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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.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 12.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 3300 items) |
| Abstract | The collection of Jewish American folklorist and longtime editor of the folk music magazine Sing Out! Irwin Silber (1925-2010) contains correspondence, writings, subject files, articles, newspaper clippings, transcripts of interviews, sheet music, lyric sheets, song books, bibliographies, photographs, a video recording, and newsletters, zines, pamphlets, and other publications chiefly related to American folk music and workers' rights. The materials document Silber's leading role in the folk revival of the mid-twentieth-century, publication of topical American folksongs and protest songs, leftist political activism and writings, anti-war stances and protests particularly during the Vietnam and Iraq wars, and Silber's avid support for workers and labor unions, civil rights of African Americans, and women's rights. Major correspondents include Pete Seeger, Archie Green, Ronald Cohen, Raeburn Flerlage, and Silber's wife, folk singer Barbara Dane. Of interest are materials related to the House Committee on Un-American Activities including Silber's subpoenas to appear before it in the 1950s, a notebook he kept during a trip he took to Vietnam in 1974, and professional correspondence and papers related to the American Folksay Group, People's Songs, People's Artists, Sing Out!, and the record label Paredon Records that he and Dane started. |
| Creator | Silber, Irwin, 1925-2010. |
| Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Folklife Collection. |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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Processing Information
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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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Biographical Information
Jewish American folklorist and staunch political leftist and social justice activist, Irwin Silber was born in New York, N.Y., in 1925. In the mid-1940s, Silber joined Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and others in founding People's Song, Inc., which published and distributed protest and labor songs, and a few years later he became editor of the folk music magazine Sing Out!. He famously took Bob Dylan to task in a 1965 issue of the magazine, scolding Dylan for playing amplified music and abandoning political songs.
Silber edited numerous books of topical American folk songs including Songs of the Civil War (1960), The Vietnam Songbook (1969) Songs America Voted By (1971), Songs of Independence (1973), and Songs of the Great American West (1995). In 2003 he published a biography of Communist Party member and sports editor for the Daily Worker Lester Rodney.
In 1964, Silber married singer and activist Barbara Dane. Silber died in 2010.
| 1953 | Lift Every Voice: The Second People's Song Book, edited by Silber. |
| 1960 | Songs of the Civil War, compiled and edited by Silber. |
| 1961 | American Favorite Ballads: Tunes and Songs as Sung by Pete Seeger, edited for publication by Silber and Ethel Raim. |
| 1963 | Hootenanny Song Book, compiled and edited by Silber. |
| 1964 | Soldier Songs and Home-Front Ballads of the Civil War, compiled and edited by Silber. |
| 1964 | The Bells of Rhymney, and Other Songs and Stories from the Singing of Pete Seeger, edited for publication by Ethel Raim and Silber. |
| 1965 | 900 miles: [printed music] The Ballads, Blues, and Folksongs of Cisco Houston, edited for publication by Moses Asch and Silber. Musical transcription by Jerry Silverman. |
| 1965 | This Singing Land. |
| 1967 | Folksong Festival: 47 Favorites to Play and Sing, selected and edited by Silber. |
| 1967 | Songs of the Great American West, compiled and edited by Silber. |
| 1969 | The Vietnam Songbook, compiled and edited by Barbara Dane and Silber. |
| 1970 | The Cultural Revolution: A Marxist Analysis. |
| 1971 | Songs America Voted By: With the Words and Music that Won and Lost Elections and Influenced the Democratic Process, compiled and edited with historical notes by Silber. |
| 1971 | The Season of the Year: Folksongs of Christmas and the New Year, compiled and edited by Silber. |
| 1973 | Folksinger's Wordbook, compiled and edited by Irwin Silber and Fred Silber. |
| 1973 | Songs of Independence, compiled and edited with historical notes by Silber. |
| 1986 | Kampuchea: The Revolution Rescued. |
| 1994 | Socialism--What Went Wrong?: An Inquiry into the Theoretical and Historical Sources of the Socialist Crisis. |
| 1999 | Patient's Guide to Knee and Hip Replacement: Everything You Need to Know. |
| 2003 | Press Box Red: The Story of Lester Rodney, the Communist Who Helped Break the Color Line in American Sports. |
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Scope and Content
The collection of Jewish American folklorist and longtime editor of the folk music magazine Sing Out! Irwin Silber (1925-2010) contains name files, correspondence, subject files, writings, articles, newspaper clippings, transcripts of interviews, sheet music, lyrics, song books, bibliographies, publisher agreements, photographs, a video, and newsletters, zines, pamphlets, and other publications chiefly related to American folk music and workers' rights.
