Barbara Lau Collection Inventory (#20055)

Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Contact Information:

Manuscripts Department

CB#3926, Wilson Library

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890

Phone: 919/962-1345

Fax: 919/962-3594

Email: mss@email.unc.edu

URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/

Processed by

Amy Davis

Date Completed

May 2000

Encoded by

Amy Davis

Revisions:

Finding aid updated in January 2008 by James McGlothlin.

Descriptive Summary Including Abstract

Title

Barbara Lau Collection (#20055), 1979-2004

Creator

Lau, Barbara (Barbara A.)

Extent

About 1,980 items (1.5 linear feet)

Repository

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Folklife Collection.

Language

English.

Administrative Information

Access

Use of audio and video materials may require production of listening and viewing copies.

Usage Restrictions

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

Provenance

Received from Barbara Lau of Durham, N.C., in June 1993 (Acc. 93104 and 93106), March 2006 (Acc. 100346), and February 2008 (Acc. 100867); Beverly Patterson, North Carolina Arts Council, Raleigh, N.C., in July 1996; and Jim White of Chapel Hill, N.C., in May 2000 (Acc. 98611).

Online Catalog Terms

African American singers.

African Americans--Music.

Cambodian Americans--North Carolina--Social life and customs.

Cambodian Americans--Music.

Cambodian Americans--Rites and ceremonies.

Cambodians--United States.

Chan Moly Sam, 1953-

Chatterley, Cedric N., 1956-

Chea Khan.

Children's literature, American.

Dance--Cambodia.

Ethnic folklore--United States.

Greensboro (N.C.)--History.

Greensboro (N.C.)--Social life and customs.

Greensboro Buddhist Center.

Folklorists--United States.

Lau, Barbara (Barbara A.)

Marriage customs and rites--Cambodia.

New Year--Cambodia.

Shape note singing--United States.

Weddings--Cambodia.

White, Jim (Folklorist)

Biographical Note

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1958, Barbara Lau grew up in Ohio and attended Washington University in Saint Louis, Mo., 1976-1980, graduating with a degree in urban studies and sociology. While in Saint Louis, Lau became interested in African-American shape-note singing groups in the region and surveyed several singing groups for her undergraduate senior thesis. While on staff at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in Saint Louis, Mo., Lau continued working with these groups and presented them at a Shape-Note Singing Reunion in February 1983. She also documented the larger regional Ohio-Indiana-Michigan Vocal Singing Convention from 1983 to 1984. Lau worked as a backstage manager at the Fox Theatre in Saint Louis, Mo., and coordinated program areas for the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife in Washington, D.C., 1986-1991. She attended the masters program in folklore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1991-1993, and was program coordinator for the Southern Arts Federation in Atlanta, Ga., from 1993 to 1995.

While at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Lau became acquainted with the Cambodian community in Greensboro, N.C., and began fieldwork with them for her masters thesis. Working with the Greensboro Buddhist Center, she received a grant and several contracts through the North Carolina Arts Council to document folklife traditions of this new immigrant community in 1995. Lau continued work as a freelance folklorist and consultant through the late 1990s. In 1999, she became the community-based documentary programs coordinator at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.

Collection Overview

Materials, 1980-1995, include audio tapes, videotapes, photographs, slides, logs, and manuscripts from two of Barbara Lau's folklife projects. Documentation of Lau's work with African-American shape-note singing groups in the early 1980s includes her senior thesis, "Black Shape-Note Singing: A Beginning," along with surveys on which she based her writing. Also included are photographs, audio recordings, and slides from the 1983 Shape-Note Singing Reunion in Saint Louis, Mo., and the Ohio-Indiana-Michigan Vocal Singing Convention in Indianapolis, Ind. in 1983 and Detroit, Mich. in 1984.

Materials documenting the Cambodian community in Greensboro, N.C., include nearly 1,200 color slides and prints by Lau and photographer Cedric Chatterley of the 1995 Cambodian New Year celebration. There are also photographs of New Year celebrations in Lexington, N.C., and Charlotte, N.C. The 1995 Cambodian wedding of Yi Kong and Sengdoeun Chhum was videotaped by Jim White, with photographs by Lau. Lau also interviewed two Cambodian dancers, Chea Khan and Chaa Moly Sam, while they were in residence at the Greensboro Buddhist Center and photographed their classes. All photographs and interviews have extensive logs with commentary and field-note summaries by Lau.

The collection also includes digital audio tapes documenting interviews Lau performed in preparation for a 2003 exhibit at the Greensboro Historical Museum entititled From Cambodia to Greensboro: Tracing the Journeys of New North Carolinians, transcriptions of those tapes in digital file and paper formats, and a copy of the catalog issued in conjunction with the exhibit. It contains, as well, children's book with text by Barbara Lau and photographs by Cedric Chatterly entitled Sokita Celebrates the New Year.

Organization of Collection

1. African American Shape Note Singing
1.1. Research for Senior Thesis
1.2. Published Research
1.3. Shape Note Singing Reunion
1.4. Ohio-Indiana-Michigan Vocal Singing Convention
2. Cambodian Immigrant Folklife in North Carolina
2.1. Cambodian Temple Music
2.2. Cambodian New Year Celebration
2.2.1. Interviews
2.2.2. Photographs
2.3. Cambodian Wedding
2.4. Cambodian Dance Residency
2.5. From Cambodia to Greensboro materials (Addition of March 2006)
2.6. Sokita Celebrates the New Year (Addition of February 2008)

Items Separated

Items separated include sound recordings (FS 1218-1228, FS 4798-4799, FT 6058-6059); notes to sound recordings; video recordings (VT-20055/1 to VT-20055/8); and a photograph (P-3600).

Series Descriptions