Florida Memory is administered by the Florida Department of State, Division of Library and Information Services, Bureau of Archives and Records Management. The digitized records on Florida Memory come from the collections of the State Archives of Florida and the special collections of the State Library of Florida.
One reel to reel. (Copied onto an unnumbered audio cassette, S 1576, box 41.) These recordings were from the 1935 expedition by Lomax, Hurston, and Barnicle in Eatonville and Belle Glade. This was the first of several WPA recording expeditions in Florida. For more detailed information on the recordings, see S 1579, box 3, for copies of the original LOC indexes. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) – after 1939, the Works Projects Administration – was a work-relief program created in 1935 by the Roosevelt Administration that employed over 8.5 million people between 1935 and 1943. One of its programs was the Federal Writers Project (FWP), which included the Folklore Section. This section conducted fieldwork, recording songs, traditions, and stories across the nation. Originally created to gather material for the American Guide Series, but later emphasis was placed upon fieldwork for preservation of folk traditions for future use. In Florida, the FWP was based out of Jacksonville, and directed by historian Carita Doggett Corse. Folklorist Stetson Kennedy directed the Florida Folklife section. Seven recording expeditions were conducted in Florida. Two were conducted between 1935 and 1937, before the creation of the Florida Folklore Section: one by Alan Lomax and Zora Neale Hurston, and the other by John and Ruby Lomax. After 1939, five more were conducted by Florida’s FWP staff: Kennedy, Hurston, Robert Cook, Alton Morris, Corse, Robert Conrwell, John Filareton, and Herbert Halpert (of the Joint Committee on Folk Art’s Southern Recording Expedition.) Recording equipment was loaned to Florida’s WPA program by the Library of Congress’ Archive of the American Folk Song (later the American Folk Center). The field recordings were made on acetate disks, usually recorded at 78 rpm (although occasionally at 33 rpm). Because these disks were shipped from Washington DC to Florida, then to the recording site, and then back to Washington, these disks often were not of the highest sonic quality. Several had surface scratches and many had various recording speeds. In 1986, the FFP staff made copies of many of these recordings onto reel to reels for inclusion to the Florida Folklife Archive. The originals are still housed with the Library of Congress.
WPA field recordings in Eatonville and Belle Glade (1935 recording expedition)
Subject
Fieldwork
New Deal, 1933-1939
Interviews
Public service employment
Folklorists
Public welfare
United States. Work Projects Administration
African Americans
Blues (Music)
Blues singers
Performing arts
Guitar music
Music performance
Singing
Harmonica music
Old time music
Musicians
Guitarist
Harmonica players
Singers
Description
One reel to reel. (Copied onto an unnumbered audio cassette, S 1576, box 41.) These recordings were from the 1935 expedition by Lomax, Hurston, and Barnicle in Eatonville and Belle Glade. This was the first of several WPA recording expeditions in Florida. For more detailed information on the recordings, see S 1579, box 3, for copies of the original LOC indexes. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) – after 1939, the Works Projects Administration – was a work-relief program created in 1935 by the Roosevelt Administration that employed over 8.5 million people between 1935 and 1943. One of its programs was the Federal Writers Project (FWP), which included the Folklore Section. This section conducted fieldwork, recording songs, traditions, and stories across the nation. Originally created to gather material for the American Guide Series, but later emphasis was placed upon fieldwork for preservation of folk traditions for future use. In Florida, the FWP was based out of Jacksonville, and directed by historian Carita Doggett Corse. Folklorist Stetson Kennedy directed the Florida Folklife section. Seven recording expeditions were conducted in Florida. Two were conducted between 1935 and 1937, before the creation of the Florida Folklore Section: one by Alan Lomax and Zora Neale Hurston, and the other by John and Ruby Lomax. After 1939, five more were conducted by Florida’s FWP staff: Kennedy, Hurston, Robert Cook, Alton Morris, Corse, Robert Conrwell, John Filareton, and Herbert Halpert (of the Joint Committee on Folk Art’s Southern Recording Expedition.) Recording equipment was loaned to Florida’s WPA program by the Library of Congress’ Archive of the American Folk Song (later the American Folk Center). The field recordings were made on acetate disks, usually recorded at 78 rpm (although occasionally at 33 rpm). Because these disks were shipped from Washington DC to Florida, then to the recording site, and then back to Washington, these disks often were not of the highest sonic quality. Several had surface scratches and many had various recording speeds. In 1986, the FFP staff made copies of many of these recordings onto reel to reels for inclusion to the Florida Folklife Archive. The originals are still housed with the Library of Congress.
Source
State Archives of Florida, S1576
Date
1935
Contributor
United States. Work Projects Administration.
United States. Works Progress Administration
United States. Works Progress Administration. Federal Writers Project
Federal Writers Project of the Work Projects Administration for the State of Florida
United States. Federal Emergency Relief Administration.
What Did the Doodlebug Say to the Mole (Brown/French)
Education Blues
Talking to Sebatopool
Careless Love (Brown)
Let the Deal Go Down (Hicks)
Cant You Line It
Some Old Cold, Rainy Day
Cant You Line It
That Old Black Gal
Captain, Captain Cant You See (Jones)
Oh Lula (Hicks)
Going to See My Long Haired Baby
Every Mail Day (Sykes Jones)
Longest Train I Ever Saw (Charley Jones)
I Aint Poor No More (Charley Jones)
John Henry (Charley Jones)
Po Boy (Sykes Jones)
If I Ever Get My Hands On a Dollar Again (Sykes Jones)
The Train (Matthews)
Thumbnail
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Geographic Term
Eatonville (Fla.)
Orange County (Fla.)
Belle Glade (Fla.)
Palm Beach County (Fla.)
Series
S1576
Chicago Manual of Style
WPA field recordings in Eatonville and Belle Glade (1935 recording expedition). 1935. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. <https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/237999>, accessed 1 March 2021.
MLA
WPA field recordings in Eatonville and Belle Glade (1935 recording expedition). 1935. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. Accessed 1 Mar. 2021.<https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/237999>.
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