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NEWSLETTER As the weather in New York continues to get warmer, I am happy to report that environmental conditions at the Woody Guthrie Archives remain stable. Although our midtown Manhattan building continues to undergo extensive renovations, a recent visit by a preservation consultant from the Northeast Document Conservation Center indicates that the archives is a model of archival standards and practices. While this is good news, we expect that an imminent NEDCC final report will point to areas in the collection that are in need of conservation and preservation care and attention. I must also mention our recent WGA staff junket to Merlefest, the wonderful Bluegrass festival held annually in North Carolina. In this beautiful setting, we cheered Nora Guthrie’s presentations which were met with exuberance and enthusiasm. Woody’s presence was clearly felt, with many wonderful Guthrie fans and friends, both old and new, making us feel welcome. Thank You Doc and everyone at Merlefest! Speaking of Festivals, don’t forget the annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in Okemah, OK. We may even see you out there! Of special note to interested musicians, artists and scholars, we are preparing the announcement for the next application cycle of the BMI Woody Guthrie Research Fellowship. Please visit the BMI Foundation, Inc., website [www.bmifoundation.org/home.asp] often and soon for application details and deadline dates. We are especially grateful to the BMI Foundation, whose support enables talented and creative individuals to generate new works which tap into Woody Guthrie’s intellectual, artistic, and social concerns. As an example, one of our 2005 Research Fellows, Farrell Moose, a visual artist, recently opened an exhibit of new paintings at Boston University. Farrell’s work is a collaboration of sorts, based on selected writings by Woody from which the artist drew inspiration.
Finally, our work to produce a new Woody Guthrie Legacy Records release, Folk Singers & Dancers, will soon see the light of day. This rare historic recording of Woody Guthrie performing “live” before an audience, in 1949, promises to be a folk collection that is not to be missed. It will soon be available, so be on the lookout! As always, we wish you a great Spring! and an even better Summer! Jorge Arevalo
A new documentary about Woody Guthrie, titled Woody Guthrie: Aint’ Got No Home, produced by Peter Frumkin, features rare footage, photographs and images from the archives. The film promises to be a major contribution to Guthrie’s legacy. (See new productions below for events associated with the film’s release.) NEDCC recently completed a collection-wide survey to assess preservation needs at the WGA. Made possible by a New York State Library Discretionary Grant, their final report will enable us to develop a long-term preservation/conservation plan. The Woody Guthrie Archives Oral History Program continues, as we make plans to interview individuals such as Tao Rodriguez-Seeger in the near future. Tao is the grandson of Pete Seeger and a musician with The Mammals. We continue to digitize Guthrie’s original lyrics, a project made possible by a generous grant from the BMI Foundation. Exhibitions and Programs An exhibit of photographs from the Archives titled The Faces of Woody Guthrie has been on display at the Bonneville Lock & Dam Visitor’s Center in Portland, Oregon from May 1st through 30th. A number of special presentations and films were scheduled for May 27th. As you may know, the Bonneville Power Association was Guthrie’s employer during the time he wrote the Columbia River songs, so having this exhibit at the Visitor’s Center is a good way to keep his memory and songs alive and well. Through the tireless efforts of Anna Canoni, two new presentations were created for this year’s Merlefest using material from the Archives. This Land is Your Land: The Story of Woody Guthrie documents Guthrie’s life with photographs, song lyrics and texts while Bound for Glory: The Legacy of Woody Guthrie highlights his impact on many artists such as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Bragg and U2. Nora presented both of these at Merlefest to standing-room-only audiences. Please see our Programs & Exhibits page for information on how to book either of these presentations. A new program, “The Global Woody,” is being developed as a presentation that investigates Woody Guthrie’s influence on a global scale. If you are aware of any foreign-language translations or recordings of Guthrie material, please drop us a line and let us know, por favor. New Productions and Publications Peter Frumkin will be releasing his documentary titled Woody Guthrie: Aint’ Got No Home on July 12th on PBS as part of its American Masters series. Check your local PBS station for exact show times. Don’t miss it! It contains a lot of material from the Woody Guthrie Archives. Noted literary journal The Paris Review will feature some of Guthrie’s unpublished artwork and writing in its Summer 2006 issue. The material included in this