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This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities; this finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 7.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 5,475 items) |
| Abstract | Arthur Palmer Hudson (1892-1978) was a professor of English, 1930-1953, and executive secretary of the Curriculum in Folklore, 1950-1963, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The collection includes correspondence, editorial papers from "The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore," and other material of Arthur Palmer Hudson. Correspondence and other papers relating to Hudson's editorship of the "Brown Collection" form the bulk of this collection. There is also significant correspondence relating to folklife in North Carolina and to many aspects of the discipline of folklore. Among the letters are one, 1933, from Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938); one, 1933, from Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941); and one, 1945, from William Faulkner (1897-1962). |
| Creator | Hudson, Arthur Palmer, 1892-1978. |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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Subject Headings
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.
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Related Collections
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Biographical Information
Arthur Palmer Hudson (1892-1978) was a professor of English, 1930-1953, and executive secretary of the Curriculum in Folklore, 1950-1963, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Hudson was born in the Hesterville community of Attala County, Miss. He received his B.A. degree from the University of Mississippi in 1913. Thereafter he served as principal of Gulfport (Miss.) High School, 1913-1919, and superintendent of schools in Oxford, Miss., 1919-1920. In 1920 he received his M.A. degree from the University of Mississippi and began teaching in its Department of English. In 1925 he was awarded another M.A. from the University of Chicago, and in 1930 a Ph.D., with the Smith Prize for Graduate Research from the University of North Carolina. In 1930 Hudson accepted an appointment as associate professor of English at the University of North Carolina, where he taught English romantic literature as well as folklore. He remained at the University of North Carolina as a professor, Kenan professor, and Kenan Professor Emeritus, until his retirement in 1951. He also served as executive secretary of the Curriculum in Folklore at the University, 1950-1963.
Hudson's major publications were in the field of folklore and included Specimens of Mississippi Folklore (1928); Folksongs of Mississippi and Their Background (1936); Humor of the Old Deep South (1936); Folk Tunes from Mississippi (with George Herzog, 1937); two volumes of the Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore (with H. M. Belden, 1952); and Folklore in American Literature (with John T. Flanagan, 1958). Hudson also edited North Carolina Folklore, the Journal of the North Carolina Folklore Society, 1954-1963. He also served as the society's secretary-treasurer, 1946-1964.
Hudson was married to Grace Noah of Kosciusko, Miss., in 1916. They had three children, William Palmer, Margaret Louise, and Ellen Noah.
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Scope and Content
The collection includes correspondence, editorial papers from "The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore," and other material of Arthur Palmer Hudson (1892-1978), professor of English, 1930-1953, and executive secretary of the Curriculum in Folklore, 1950-1963, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Correspondence and other papers relating to Hudson's editorship of the "Brown Collection" form the bulk of this collection. There is also significant correspondence relating to folklife in North Carolina and to many aspects of the discipline of folklore. Among the letters are one, 1933, from Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938); one, 1933, from Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941); and one, 1945, from William Faulkner (1897-1962). In addition to correspondence and Frank C. Brown materials, the collection also contains printed material relating to folklore and folk musicians, a small number of photographs and volumes, and 84 open reel tapes once belonging to Arthur Palmer Hudson.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Correspondence, 1915-1966.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Note that original folder titles have, for the most part, been retained.
Correspondence chiefly relates to Arthur Palmer Hudson's activities as a professor of folklore at the University of North Carolina, secretary-treasurer of the North Carolina Folklore Society, and folklore scholar. Some letters relate to Hudson's editorship of Volumes II and III of the Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore. Many of the letters deal with the music, folk tales, and folklife of North Carolina.
The series also contains correspondence (in part copies) with individuals including David Horace Bishop, a professor and later colleague of Hudson's at the University of Mississippi. There are also letters from various notable persons including one from Thomas Wolfe, one from Sherwood Anderson, one from William Faulkner, and an exchange with Pete Seeger.
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Series 2. Printed Material, 1941-1961 and undated.
This series consists of brochures and flyers on various folk musicians, programs from the meetings of folklore socieities and from campus performances, bibliographies and notices of new folklore publications, newspaper clippings on folklore topics, and folklore maps. There are also pamphlets, booklets, and periodicals collected by Arthur Palmer Hudson on summer trips to Maine and Mexico in 1954 and 1955.
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Series 3. Frank C. Brown Collection Materials, 1942-1952.
The folklore collection of Dr. Frank C. Brown of Duke University was published, after Dr. Brown's death in 1942, under the auspices of the North Carolina Folklore Society. Volumes II and III of the collection, co-edited by Arthur Palmer Hudson and H. M. Belden of the University of Missouri, contain folksongs collected by Brown. This series consists of papers related tot the publishing of the folksong volumes. The materials are divided into four subseries: editorial aids, carbons of songs, materials generated by Hudson and Belden, and the John Burch Blaylock Song Collection.
