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.
Size | 4.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 1400 items) |
Abstract | This collection contains materials created and collected by Nellie Ferry and Colleen Chapman, two white women from Oregon, who ran country and western music fan clubs in the early 1950s. Materials consist of photographic prints and negatives, unpublished acetate audio discs, and printed materials related to country and western musicians, principally the Sons of the Pioneers but also Ernest Tubb, Chet Atkins, Bob Wills, Hank Williams, Merle Travis, Maddox Brothers and Rose, and others. |
Creator | Ferry, Nellie, 1912-1972
Chapman, Colleen, 1930-1999 |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Folklife Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Rebecca Stubbs, May 2023
Encoded by: Dawne Howard Lucas, June 2023
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.
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.
Colleen Chapman and Nellie Ferry, two white women from Oregon, were fans of the country music group Sons of the Pioneers, as well as the many spin-off artists, films, radio shows, and television shows based on or featuring the group. They attended radio show performances and concerts throughout the country, documenting their trips with photographs, facts about the musicians, and preparing their fan club fanzine. Nellie Ferry (1912-1972) worked for radio stations in Portland, Ore., including KVAN. She hosted radio interviews and shows for country western musicians and was head of the T. Texas Tyler fan club. Her husband Earnest V. Ferry (1907-1960) worked as a machinist for Union Pacific, and also operated Ferry's Foto service which supplied photographs for country western fan clubs. Colleen Chapman (1930-1999) was an amateur photographer who founded the Shug Fisher Fan Club in Portland, Ore. As president of the fan club, she was the primary contact with the Sons of the Pioneers and other cowboy western musical groups.
Back to TopThis collection contains materials created and collected by Nellie Ferry and Colleen Chapman, two white women from Oregon, who ran country and western music fan clubs in the early 1950s. Materials consist of photographic prints and negatives, unpublished acetate audio discs, and printed materials related to country and western musicians, principally the Sons of the Pioneers but also Ernest Tubb, Chet Atkins, Bob Wills, Hank Williams, Merle Travis, Maddox Brothers and Rose, and others.
Back to TopFolder 1 |
Screenplays and news articles"Lucky U Ranch" screenplay; "Places I've Been and Things I've Done" notations; and news article clippings |
Folder 2 |
T. Texas Tyler autographed album cover"The Man with a Million Friends" autographed album cover |
Folder 3 |
Fisher's Fan Club scrapbook"Fisher's Fan" scrapbook including an interview questionnaire from Dale Henry Warren |
Folder 4 |
"Hank Snow's Journey to Fame"Country Song Roundup magazine no. 40 |
Folder 5 |
Magazines and pamphlets"John Cash: His Life Story"; "Favorite Songs of the WLW, Boone County Jamboree", "Bumming Around" by Pete Graves, and "This Ole House" by Stuart Hamblen. |
Folder 6 |
Ann Jones's folio"Give Me A Hundred Reasons" by Ann Jones |
Folder 7 |
Souvenir programsWestern Hall of Fame presents first annual "Hoss Opera," 28 November 1948; 15th Anniversary of Bob Nolan and Sons of the Pioneers, 1948 |
Folder 8 |
Hank Snow's folio"Hank Snow: The Singing Ranger," 1951 |
Folder 9 |
Folio, programs, and pamphletsFolio of Hank Thompson's hits; "A Story of the Grand Old Opry"; "Album of Hillbilly and Western Favorites"; souvenir program for Faron Young |
Photograph Album PA-70151/1 |
Photograph Album 1, circa 1950sAutographed Promotional & Publicity Headshots; Black-and-White Photographs, Color Photographs Identified Individuals: Nellie; Grace & Wade Ray; Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys; Billy Jack and his Western Swing Band (Tiny, Cotton, Dick, Kenny, and Vance); Maddox Bros (Henry, Cliff, Don, Col, Bud, & Fred) and Rose; Jim Brown; Jim Reeves; Maxine Brown; Judy Lynn; Jack Rivers; Marty Robbins; Tommy Sosbee; "Cowboy" Lloyd Copas; Johnny Horton; Hank Locklin; Arkie Shibley and His Mountain Dew Boys; Bob Ferguson; Skeets McDonald; Jimmie Rodgers; Colleen and Rod Brasfield. |
Photograph Album PA-70151/2 |
Photograph Album 2, circa 1950sBlack-and-White Photographs, Color Photographs Identified Individuals: Ann Jones; Cowboy Hillbilly Barton; Bill Carlyle; Hank Locklin; Nellie; and Stuart Hamblen |
Photograph Album PA-70151/3 |
Photograph Album 3, circa 1950sBlack-and-White Photographs, Newspaper Clippings Sons of the Pioneers Scrapbook with images of musicians and newspaper clippings |
Photograph Album PA-70151/4 |
Photograph Album 4, circa 1950sAutographed Promotional & Publicity Headshots; Black-and-White Photographs, Color Photographs Identified Individuals: Nellie; T. Texas Tyler; Tommy Collins; Ferlin Husky & Betty Husky; Ernest Tubb; Sons of the Pioneers; "Slim" Whitman; Eddy Arnold; "Little" Jimmy Dickens; Hawkshaw Hawkins; Jean Shepard; Leftie Frizzle; & Ann Jones |
Photograph Album PA-70151/5 |
Photograph Album 5, circa 1950sAutographed Promotional & Publicity Headshots; Black-and-White Photographs, Color Photographs; Newspaper Clippings, Stamps Disassembled. Identified Individuals: Ferlin Husky; Lee Emerson; Harvey Youngblood; Al Terry; Red Foley; The Wilburn Bros (Teddy & Doyle); Texas Tony Merrill; Ole Rasmussen; Randall Parker; Johnny Grimes; D(?) O'Dell; Blair Musser; Wayne Thomas; Taylor Morris; Gene Whittier(?); Joe Lane; Rusty Myers; Same White; Arkie Benedict; George, Anne, and Candy Morgan; Wade Ray; Red River Davie; Eddie Dean; Charlie Ryan; Chet Adkins; Jerry Byrd |
Photograph Album PA-70151/6 |
Photograph Album 6, circa 1950sBlack-and-White Photographs, Color Photographs Disassembled. "Cowboy Music Photo Archive Sons of the Pioneers" Nellie Ferry & Connie Chapman; Portland, Oregon |
Photograph Album PA-70151/7 |
Photograph Album 7, 1948-1951Autographed Promotional & Publicity Headshots; Black-and-White Photographs, Color Photographs Disassembled. "Cowboy Music Photo Archive Sons of the Pioneers" Nellie Ferry & Connie Chapman; Portland, Ore. Also includes image of young boy removed from Folder 1. |
Photograph Album PA-70151/8 |
Photograph Album 8, 1948-1951Black-and-White Photographs, Color Photographs Disassembled Scrapbook Photograph Album depicting Autographed Promotional & Publicity Headshots from Sons of the Pioneers; Roy Rogers and Trigger in "Hands Across the Border "and "Man From Oklahoma"; Roy Rogers and Smiley Brunette in "Idaho"; Bob Nolan; Charles Starrett in "Outlaws of the Panhandle", "Thundering Frontier" and "West of Cheyenne." Also includes signed photograph by Carl Perkins. |
This series contains additional materials that are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.
Use of audio or moving image materials may require production of listening or viewing copies.