portfolio entitled “Document” is largely centered around Guthrie’s life in Coney Island. As mentioned above, an historic recording of a Woody Guthrie live performance will be released soon. Titled Folk Singers and Dancers, the 1949 performance in Newark, New Jersey was initially recorded on steel wire filament by Paul Braverman and has now been carefully restored. Recordings of Guthrie’s live perfomances are extremely rare, and this album promises to be an important addition to that body of work. A number of scholarly articles and books are also in the works and will be published soon. Seth Archer, one of our BMI Research Fellows, will have his article entitled Reading the Riot Acts published in the Fall 2006 issue of Southwestern Review. Seth’s article deals with the issue of race in Guthrie’s life, particularly during his early years in Oklahoma. Another long-time friend of the Archives, Mark Allan Jackson, will be publishing a book on Woody’s political songs entitled Prophet Singer: The Voice and Vision of Woody Guthrie in January of 2007 on the University Press of Mississippi. The German medical journal Unterrichts-Materialien Biologie printed the famous Lester Balog photograph of Guthrie in their May issue. Last, but certainly not least, Head Archivist Jorge Arevalo will be publishing an article titled “Beluthahatchee Blues” in Radicalism in the South Since Reconstruction (Palgrave Macmillan, at press). The article incorporates a series of interviews with Stetson Kennedy, noted Florida folklorist and friend of Guthrie’s, uncovering the little-known period of time in the early 1950’s when Guthrie lived at Kennedy’s home in Beluthahatchee, Florida.
Recent
Researchers and Visitors to the Archives Musician Jay Farrar of Son Volt has visited the archives several times, looking for new Guthrie lyrics. Mark Pedelty,
an Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota and a BMI
Research Fellow, visited the Archives to research Guthrie’s
Columbia River songs. Artist Phil Buehler, whose book, Wardy Forty, will be published in 2007 (University of Illinois Press), stopped in to listen to recorded interviews. Ed Shannon (Ramapo College) continued work on his research fellowship. Rob Aitken, Assistant Professor at York University, Toronto, studying Guthrie’s “political economy”. Marc Guillet, a writer for Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, researching the connection between Guthrie and Bob Dylan. Special Accessions Among other gifts to the Archives in recent months, we have received several different articles which show the many ways in which Guthrie continues to influence the lives of people from many different walks of life. Dr. Mark Allan Jackson, Senior Lecturer of English at West Virginia University, who is writing a book on Guthrie’s political songs, donated copies of two of his articles which represent chapters of his book. Saul Schniderman generously gave us his collection of materials chronicling Guthrie’s work for the Bonneville Dam project, including correspondence and articles discussing his tenure there. Mikael Elsila donated a copy of Allegro, the newsletter of the Associated Musicians of Greater New York Local 802, which contains an article by his father, David Elsila, detailing the way in which Guthrie’s “1913 Massacre” inspired a new musical documentary about the infamous Calumet miner's strike. The article also explain’s David Elsila's own personal connection to the event; his uncle was present at Italian Hall on the day of the tragedy. And Peruvian filmmaker Carlos Avilas donated a copy of his short film “Broken Sky” (2003), which was inspired by Guthrie’s song, “Deportees.” Internship Opportunities We are a small, but very busy office. If you are interested in internship or volunteer opportunities at the Woody Guthrie Archives, please submit a resume, a brief proposal of the type of work you are interested in doing, and a list of three references. We are presently interested in candidates with the following credentials: - Experience
in maintaining, developing and designing web site content. Other tasks may include answering general reference calls, providing administrative support, and helping out with various archives projects. Ideal candidates will have a background in archival or library science, museum studies, music history, or a related area. An interest in, and special knowledge of, Woody Guthrie and folk music is a plus, as are A/V skills. Applications
and inquiries should be sent to:
Interested researchers must complete an Application for Research Form. Successful applicants are invited to set up an appointment with the archivist on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Fridays between 10:30 AM to 5:30 PM. We encourage visitors to look at the Online Collection Finding Aids on our website before visiting the archives. At this time, due to limited staff time and to protect the delicate collection, we are unable to accommodate general interest visits. We hope that our ever-improving website will satisfy general interest. For further information or questions, please contact the archivist. |
