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Collection Number: 70090

Collection Title: Hugh Buckner Johnston Recordings of North Carolina Tales and Folk Songs, 1971-1971

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.


Archival processing of the Hugh Buckner Johnston Recordings of North Carolina Tales and Folk Songs was made possible through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

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Size 6 items
Abstract Live audio recordings of Hugh Buckner Johnston, a white professor, historian, genealogist, and singer from Wilson, N.C., performing songs and telling stories he learned as a boy from his father and grandfather who both lived in Edgecombe County, N.C. Included are hunting songs and legends about the supernatural, including "Beetsy Long-Tooth", "The Three Jolly Huntsman", "The Miller's Wife", and "Josiah and Kerchuga". Recorded in January, February, and March 1971. The collection also contains supporting documentation, including a field collection cover sheet prepared by former library staff, as well as lyrics sheets prepared by Hugh Buckner Johnston.
Creator Johnston, Hugh Buckner.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Folklife Collection.
Language English
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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 Hugh Buckner Johnston Recordings of North Carolina Tales and Folk Songs #70090, Southern Folklife Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Acquisitions information unknown (Acc. 20210108.3).
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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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 Hugh Buckner Johnston Recordings of North Carolina Tales and Folk Songs was made possible through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

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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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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Hugh Buckner Johnston (1913-1990) was a white professor, historian, genealogist, and singer from Wilson, N.C., who was a former student of Arthur Palmer Hudson, a professor of English, 1930-1953, and executive secretary of the Curriculum in Folklore, 1950-1963, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Hugh Buckner Johnston taught at Atlantic Christian College. Johnston's research focused on local history and genealogy in Wilson County, N.C.

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Live audio recordings of Hugh Buckner Johnston, a white professor, historian, genealogist, and singer from Wilson, N.C., performing songs and telling stories he learned as a boy from his father and grandfather who both lived in Edgecombe County, N.C. Included are hunting songs and legends about the supernatural, including "Beetsy Long-Tooth", "The Three Jolly Huntsman", "The Miller's Wife", and "Josiah and Kerchuga". Recorded in January, February, and March 1971. 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 lyrics sheets prepared by Hugh Buckner Johnston.

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Contents list

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Hugh Buckner Johnston Recordings of North Carolina Tales and Folk Songs, 1971.

6 items.

Processing information: Titles and descriptions compiled from SFC database and supporting documentation.

SFC Audio Open Reel FT-70090/1554

Hugh Buckner Johnston performing songs and telling stories, tape 1, 2 February 1971

1/4" Open Reel Audio

Includes folk narrative "Beetsy Long-Tooth", a traditional witch story. Johnston is retelling a tale he heard from his grandfather, which also appears in the Frank C. Brown Collection, Vol I., pp 654-59.

SFC Audio Open Reel FT-70090/1555

Hugh Buckner Johnston performing songs and telling stories tape 2, 28 January 1971

1/4" Open Reel Audio

Includes folk songs "The Three Jolly Huntsman".

SFC Audio Open Reel FT-70090/1556

Hugh Buckner Johnston performing songs and telling stories tape 3, 23 March 1971

1/4" Open Reel Audio

Includes folk songs "The Miller's Wife" and "Josiah and Kerchuga".

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