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Subseries 3.1. Editorial Aids
This subseries includes a general group of editorial aids compiled by Newman Ivey White that were to be used by all editors of the Frank C. Brown Collection papers. Included are two articles by White on the origin and classification of the Brown Collection, an index to Brown's correspondence with informants, a geographical distribution list of items in the collection, and alphabetical lists of contributors, recordings, and manuscripts. Also included are Brown's master bibliography of folklore and Brown's classification scheme for the collection and for the folksongs (which formed the largest part of the collection).
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Subseries 3.2. Carbons of Songs in the Frank C. Brown Collection
This subseries includes carbons of songs in the Frank C. Brown collection, some including the name of the contributor and place and date of contribution. Carbons were provided to Arthur Palmer Hudson and H. M. Belden to be evaluated and annotated. These copies are grouped according to Brown's classification scheme (consult Folder 52).
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Subseries 3.3. Materials Generated by Belden and Hudson
This subseries contains materials generated by Arthur Palmer Hudson and H. M. Belden during the editing process. There are carbons of introductions to each section of Volumes II and III; abbreviation lists; song lists with additions, deletions, and corrections; indexes to ballads and songs; and carbons of songs as annotated and arranged by the editors. There is also a section of completed copy for the printers. These songs are arranged by number as they appear in the published volumes.
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Subseries 3.4. John Burch Blaylock Song Collection
John Burch Blaylock was a Register of Deeds from Yanceyville, N.C., and an amateur musician and folksong collector. In 1944, he donated his songbooks to the North Carolina Folklore Society for inclusion with the published Frank C. Brown material. This subseries includes typed copies of songs annotated by John T. McCullough, Arthur Palmer Hudson's assistant, and also the original leaves from Blaylock's songbooks. See also Folder 3.
| Folder 176 |
Typed copies #04026, Subseries: "3.4. John Burch Blaylock Song Collection" Folder 176 |
| Folder 177 |
Index of songs #04026, Subseries: "3.4. John Burch Blaylock Song Collection" Folder 177 |
Folder 178-203
Folder 178Folder 179Folder 180Folder 181Folder 182Folder 183Folder 184Folder 185Folder 186Folder 187Folder 188Folder 189Folder 190Folder 191Folder 192Folder 193Folder 194Folder 195Folder 196Folder 197Folder 198Folder 199Folder 200Folder 201Folder 202Folder 203 |
Songs #04026, Subseries: "3.4. John Burch Blaylock Song Collection" Folder 178-203 |
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Series 4. Pictures, 1963-1964.
Items include snapshots of Arthur Palmer Hudson, students, and colleagues, with captions by Hudson.
| Image P-4026/1-8 |
Ballad class, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Spring 1961 #04026, Series: "4. Pictures, 1963-1964." P-4026/1-8 |
| Image P-4026/9-14 |
Ballad class, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and people connected with the North Carolina Folklore Society, Spring 1961 #04026, Series: "4. Pictures, 1963-1964." P-4026/9-14 |
| Image P-4026/15-19 |
Thomas Wolfe Memorial House, Asheville, N.C., and folk singers at the Music Education National Conference, Asheville, N.C., 1961 #04026, Series: "4. Pictures, 1963-1964." P-4026/15-19 |
| Image P-4026/20-26 |
Ballad Party and Folk Festival, Chapel Hill, N.C., 1961 #04026, Series: "4. Pictures, 1963-1964." P-4026/20-26 |
| Image P-4026/27-32 |
Folklore Archives and faculty, Indiana University, 1961 #04026, Series: "4. Pictures, 1963-1964." P-4026/27-32Also incudes photograph of Billy Edd Wheeler, folksinger at Berea College, Ky., and of Grace Collins, folklore graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1961. |
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Series 5. Volumes, 1896-1911, 1976.
The volumes constituting this series include an inventory of the Hudson Mississippiana Folklore Collection at the University of Mississippi and five autograph albums from South Dakota, sent to Arthur Palmer Hudson by a former student. The albums were the former property of the Comstocks, an immigrant family of Swedish descent, apparently of Letcher, South Dakota.
| Folder 204 |
Volume 1: Arthur Palmer Hudson Mississippiana Folklore Collection Guide, 1976 #04026, Series: "5. Volumes, 1896-1911, 1976." Folder 204 |
Folder 205-207
Folder 205Folder 206Folder 207 |
Volumes 2-6: Autograph books, 1896-1911 #04026, Series: "5. Volumes, 1896-1911, 1976." Folder 205-207 |
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Series 6. Additions
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Subseries 6.1 Open Reel Audio Recordings (Addition of January 1996)
Acquisitions Information: unknown.
Open reel tapes compiled by Arthur Palmer Hudson. Please note that recordings may include more than one artist or subject.
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Items Separated
Processed by: SHC Staff
Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007
Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, November 2009
Updated by: Anne Wells, February 2018
This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.
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