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Collection Number: 20578

Collection Title: Stefan Grossman Collection, 1967-2000

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

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Size 25 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 7500 items)
Abstract Audiovisual materials and supporting documentation created and compiled by Stefan Grossman, a white acoustic fingerstyle guitarist, music producer, educator, and co-founder of the American independent record label, Kicking Mule Records. Grossman produced and hosted the instructional video series, Guitar Workshop, and founded Vestapol Productions, which released and reissued videos of concert footage of prominent blues and folk musicians. Stefan Grossman was also a student of African American blues and gospel musician, Reverend Gary Davis, and collected extensive documentation of Davis' life and career. Collection materials consist mostly of video and audio recordings, including video masters, production elements, and research materials for Guitar Workshop and Vestapol Productions; audio masters, outtakes, and other materials related to Kicking Mule Records releases, a record label Grossman co-founded with Eugene "ED" Denson in the early 1970s; and audio recordings of guitar lessons and instructions by Stefan Grossman. Notable blues, bluegrass, folk, and old-time guitarists featured on the video and audio recordings include Big Bill Broonzy, Elizabeth Cotten, Reverend Gary Davis, John Fahey, Son House, Skip James, Dave Van Ronk, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Doc Watson, Bukka White, and Howlin' Wolf, among others. The collection also contains supporting documentation, including Grossman's files on Guitar Workshop; manuscript materials, sheet music, and guitar transcriptions related to Mel Bay, a musician and publisher of Encyclopedia of Guitar Chords; concert reviews of Kicking Mule artists and Stefan Grossman; materials related to English guitarist and songwriter, John Renbourn; Kicking Mule Records files, such as artist contracts and production materials; Vestapol files, including production logs of video and DVD releases; and photographic materials compiled by Stefan Grossman.
Creator Grossman, Stefan.
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 Stefan Grossman Collection #20578, Southern Folklife Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Stefan Grossman in December 2019 (Acc. 103768).
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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Processing Information

This summary description was created by Anne Wells in April 2020 to provide information about unprocessed materials in Wilson Special Collections Library.

Encoded by: Anne Wells, April 2020

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.

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