Restrictions to Access

Use of audio or moving image materials may require production of listening or viewing copies.

This collection contains additional materials that are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Joan Moser Collection #20370, Southern Folklife Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Joan Moser in April 2012 (Acc. 99425).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Anne Wells, March 2018

Encoded by: Anne Wells, March 2018

Updated by: Nancy Kaiser, February 2021

Archival processing of the Joan Moser Collection was made possible through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Ballads, English--Southern States.
• Fiddle tunes--Southern States.
• Fiddlers--Southern States.
• Folk dance music--Southern States.
• Folk festivals--Southern States.
• Folk music--Southern States.
• Folk musicians--Southern States.
• Folklore--Southern States.
• Lunsford, Bascom Lamar, 1882-1973.
• Moser, Artus.
• Moser, Joan.
• Old Fiddlers’ Convention (35th : 1970 : Galax, Va.)
• Old-time music--Southern States.

• Artus Moser Papers (#20005)

Joan Moser is a folk musician, music teacher, and historian of Appalachian music. She is the daughter of ballad collector, educator, and historian, Artus Monroe Moser (1894-1992), whose collection of papers resides within the Southern Folklife Collection. Joan plays guitar, banjo, lute, dulcimer, and koto, among other instruments. She received her undergraduate degree in music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and her masters degree in music from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Joan taught music and music theory at Brevard College, and assisted with Berea College's summer workshop in Appalachian Studies. In 1977 she founded Warren Wilson College's Appalachian Studies Program, where she taught for many years. Moser is also an herbalist and student of plant lore. Along with her sister, Irene, brother, Artus Moser, Jr., and nephews Mark and Artus III, Joan is a member of the old-time Buckeye Band of Swannanoa, named for their family's home in Buckeye Cove in Swannanoa, N.C.

The majority of the Joan Moser Collection is made up of audio recordings compiled by Joan Moser, including live recordings of fiddlers' conventions and folk festivals; interviews and oral histories with folk musicians and folklorists, including her father, Artus Monroe Moser; class lectures by Joan Moser; and dubs of folk songs, ballads, and fiddle tunes collected by Joan Moser. Audio recordings are on 1/4" and 1/2" open reel audio. Other audiovisual materials include a Super 8mm motion picture film of the 1970 Old Fiddlers' Convention in Galax, Va. and field notes found with select audio recordings. Field notes consist mostly of track listings, but also include contextual notes and memos by Joan Moser on folk musicians and songs featured in the recordings.

Collection papers include ballads lyrics and sheet music; biographical materials; correspondence from academic colleagues and friends, including a recommendation letter from North Carolina based folklorist and performer, Bascom Lamar Lunsford; square dance instruction books; letters of thanks from elementary school students in Fletcher, N.C.; a copy of Joan Moser's A Source Book for Appalachian Music Studies; and writings and reviews on folklore subjects by Joan Moser.

• Audiotape (FT-20370/1-44)
• Moving Image Film (F-20370/1)