The materials document Silber's leading role in the folk revival of the mid-twentieth-century, publication of topical American folksongs and protest songs, leftist political activism, anti-war stances and protests particularly during the Vietnam and Iraq wars, and avid support for organized labor, civil rights for African Americans, and women's rights. Correspondents include Pete Seeger, Archie Green, Ronald Cohen, Raeburn Flerlage, and Silber's wife Barbara Dane. Of interest are materials related to the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) including Silber's subpoenas to appear before it in the 1950s, a notebook he kept during a trip he took to Vietnam in 1974, and professional correspondence and papers related to the American Folksay Group, People's Songs, People's Artists, Sing Out!, and his record label Paredon Records.
The collection contains name files for folk musicians and folklorists; research files for Silber's compilations of topical American folk songs, including Songs of the Civil War (1960), The Vietnam Songbook (1969) Songs America Voted By (1971), Songs of Independence (1973), and Songs of the Great American West (1995); Silber's professional correspondence, writings, and other papers related to Sing Out; subject files pertaining chiefly to folklore studies and theory, folklife organizations, folklorists, folk music, American and international socialism and communism, and People's Songs and People's Artists; and printed materials including folk festival programs, zines, magazines, journals, pamphlets, and offprints.
Individuals represented in the collection include Paul Robeson, Bishop Donald L. West, Si Kahn, David Van Ronk, Alan Lomax, Earl Hawley Robinson, Alessandro Portelli, Moses Asch, Bill Malone, and Woody Guthrie.
Topics addressed in the materials include the folk revival, protest songs, organized labor, Vietnam War, anti-war activism, cultural revolution, counterculture, Marxism, folk festivals, folklore studies curricula, 1965 Sing-in for Peace, blacklisting in Hollywood, House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), and American Folksay records.
Publications contained in the collection include pamphlets from the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), issues of Broadside, and song books from People's Songs, Inc.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Name Files, circa 1960s-2000s.
Arrangement: Alphabetical by surname.
Silber's files on individuals, chiefly roots music artists and folklorists, and a few musical groups. Materials include newspaper and magazine clippings, articles, printed items, writings, and correspondence with or about the individual. Correspondents include Ron Cohen, Barbara Dane, Archie Green, Peggy Seeger, Pete Seeger, and Don West.
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Series 2. Songs, circa 1930s-2000s.
Silber's research files on topical American folk music. Materials include song books, sheet music, lyrics, correspondence, notes, and items related to the publication of Irwin's books about topical folk songs.
| Box 5 |
Civil War songs |
| Box 6 |
Election and campaign songs |
| Box 7 |
"Great American West" songs |
| Box 8 |
Revolutionary War songs |
Box 9-10
Box 9Box 10 |
Work, Labor, and Union songsIncludes socialist song books, proletariat songs from the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.), textile mill songs, strike songs, and women worker songs. |
| Box 11 |
Vietnam War songsIncludes material about "Sing-In for Peace," 1965 |
| Box 12 |
"Negro Songs of Protest" |
Civil Rights songs |
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Women's Rights songs |
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Feminism and suffrage songs |
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Protest songsIncludes Iraq War protest songs. |
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Political songs |
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Populist songsIncludes Farmers Alliance songs. |
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| Box 13 |
Song books from the Highlander Research and Education Center in Monteagle, Tenn. |
"International Student Center-Boston Song-Book" |
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Folk songsIncludes songs from Saipan, Australia, England, and Algeria. |
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Cancion Protesta, 1967 |
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Canto Libre, 1974"Our purpose is to show the voice of the peoples of Latin America in songs that grow out of and together with their liberation struggles." |
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| Videotape VT-20432/1 |
"ASU Songs," undatedVHS tape. Restriction: Use of video tape may require production of viewing copy. |
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Series 3. Correspondence, Writings, and Professional Papers, circa 1950s-2000s.
