Restrictions to Access

Use of audio materials may require production of listening copies.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

The 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.

• Babel, Edward.
• Cedar Falls (N.C.)--History.
• Craven, Virgil, 1902-1980.
• Dulcimer music.
• Folk music--North Carolina.
• Glass, Glenn.
• Jabbour, Alan.
• Johnson, James P., Mrs.
• Jones, Harvey (Musician).
• Musicians--North Carolina.
• North Carolina--Songs and music.
• Olson, Fred (Musician).
• Ramseur (N.C.)--History.
• Randolph County (N.C.)--History.
• Shaw, Lauchlin, 1912- .
• Ward, Artemus, Mrs.

Edward Babel grew up in Norwood, Mass., and attended Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y. He began studying folklore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1972. In 1975, Babel began conducting research for his thesis on the hammered dulcimer tradition, particularly that of Randolph County, N.C. Babel's thesis and hammered dulcimer project was left unfinished when he withdrew from the Curriculum and enrolled in nursing school.

Correspondence, photographs, audio tapes, and other materials, 1959-1980, relating to Edward Babel's research on the hammered dulcimer. Most of the items relate to dulcimers belonging to individuals, some of them musicians, or to museums. Included are a manuscript, audio recordings, and photographs, 1975-1977, relating to Harvey Jones, a hammered dulcimer player from Ramseur, N.C.; a manuscript and photographs, 1975, relating to Mrs. James P. Johnson's dulcimer, which had belonged to her father, William Butler; a manuscript and photographs, 1975, of a dulcimer belonging to the Old Salem, Inc., collection in Winston-Salem, N.C.; a manuscript and photograph, 1959-1975, relating to the dulcimer belonging to Mrs. Artemus Ward; a manuscript and photographs, undated, relating to the hammered dulcimer from the mid-19th century that was purchased by folklorist Alan Jabbour from a woman in Coleridge, N.C.; a manuscript, photographs, and audio recordings, 1975-1976, relating to Virgil Craven; and a manuscript and photographs, 1975, of a dulcimer on display at the North Carolina Division of Archives and History in Raleigh, N.C. The Virgil Craven audio recordings are of jam sessions held at Craven's home in Randolph County, N.C.. They feature Virgil on hammered dulcimer, Lauchlin Shaw on fiddle, Fred Olson on guitar, and Glenn Glass on banjo.

Items separated include sound recordings (FT 836-839, 1270-1273, 6266) and notes to sound recordings placed in SFC Field Notes vertical files.