Restrictions to Access

Access to audio materials may require production of listening copies.

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 Mary Seelhorst Recordings #20238, Southern Folklife Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions information unknown (Acc. 20210108.2).

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 and Meredith Kite, January 2021

Encoded by: Anne Wells, January 2021

Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

Archival processing of the Mary Seelhorst Recordings 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.

• Banjo music--North Carolina.
• Baptists--Hymns.
• Bluegrass music--North Carolina.
• Country music--North Carolina.
• Fiddle tunes--North Carolina.
• Folk music--North Carolina.
• Funeral rites and ceremonies--United States.
• Funeral service.
• Hymns, English--Kentucky.
• Kentucky--Religion--20th century.
• McGee, Ralph L.
• McGee, Rex Jr.
• McGee, Rex, 1951-
• North Carolina--Songs and music.
• Old-time music--North Carolina.
• Osborne, Baxter.
• Regular Baptists--Kentucky.
• Religious life and customs--Kentucky.
• Rierson, J. J.
• Seelhorst, Mary.
• Sermons, American--Kentucky.
• Songs, English--North Carolina.
• Stokes County (N.C.)--Songs and music.
• Vogler, Coy.

• Southern Folklife Collection Field Notes #30025

Mary L. Seelhorst, of Ypsilanti, Mich., is a white museum professional, writer, musician, and auto racing crew member. Seelhorst was born in Athens, Ohio. She received her bachelor's degree in English and Comparative Arts from Ohio University in 1983 and her master's degree in Folklore from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1985. Her master's thesis, "Folklife Research for the Living History Museum: Theory and Practice," looks at research for open-air museums, historical museums, and historic farms.

Live audio recordings created by Mary Seelhorst, a white museum professional, writer, musician, and auto racing crew member, when she was a graduate student of Folklore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The recordings include a 1983 documentary recording of the funeral of Mary Seelhorst's grandmother, Sena Edith Burke (1902-1983) of Greenup County, Ky., as well as a performance of old-time tunes, bluegrass, and country songs performed by the house band of the Pollirosa Restaurant in King, Stokes County, N.C. in 1984. The funeral service for Sena Edith Burke was recorded by Mary Seelhorst in November 1983 at the Morton Funeral Home in South Shore, Ky. This recording includes lined out hymns and a chanted sermon by Brother Baxter Osborne and members of the Regular Baptist Church from South Shore, Ky. The Pollirosa Restaurant house band recording features musicians Ralph McGee, white fiddler; J. J. Rierson, white electric guitarist, fiddler, and vocalist; Rex McGee, white pianist (Ralph's son); Rex McGee, Jr., white banjo player (Ralph's grandson); and Coy Vogler, white bass player. Mary Seelhorst recorded the band on 5 October 1984 in the Pollirosa Restaurant, which burned down in January of 1985. The funeral recording is on audiocassette, while the Pollirosa house band recordings are on 1/4" open reel audio. The collection also contains supporting documentation, including a field collection cover sheet prepared by former library staff, as well as tape logs and a transcription of the funeral service recording made by the collector. Tape logs include titles of songs performed by the Pollirosa Restaurant house band, including "Cripple Creek", "Fisher's Hornpipe", "Old Joe Clarke", "Please Release Me", Nine Pound Hammer", and "I'm Gonna Be a Diamond Some Day", among others.

• Audiocassette (FS-1236)
• Audiotapes (FT-1665-1666)
• Field Notes (Folder 630), Southern Folklife Collection Field Notes #30025