklife records - [Ongoing]

Related Archival Materials note:: Within the Rinzler Archives, related materials may be found in various collections such as the Ralph Rinzler papers and recordings, the Lily Spandorf drawings, the Diana Davies photographs, the Robert Yellin photographs, and the Curatorial Research, Programs, and Projects collection. Additional relevant materials may also be found in the Smithsonian Institution Archives concerning the Division of Performing Arts (1966-1983), Folklife Program (1977-1980), Office of Folklife Programs (1980-1991), Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies (1991-1999), Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present), and collaborating Smithsonian units, as well as in the administrative papers of key figures such as the Secretary and respective deputies. Users are encouraged to consult relevant finding aids and to contact Archives staff for further information.

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.

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.

Topic:: Folk art Search this; arts and crafts Search this; Food habits Search this; Folk music Search this; Folklore Search this; World music Search this; Folk festivals Search this

Genre/Form:: Business records; Sound recordings; Negatives; Video recordings; Correspondence; Plans (drawings); Memorandums; Photographic prints; Videotapes; Notes; Audiocassettes; Contracts; Slides (photographs); Audiotapes; Digital images

Citation:: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1995 Festival of American Folklife, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.