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Collection Number: 20480

Collection Title: Norm Cohen Collection, 1960s-2000s

This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.

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Size 324 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 47,962 items)
Abstract The collection of Norm Cohen (1936-), folklorist, author, and former executive secretary of the John Edwards Memorial Foundation, contains an extensive library of books and serials about country, folk, bluegrass, and blues music; commercial recordings on compact disc and 78 rpm and 45 rpm discs; and research files and project files for his work on early country and folk music, especially the railroad in American song and "ethnic music." Research files contain field notes, discographies and bibliographies, newspaper clippings, reprints of articles, tape logs of interviews with old time musicians, record catalogs, programs for folklore conferences and music festivals, noncommercial audio recordings, photographs, and correspondence with publishers and with folklorists including Willie Smyth and Archie Green. Other materials include drafts of Cohen's writings and documents related to the John Edwards Memorial Foundation, particularly the organization's record reissues and its journal, JEMF Quarterly. Acquired as part of the Southern Folklife Collection.
Creator Cohen, Norm, 1936-
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Folklife Collection.
Language English
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Restrictions to Access
This collection is not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting this collection.
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 Norm Cohen Collection #20480, Southern Folklife Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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.
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This summary description was created in April 2019 to provide information about unprocessed materials in Wilson Special Collections Library.

Encoded by: Nicole Cvjetnicanin

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Norm Cohen (1936-) originally of New York, N.Y., is a physical chemist, folklorist and author. He worked for the Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, Calif., for several decades beginning in 1963. Considered a leading authority on early country music and the railroad in American folk music, Cohen is the author of Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong; Folk Music: A Regional Exploration; and Ethnic and Border Music: A Regional Exploration. He served as the executive secretary of the John Edwards Memorial Foundation (JEMF) and between 1965 and 1988 as the editor of the JEMF Quarterly.

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