Inventory of the John C. Campbell Folk School Records, 1928-1988

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

Historical Note

The John C. Campbell Folk School was founded in 1925 by Olive Dame Campbell and Marguerite Butler. The School was organized on the model of folk and craft schools common in Scandinavia. The original purpose of the School was to preserve the indigenous culture of the southern highlands and to transmit these traditions to young people. For an extensive history of the John C. Campbell Folk School, see Pat McNelley, The First 40 Years: The John C. Campbell Folk School (1966) and Laura O'Keefe, Growing is the Reason for Being: An Experiment in Education at the John C. Campbell Folk School (1992).

Collection Overview

The records of the John C. Campbell Folk School folk and craft school relate to maintenance and administration of the School as well as to the activities and programs conducted there. Included is correspondence and other items about day-to-day activities, with a large number of letters describing individual programs and events, including an internship program that brought college students to live and work at the School while working on social, cultural, and environmental issues; proposals for workshops and courses from craftspeople; materials relating to maintenance of the School grounds, construction of new buildings, personnel, food preparation, and other operational topics; reports from meetings of the Board of Directors about general School policies; items relating to the School's relations with outside agencies, including state agencies and colleges and universities in the area; solicitation lists and other fundraising materials; grant proposal materials; general planning materials; and financial records, including auditors' reports, ledgers, and accounting sheets.

Organization of Collection

Detailed Description of the Collection

Primarily correspondence between officials at the John C. Campbell Folk School and parties interested in either general information about the School or in particular programs or events. Also included is some correspondence among people either employed by, or otherwise connected with the School, including Esther Hyatt, John Ramsay, Maggie Masters, and Robert Fink. The letters discuss various day-to-day operations at the School, as well as prospective events and fund raising.

Materials relating to planning and daily operations of the John C. Campbell Folk School, including those used in general planning, supply ordering, maintenance, and food service operations. There are also items relating to the School's relations with outside agencies, including the Council of the Southern Mountains, the Commission on Religion in Appalachia, the Settlement Agencies of Appalachia, the Southern Highland Handicraft Guild, and the Tennessee Valley Authority; solicitation lists and other materials relating to fundraising activities, such as the Second Half Century Campaign, the Distant Gifts Campaign, and the Capital Fund Campaign; mailing lists; and materials relating to brochure design and the planning and purchase of advertisements. Also included are grant proposal materials and items that document the School's work with state agencies, such as the North Carolina Humanities Committee and the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. There are also address lists, guest books, phone logs, personnel materials, and planning and construction documents; extensive minutes from staff meetings and meetings of the School's Board of Directors; records of collaborative work with colleges and universities in the region, including Western Carolina University, the University of North Carolina, and the University of Mississippi; and items relating to the death of Georg Bidstrup.

The internship program brought college students to live and work at the John C. Campbell Folk School, while simultaneously working on projects related to regional social, cultural, and environmental issues. Included is correspondence, some of which describes particular aspects of the program, but most of which involves requests for information about programs and scheduling. In addition, there are publications and other materials relating to administration and planning of the program, including cooperative work with various educational institutions and community organizations, among them the North Carolina Department of Human Resources, Western Carolina University, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Upper Hiwassee Watershed Development Association. There are also completed reports from some of the participants in the program.

Records relating to a project conducted at the John C. Campbell Folk School intended to teach participants the requisite skills for homesteading, including home building, small plot farming, and cooking. Included is correspondence between officials at the Campbell Folk School and potential students and instructors, materials relating to planning the project, and publications by other groups and agencies used to provide context for the projet.

Materials relating to a yearly arts and crafts festival held at the John C. Campbell Folk School. Included is information relating to individual craftspeople; information about activities at the festivals, such as food preparation and activities for children; general planning materials; mailing lists; and evaluations of the festivals.

Proposals by various craft instructors for courses at the John C. Campbell Folk School. Items relate to the particular instructor's skills, classes, and projects, rather than to personnel management (see Series 2). Included are descriptions of the proposed content of individual classes, materials establishing the creditials of individual instructors (reviews, articles, etc.), and lists of materials needed to facilitate instruction in particular courses.

Materials relating to the financial management of the John C. Campbell Folk School. Included are yearly auditors' reports detailing the financial position of the school, materials relating to agricultural projects, ledgers and loose sheets that track finances and transactions (loose sheets appear to overlap with those detailed in the primary general account ledgers both in time and in substance), and materials tracking receipts and payments that take up where the general account ledgers leave off (the latest of these are computer printouts, 1983-1985).

Items Separated

Separated items include 70 photographs (P-5040/Folder 1-4) and 27 oversized volumes (V-5040/S 1-27).