]
]
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.
Archival processing of the Jeff Titon and Ken George Collection was made possible through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Expand/collapse
Collection Overview
| Size | 84 items |
| Abstract | The Jeff Titon and Ken George Collection consists of audio recordings, 1971-1990, of Baptist testimonies, sermons, and hymns recorded by ethnomusicologist, Jeff Titon, and anthropologist, Ken George. The majority of the recordings, 1971-1978, relate to Titon and George's scholarship on Reverend John Claymon Sherfey of Falls Church, Va. and his "folk preaching." Sherfey, who was born in Boone, N.C., began his ministry as an evangelist, preaching in revivals and on a half-hour radio program on WKIN (Kingsport, Tenn.). Sherfey later became pastor of the Fellowship Independent Baptist Church in Stanley, Va. and host of the half-hour radio ministry on WRAA (Luray, Va.). In the late 1970s both Titon and George spent time with Sherfey and his congregations, recording services, radio broadcasts, and interviews. The collection includes these recordings of worship services, prayer meetings, and Reverend Sherfey's radio broadcasts on WRAA, in Luray, Va., with hymn singing, gospel quartets, duets, songs, testimonials, sermon chanting, and Sherfey singing duets with his wife, Pauline. There are also extensive interviews with Sherfey and seventeen church members, including Reverend Belvin Hurt and an earlier recording of Reverend G. A. Cave, and recordings of several revival services led by Sherfey in Sparta, N.C. The collection also includes an audio recording, 1990, by Titon that features Baptist worship services held in the Kentucky counties of Letcher and Knott. |
| Creator | George, Kenneth M., 1950-
Titon, Jeff Todd, 1943- |
| Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Folklife Collection. |
| Language | English |
Expand/collapse
Information For Users
Expand/collapse
Processing Information
Processed by: Anne Wells, June 2016
Encoded by: Anne Wells, June 2016
Archival processing of the Jeff Titon and Ken George Collection was made possible through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Back to Top
Expand/collapse
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.
Expand/collapse
Related Collections
Expand/collapse
Biographical Information
Jeff Todd Titon received a B.A. from Amherst College and an M.A. (English) and Ph.D. (American Studies) from the University of Minnesota, where he studied ethnomusicology with Alan Kagan, writing his dissertation on blues music. He taught at Tufts University (1971-1986), where he co-founded the American Studies program, and held appointments in the departments of English and music. In 1986 he moved to Brown University as professor and director of the doctoral program in ethnomusicology, a position he held until retirement in 2013. He is the author or editor of eight books, including Early Downhome Blues (1977; 2nd edition, University of North Carolina Press, 1994), which won the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award; Worlds of Music (six editions since 1984, with translations into Italian and Chinese); Powerhouse for God (a book, record, and documentary film); Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes (University Press of Kentucky, 2001), American Musical Traditions (Gale, 2002), and the Oxford Handbook of Applied Ethnomusicology (Oxford University Press, 2015). Since his retirement in 2013 he has remained active, publishing several essays, editing one book, and giving numerous lectures and keynote addresses.
Kenneth "Ken" M. George received a B.A. from Tufts University, an M.A. (Folklore) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an M.A. and Ph.D. (Anthropology) from the University of Michigan. He joined the Australian National University's College of Asia and the Pacific in 2013 as Professor of Anthropology and Director of the School of Culture, History and Language, having served previously at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Harvard University and the University of Oregon. He is a specialist on Southeast Asia and a past editor of the Journal of Asian Studies (2005-2008). His ethnographic research in Indonesia has focused on the cultural politics of minority ancestral religions (1982-1992), and more recently (1994-2008), on a long-term collaboration with painter A. D. Pirous, exploring the aesthetic, ethical, and political ambitions shaping Islamic art and art publics in that country.
In the late 1970s Titon and George conducted field research and scholarship on Reverend John Claymon Sherfey and his "folk preaching." Sherfey, who was born in Boone, N.C., began his ministry as an evangelist, preaching in revivals and on a half-hour radio program on WKIN (Kingsport, Tenn.). Sherfey later became pastor of the Fellowship Independent Baptist Church in Stanley, Va. and host of the half-hour radio ministry on WRAA (Luray, Va.). In the late 1970s both Titon and George spent time with Sherfey and his congregations, recording services, radio broadcasts, and interviews. Transcriptions from these field recordings were the basis of two articles by George and Titon. The articles, titled "Dressed in the Armor of God" (1977) and "Testimonies" (1978), were both published in Alcheringa, an ethnopoetics journal edited by Dennis Tedlock and Jerome Rothenberg over a thirteen-issue run from 1970 to 1980.
Kenneth George biography courtesy of Australian National University; Jeff Titon biography courtesy of Brown University
Back to Top
Expand/collapse
Scope and Content
The Jeff Titon and Ken George Collection consists of audio recordings, 1971-1990, of Baptist testimonies, sermons, and hymns recorded by ethnomusicologist, Jeff Titon, and anthropologist, Ken George. The majority of the recordings, 1971-1978, relate to Titon and George's scholarship on Reverend John Claymon Sherfey of Falls Church, Va. and his "folk preaching." Sherfey, who was born in Boone, N.C., began his ministry as an evangelist, preaching in revivals and on a half-hour radio program on WKIN (Kingsport, Tenn.). Sherfey later became pastor of the Fellowship Independent Baptist Church in Stanley, Va. and host of the half-hour radio ministry on WRAA (Luray, Va.). In the late 1970s both Titon and George spent time with Sherfey and his congregations, recording services, radio broadcasts, and interviews. The collection includes these recordings of worship services, prayer meetings, and Reverend Sherfey's radio broadcasts on WRAA, in Luray, Va., with hymn singing, gospel quartets, duets, songs, testimonials, sermon chanting, and Sherfey singing duets with his wife, Pauline. There are also extensive interviews with Sherfey and seventeen church members, including Reverend Belvin Hurt and an earlier recording of Reverend G. A. Cave, and recordings of several revival services led by Sherfey in Sparta, N.C. The collection also includes an audio recording, 1990, by Titon that features Baptist worship services held in the Kentucky counties of Letcher and Knott.
Back to Top
Expand/collapse
Jeff Titon and Ken George Collection, 1971-1990.
Arrangement: Chronological.
Titles compiled from the SFC database unless otherwise noted.
Field notes for these recordings reside in Folders 486-497 and Folder 112 within the Southern Folklife Collection Field Notes Collection (#30025).
Expand/collapse
Items Separated