| Box 14 |
Correspondence, 1997-2006 and undatedChiefly printed-out email correspondence with Paul Buhle, Barbara Dane, Ed Pearl, Jules Tygiel, Ritchie Unterberger, Dave Zirin, and others. Topics include history of American communism, HUAC and anticommunism, Herbert Aptheker, Barry Bonds, James Foreman, Michael Moore, Paul Robeson, Jackie Robinson, Pete Seeger, Nina Simone, Dixie Chicks, The Weavers, 2003 Alan Lomax conference, Organization of American Historians, Hurricane Katrina, and Silber's books, Press Box Red: The Story of Lester Rodney, the Communist Who Helped Break the Color Line in American Sports and Socialism: What Went Wrong. |
Irwin Silber files, circa 1950s-2000sIncludes biographical information, clippings about Silber, transcriptions of interviews with Silber and Barbara Dane conducted in 1996 and 1998, subpoenas from the United States House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) in 1952 and 1958, and a partial transcript from his HUAC testimony. |
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| Box 15 |
American Folksay Group of American Youth for Democracy, circa 1940sIncludes scripts by Silber, programs from performances, and issues of the Group's newsletter "Dancin round." |
| Image Folder PF-20432/1 |
American Folksay Group of American Youth for Democracy, circa 1940sIncludes images of Pete Seeger. |
| Box 15 |
Sing-In for Peace Committee, 1965 |
Voices of National Liberation: The Revolutionary Ideology of the "Third World" as Expressed by Intellectuals at the Cultural Congress of HavanaFile on Silber's 1968 book. |
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Kampuchea: The Revolution RescuedFile on Silber's 1986 book about the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia. Includes a brief letter from Noam Chomsky. |
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Socialism: What Went WrongFile on Silber's 1994 book. Includes book reviews and contracts. |
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Writings by Silber and accompanying material, circa 1980s-2000sIncludes drafts of book reviews, conference papers, and articles. |
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Paredon Records, circa 1970s-1990sMaterials related to Barbara Dane and Irwin Silber's record label include catalogs, inventories, correspondence with recording artists, and information about the donation of Paredon Records to the Smithsonian Institution. Beginning in 1970, Paredon published 50 records with folk music and speeches related to "political protest and revolutionary cultural currents .... and Third World national liberation movements." |
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| Box 16 |
"Vietnam Trip," 1974Silber's notebook kept during his trip to Vietnam. |
Socialist Turning Point"A collection of articles analyzing the Soviet crisis and Gorbachev's attempt to resolve it by Irwin Silber. Published by the Institute for Social and Economic Studies." |
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Perestroika: Gorbachev's Program for Socialist Renewal and a New Way of Thinking"A reprint packet of articles from Frontline by Irwin Silber." |
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Sing Out!, circa 1960s-2000sMaterials related to the magazine include correspondence, clippings, printed items, and issues of the Sing Out! Bulletin Correspondence from 1967 to 1970 between Silber and the publication's owners and other editorial board members is at times acrimonious. In a 13 November 1967 letter to Silber, Pete Seeger writes,"Who is it thinks that 'the cause of folk music won in 1967 at Newport?' Nobody but you, but you set up a straw man so that you can florish [sic] your power of sarcasm. There are a lot of unfair little inaccuracies in your article, but I won't even bother to bring them up. Newport doesn't need me to defend it, nor for that matter, did they need a big article in SING OUT. For issue, after issue, after issue, I've tried to persuade you to downgrade these commercial festivals, and all you do for issue, after issue, after issue is to boost them up. Actually, I can go a lot further than you in my criticism of Newport, I am only sorry that I have been so uncriticizing of you as editor of SING OUT. I am afraid that even if you leave immediately it's too late to save the magazine." |
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Series 4. Subject Files, circa 1930s-2000s.
Subject files reflect Silber's interest chiefly in the folk revival, folklore, United States House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), communism, socialism, and Marxism, People's Songs, and People's Artists. Files contain correspondence with friends and folklorists, song lyric sheets, and printed items including songbooks, zines and other serials, offprints of articles, event programs, and newspaper clippings.
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Series 5. Printed materials, circa 1927-2006.
Printed materials are chiefly scattered runs of zines, magazines, journals, and other serials related to folk music, including the titles Broadside, Caravan, Come for to Sing, Folk Scene, Folk Roots, Gardyloo, Hootenanny, and Hullabaloo. Programs for folk music festivals include Folk Festival of the Catskills at Camp Woodland (1940s), Monterey Folk Festival (1963), Newport Folk Festival (1959 and 1960s), and Phila Folk Festival (1966).
Other printed materials are pamphlets, booklets, issues of serials, and conference proceedings related to workers and organized labor and leftist politics, particularly socialism and Marxism. Titles include The Bloodstained Trail: A History of Militant Labor in the United States (1927), The General Strike for Industrial Freedom (1946), Documents from the Founding Conference of the National Network of Marxist-Leninist Clubs (1979), The Struggle Against Imperialism (1981), Frontline (1980s), Line of March (1980s), and Working Papers of the National Conference on Racism and National Oppression (1981).
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Items Separated