Joan Fenton Collection, 1952-1978

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Summary

Creator:
Fenton, Joan.
Abstract:

Folklorist and performer Joan Fenton earned a Masters degree in folklore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1981. She is the owner of several stores in Charlottesville, Va., that feature traditional and contemporary handicrafts. The collection consists of sound recordings and related documentation. Sound recordings include interviews, songs, and tall tales by artists in the southern roots traditions from North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Louisiana. Fenton's folklore thesis fieldwork about Howard Cotten, an African American tall tale teller in North Carolina, is represented by his songs, anecdotes, and tales about fishing and hunting that were recorded between 1976 and 1978. Also included are recordings from the 1978 John Henry Folk Festival where Hazel Dickens, Viola Clark, the Badgett Sisters, Walter Phelps, Ethel Phelps, Sparky Rucker, Pigmeat Jarrett, and Sweet Honey in the Rock performed. Interviews and sound recordings relating to Jamie Alston, Wilber Atwater, Willie Brooks, Dona Gum, Maggie Hammons, Sherman Hammons, Guy B. Johnson, Everett Lilly, Mitchell "Bea" Lilly, Varise Conner, Phillippe Bruneau, Carl Rutherford, and the Balfa Brothers are included. Also included are interviews with and songs of Charles Williams, a washboard player from White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., and Nat Reese, a guitarist and blues singer from Princeton, W.Va. Fenton is the primary interviewer on these recordings, some of which were made in performers' homes where she accompanied them on guitar, but there are also a few field tapes done by others, including some with the Reverend Gary Davis in Jamaica, N.Y., 1971-1972 and others done by John Cohen in New York in the 1950s. Documentation of field recordings includes transcription notes from interviews conducted by Fenton and notes compiled from the audio material.

Extent:
1300 items
Language:
English.
Library Catalog Link:
View UNC library catalog record for this item

Background

Biographical / historical:

Joan Fenton earned a Masters degree in folklore in 1981 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Fenton's thesis project, Howard Cotten: A Black teller of Tall Tales, centered around the African American tall tale tradition.

In the mid-1970s, Fenton recorded Howard Cotten and other tall tale-tellers and musicians in the North Carolina Piedmont, including Jamie Alston, Wilber Atwater, and Willie Brooks. Around the same time, she recorded gospel, blues, and country music in West Virginia, as well as biblical readings, a chanted sermon, and congregational testimonies from an African-American church service. Fenton also interviewed better-known artists, such as Sweet Honey in the Rock, Alice Gerrard, and Carl Rutherford, and recorded music and workshop sessions at the John Henry Folk Festival in 1978.

Joan Fenton lives in Charlottesville, Va., and owns 9 retail stores, 7 of which feature traditional and contemporary handicrafts. Fenton, active in the Charlottesville business community, has served as chair of the Charlottesville Board of Architectural Review, a member of the Charlottesville Revolving Loan Committee, and chair of the Downtown Business Association. Fenton coordinates "Blues Week" at the Augusta Heritage Workshop in Elkins, W.Va.

Scope and content:

The collection of Virginia folklorist Joan Fenton consists of sound recordings and related documentation. Sound recordings include interviews, songs, and tall tales by artists in the southern roots traditions from North Carolina's Piedmont region and other southern states, including South Carolina, West Virginia, and Louisiana. Fenton's folklore thesis fieldwork about Howard Cotten, an African Americantall-tale teller in North Carolina, is represented by his songs, anecdotes, and tales about fishing and hunting that were recorded between 1976 and 1978. Also included are recordings from the 1978 John Henry Folk Festival where Hazel Dickens, Viola Clark, the Badgett Sisters, Walter Phelps, Ethel Phelps, Sparky Rucker, Pigmeat Jarrett, and Sweet Honey in the Rock performed. Interviews and sound recordings relating to Jamie Alston, Wilber Atwater, Willie Brooks, Dona Gum, Maggie Hammons, Sherman Hammons, Everett Lilly, Mitchell "Bea" Lilly, Varise Conner, Phillippe Bruneau, Carl Rutherford, and the Balfa Brothers are included. Also included are interviews with and songs of Charles Williams, a washboard player from White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., and Nat Reese, a guitarist and blues singer from Princeton, W.Va. Fenton is the primary interviewer on these recordings, some of which were made in performers' homes where she accompanied them on guitar. However, there is also a set of four field tapes of the Reverend Gary Davis interviewed in his home in Jamaica, N.Y., during the winter of 1971-1972 by Larry Johnson and Lionel Ragosin and three other field tapes that were recorded in New York City in the early 1950s by John Cohen.

Documentation of field recordings includes transcription notes from interviews conducted by Fenton. For every field recording in the collection, documentation notes were compiled by the Southern Folklife Collection's research assistants in the mid-1980s. The audio material was reviewed and described, some in great detail. Documentation also includes notes from the original audiotape labels.

Acquisition information:

Received from Joan Fenton in September 1990 (Acc. 102633).

Processing information:

Processed by: Allyn Meredith, April 2004

Encoded by: Allyn Meredith, April 2004

Updated by: Anne Wells, August 2016

Updated in June 2020 to remove racist slurs.

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.

Access and use

Restrictions to access:

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

Access to streaming audio or moving image materials may be restricted to researchers who can authenticate with an ONYEN or who are physically present on campus. For further information about access to streaming audiovisual materials, contact Research and Instructional Services staff at Wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

Restrictions to use:

Patrons must secure permission from donor before personal copies can be made.

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 Fenton Collection #20015, Southern Folklife Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Location of this collection:
Louis Round Wilson Library
200 South Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27515
Contact:
(919) 962-3765
wilsonlibrary@unc.edu