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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 Ronald C. Wimberley Collection was made possible through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Size | 6 items |
Abstract | The Ronald C. Wimberley Collection consists of live recordings of the 1970 Ann Arbor Blues Festival, which was held 7-9 August 1970 at the Otis Spann Memorial Field in Ann Arbor, Mich. Ronald C. Wimberley, a white sociologist, and John Hatch, a college friend of Ronald C. Wimberley, created and compiled the open reel recordings, which include live performances by Son House, Big Mama Thornton, Robert Pete Williams, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, John Jackson, Carey Bell, Little Brother Montgomery, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Johnny Winter, Luther Allison, Mance Lipscomb, Junior Parker, Lowell Fulson, Johnny Shines, and Sunnyland Slim, among other blues musicians. The Ann Arbor Blues Festival began in 1969 and was the first electric blues festival in North America. The festival was created and organized by a group of mostly white University of Michigan students led by Cary Gordon, a native of suburban Detroit, and John Fishel, who grew up in Cleveland and had transferred to Michigan from Tulane University. Ann Arbor Blues Festival was sponsored first by the University of Michigan with help later from the Canterbury House, an Episcopal group which owned a folk club in Ann Arbor. |
Creator | Wimberley, Ronald C. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Folklife Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Anne Wells, 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 Ronald C. Wimberley Collection was made possible through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
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Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
Ronald C. Wimberley (1942-2011) was professor of sociology and a member of the North Carolina State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences faculty for 40 years. Dr. Wimberley was known for his 1997 book, titled The Southern Black Belt: A National Perspective that researched and described the sociological factors that impacted living conditions in the 11-state rural Black Belt South. His research also focused on religious commitment, civil religion, and political behavior, and on an official government definition of farms that helped assure government services to diverse types of farms, including those operated by minorities. In April 2011, the Southern Sociological Society named Dr. Wimberley as the 2011-2012 winner of their Roll of Honor Award, the highest recognition given by the society.
The Ann Arbor Blues Festival began in 1969. It was the first electric blues festival in North America. The festival was created and organized by a group of University of Michigan students led by Cary Gordon, a native of suburban Detroit, and John Fishel, who grew up in Cleveland and had transferred to Michigan from Tulane University. This small group of University of Michigan students, influenced by the 1960s counterculture, introduced 20,000 mostly white teenagers to Black blues musicians, many of whose songs were only known to mainstream Americans because they had been re-released by white rock and roll bands like Cream, Derek & the Dominos, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Eric Burdon and the Animals, and the Rolling Stones. The festival was sponsored first by the University of Michigan with help later from the Canterbury House, an Episcopal group which owned a folk club in Ann Arbor. By 1972, white concert promoter Peter Andrews and white political activist John Sinclair teamed up to lead the festival, which they rechristened as the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival.
Historical information on the Ann Arbor Blues Festival courtesy of the Ann Arbor Blues Festival, "What Is the Ann Arbor Blues Festival?" (2021).
Back to TopThe Ronald C. Wimberley Collection consists of live recordings of the 1970 Ann Arbor Blues Festival, which was held 7-9 August 1970 at the Otis Spann Memorial Field in Ann Arbor, Mich. Ronald C. Wimberley, a white sociologist, and John Hatch, a college friend of Ronald C. Wimberley, created and compiled the open reel recordings, which include live performances by Son House, Big Mama Thornton, Robert Pete Williams, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, John Jackson, Carey Bell, Little Brother Montgomery, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Johnny Winter, Luther Allison, Mance Lipscomb, Junior Parker, Lowell Fulson, Johnny Shines, and Sunnyland Slim, among other blues musicians. The Ann Arbor Blues Festival began in 1969 and was the first electric blues festival in North America. The festival was created and organized by a group of mostly white University of Michigan students led by Cary Gordon, a native of suburban Detroit, and John Fishel, who grew up in Cleveland and had transferred to Michigan from Tulane University. Ann Arbor Blues Festival was sponsored first by the University of Michigan with help later from the Canterbury House, an Episcopal group which owned a folk club in Ann Arbor.
Back to TopArrangement: In order as received.
Processing information: Titles and descriptions compiled from original containers.
SFC Audio Open Reel FT-70095/1 |
Ann Arbor Blues Festival, 1970: tape 11/4" Open Reel Audio Recorded 7-8 August 1970. Includes performances by John Lee Hooker, Howlin Wolf, Lazy Bill Lucas, and Hound Dog Taylor. |
SFC Audio Open Reel FT-70095/2 |
Ann Arbor Blues Festival, 1970, tape 21/4" Open Reel Audio Recorded 8-9 August 1970. |
SFC Audio Open Reel FT-70095/3 |
Ann Arbor Blues Festival, 1970: tape 31/4" Open Reel Audio Recorded 8-9 August 1970. Includes performances by Bobby Blue Band Review (Ernie Fields Jr., Paulette Parker, Bobby Blue Band), John Jackson, Dave Alexander, Little Brother Montgomery, Carey Bell with Eddie Taylor, Buddy Guy with Junior Wells, Otis Rush, Johnny Winter and Luther Allison, Mighty Joe Young and David Alexander, and Papa Lightfoot. |
SFC Audio Open Reel FT-70095/4 |
Ann Arbor Blues Festival, 1970: tape 41/4" Open Reel Audio Recorded 9 August 1970. Includes performances by Papa Lightfoot (continued from FT-70095/3), Mance Lipscomb, Junior Parker, Lowell Fulson, Big Mama Thornton, and Son House. Also includes recordings dubbed from 102.9 WNRZ FM (Ann Arbor, Mich.). |
SFC Audio Open Reel FT-70095/5 |
Ann Arbor Blues Festival, 1970: taped by John D. Hatch Jr.1/4" Open Reel Audio Includes performances by Johnny Shines, Sunnyland Slim, Robert Pete Williams, and Johnny Young. |
SFC Audio Open Reel FT-70095/6 |
[unidentified sound recording]1/4" Open Reel Audio |