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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 Bruce M. Conforth Collection on Lawrence Gellert was made possible through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Size | 3.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 2500 items) |
Abstract | The Bruce M. Conforth Collection on Lawrence Gellert consists of papers and original field recordings related to the independent white music collector, Lawrence Gellert, who recorded African American vernacular music in the American South from roughly 1920-1940. Folklorist, Bruce M. Conforth, compiled the materials as part of his ongoing research on Lawrence Gellert, which culminated with Conforth's 2013 publication, African American folksong and American cultural politics: the Lawrence Gellert story. Papers consist primarily of research files on Lawrence Gellert compiled by Bruce M. Conforth, as well as lyric transcriptions, musical scores, notebooks, writings, and other materials by Lawrence Gellert. Original field recordings consist of African American work songs, chants, spirituals, and blues songs recorded by Lawrence Gellert in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. |
Creator | Conforth, Bruce M., 1950- |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Folklife Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Emma Evans and Anne Wells, July 2018
Updated in June 2020 to remove racist slurs.
Encoded by: Anne Wells, July 2018
Archival processing of the Bruce M. Conforth Collection on Lawrence Gellert was made possible through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Back to TopThe 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.
Bruce M. Conforth received his PhD in ethnomusicology and folklore from Indiana University. He served as the first curator of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and was a member of the faculty of the American Culture Department at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor until 2017. Since his time at Indiana, Conforth has researched and helped to release recordings by Lawrence Gellert (1898-1979), an independent Hungarian American music collector who recorded and published African American vernacular music from the American South from roughly 1920-1940. Gellert was the younger brother of the radical artist, Hugo Gellert, who was also on the editorial staff of the American intellectual journal, The New Masses, which Lawrence Gellert often contributed songs, lyrics, and commentary to. Lawrence Gellert was also known for his 1936 publication Negro Songs of Protest, which contained song transcriptions and accompanying musical arrangments of African American vernacular music. Bruce M. Conforth wrote his masters thesis on Lawrence Gellert and his collection of field recordings held at Indiana University's Archives of Traditional Music. Conforth also helped produce two albums of songs from this same collection, including releases under Rounder Records ( Cap'n You're So Mean: Negro Songs Of Protest, Volume Two, 1982, RR 4013) and Heritage Records ( Nobody Knows My Name: Blues From South Carolina And Georgia 1924-1932, 1984, HT 304). In 2013, Conforth published a book on Lawrence Gellert titled, African American folksong and American cultural politics: the Lawrence Gellert story, which includes discussion on how Lawrence Gellert's field recordings were adopted by the American Left and American Communist party as "songs of protest", as well as folklorists' and scholars' assertions that Gellert's field work had been doctored for political purposes.
Back to TopThe Bruce M. Conforth Collection on Lawrence Gellert consists of paper materials and original field recordings related to the independent white music collector, Lawrence Gellert, who recorded African American vernacular music in the American South from roughly 1920-1940. Folklorist, Bruce M. Conforth, compiled the materials as part of his ongoing research on Lawrence Gellert, which culminated with Conforth's 2013 publication, African American folksong and American cultural politics: the Lawrence Gellert story. Collection materials contain papers on or by Lawrence Gellert, as well as original field recordings by Lawrence Gellert on aluminum instantaneous disc.
Papers consist mostly of Bruce M. Conforth's dated research files on Lawrence Gellert. These files include copies of clippings on Lawrence Gellert's brother, Ernest Gellert (1918), and brother, Hugo Gellert (1925); copies of correspondence with Langston Hughes (1931), W. C. Handy (1932), Ben Davis of Negro Liberator (1934), Louis Coleman of International Labor Defense (1934), John Gassner of Theatre Guild (1934), Elie Siegmeister (1934), Lon Adomian (1935), Carl Fischer (1936), and Alice Lightner (1936); copies of publications, including Negro Songs of Protest (Lawrence Gellert, 1936, 1938), Me and My Captain (Lawrence Gellert, 1939), Music Vanguard (1935), and "Federal Writers Project Manual for Collecting Folklore" (1939); copies of Gellert's writings on Nancy Cunard (undated), Stephen Foster (1940), and a Monroe, La. lynching (1946); Gellert's collection of army songs for the Pepsi-Cola Company (1942); and other materials.
Papers also include audiovisual documentation, lyric transcriptions, musical scores, notebooks, writings, and other materials compiled by Bruce M. Conforth. Audiovisual documentation includes an inventory and assessment by Conforth of Gellert's field recordings, presumably held at Indiana University. Song lyrics and musical scores by Lawrence Gellert consist of typed and handwritten lyric transcriptions and musical scores, some of which are annotated. Notebooks by Lawrence Gellert contain writings, lyric transcriptions, and musical scores. Writings and other materials consist of Bruce M. Conforth's liner notes and writings on Lawrence Gellert's recordings, biographical materials on Gellert compiled by Conforth, as well as additional writings and other materials created by Gellert. Writings of particular note include about 290 pages of typed and annotated manuscript of Lawrence Gellert's collection of I'shman tales, which contain folktales told by African Americans in the South about Irish immigrants to the area. Please note that additional I'shman tales manuscript materials can be found in the Southern Historical Collection's Lawrence Gellert Scrapbook (#04442).
Original field recordings consist of 75 aluminum instantaneous disc recordings of African American vernacular music recorded by Lawrence Gellert in the American South, including the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The recordings are undated, but were presumably created between 1920-1940. They feature African American work songs, chants, spirituals, and blues songs.
Back to TopArrangement: Research files are arranged chronologically.
Processing information: Most materials remain in their original folders. Some materials have been re-foldered due to preservation concerns. Loose materials have also been re-foldered. Re-foldered titles supplied by processor are in brackets.
Box 1 |
1918-1935 |
Box 2 |
1935-1939 |
Box 3 |
1940-1959 |
Box 4 |
1959-1968 |
Box 5 |
1969-1983 and undated |
Box 6 |
Audiovisual documentation |
Lyric transcriptions and musical scores |
|
Notebooks |
|
Writings and other materials |
|
Box 7 |
"One Time I'shman Tales" |
Arrangement: In order as received.
Processing information: Titles compiled form original discs.