1939-2000, English, Photograph edition: Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin migrant workers collection, collected by Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin.

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Physical Description
  • 31 folders.
  • 119 sound discs : analog ; 12 in.
  • 3 sound discs : analog ; 16 in.
  • 27 photographs : photographic prints, negatives, b&​w ; various sizes.
Language
  • English

Edition details

Title
  • Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin migrant workers collection, 1939-2000 /​ collected by Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin.
Also Titled
  • Songs of the Okies.
  • Voices from the dust bowl
Other Creators
  • Sonkin, Robert.
  • Todd, Charles L.
  • Lomax, Alan, 1915-2002.
  • Archive of Folk Culture (Library of Congress)
  • American Folklife Center
  • Library of Congress. National Digital Library Program
Physical Description
  • 31 folders.
  • 119 sound discs : analog ; 12 in.
  • 3 sound discs : analog ; 16 in.
  • 27 photographs : photographic prints, negatives, b&​w ; various sizes.
Subjects
Summary
  • The collection includes field recordings made in July and August, 1940 and 1941 in Farm Security Administration migrant worker camps in California. These included the Arvin, Shafter, Visalia, Firebaugh, Westley, Thornton, and Yuba FSA camps. Recordings were made of dance music, popular songs, ballads and folk songs, original songs, conversations, camp council meetings, poems, and stories describing life in the camps, whose residents were Dust Bowl refugees from Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri. Other sound recordings are 1941 radio programs, "Songs of the Okies," narrated by Robert Sonkin and broadcast on WNYC. Manuscripts include correspondence, camp newsletters, newspaper clippings, a Federal Writers' Project WPA Folk Song Questionnaire, and a scrapbook compiled by Charles L. Todd, as well as 1940 field notes written by Robert Sonkin which, in addition to this trip, document his field recording trip to Gee's Bend, Alabama in June 1940. Also included are song texts, recording logs, a radio script, related publications, photographs by Robert Hemmig and others, and materials generated from 1997 to 2000 when much of the collection was digitized for the online American Memory presentation, "Voices from the Dust Bowl."
Performer
  • Various performers including Lum Wilson "Bill" Jackson, Myra Pipkin, Frank Pipkin, the King family, Russ Pike, and others.
Biography
  • Charles Lafayette "Lafe" Todd, born December 9, 1911 in New York State, met Robert Sonkin, born in 1911 in New York City, while both were working in the Department of Public Speaking at the City College of New York. Alan Lomax encouraged them to undertake their field recording trips to California in the summers of 1940 and 1941 and facilitated equipment loan support from the Archive of American Folk Song, Library of Congress.
Notes
  • Recordings were made with equipment loaned by the Archive of American Folk Song, Library of Congress.
  • Search for these and other sound recordings (most are dated 1933-1950) in selected collections from the American Folklife Center in the online resource link: Traditional Music and Spoken Word Catalog from the American Folklife Center.
  • Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Workers Collection (AFC 1985/​001), Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
  • A portion of the collection, with essays and a bibliography, is available as "Voices from the Dust Bowl: the Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection, 1940-1941," an American Memory online presentation compiled by the National Digital Library Program of the Library of Congress.
  • American Memory online resource, "Voices from the Dust Bowl," is also on CD-ROM discs and digital audio tapes in the collection.
  • Charles L. Todd, Robert Sonkin Donation 1941, 1986.
Numbering Note
  • Bibliographic information for music and spoken word titles in this collection is found in the online resource link: Audio titles in the Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Workers Collection
Numbering Note
  • Collection guide available in the Folklife Reading Room, Library of Congress
Access Conditions
  • Collection is open for research. To request materials, please contact the Folklife Reading Room at http:/​/​hdl.loc.gov/​loc.afc/​folklife.contact.
Terms of Use
  • Duplication of the collection materials may be governed by copyright and other restrictions.
Language
  • English
Libraries Australia ID
Contributed by
Libraries Australia

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