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This collection has use restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the FAQ section for more information.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 34.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 9,200 items) |
| Abstract | Founded in 1966 by Anne Romaine and Bernice Johnson Reagon, the Southern Folk Cultural Revival Project (SFCRP), based in Nashville, Tenn., worked to present traditional musicians from black and white cultures in performance together at a time when this was considered controversial. The SFCRP continued presenting musical performances throughout the South until the late 1980s, keeping close ties with the civil rights movement. Records of the SFCRP document performing folk musicians from or associated with the southeastern United States. Included are letters, artist files, contracts, photographs, and recordings of a large number of musicians who worked for the organization, among them Dewey Balfa, Dock Boggs, Reverend Pearly Brown, Alice Gerrard, Hazel Dickens, Mable Hillary, Jane Sapp, Lily May Ledford, Furry Lewis, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Ola Belle Reed, Frazier Moss, Sparky Rucker, Mike Seeger, Johnny Shines, Hedy West, and Nimrod Workman. Also included are files from SFCRP tours and festivals, music in the schools series, prison performances, benefit concerts, and Romaine's work with the Alex Haley House Museum. There are also general office and grant files; photographs of musicians; audio recordings and videotapes from meetings, workshops, and musical performances at festivals, schools, and prisons; and posters advertising performances, tours, events and artists associated with the SFCRP. |
| Creator | Southern Folk Cultural Revival Project, Inc. |
| Language | English. |
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Information For Users
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Subject Headings
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.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
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Related Collections
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Historical Information
Founded in 1966 by Anne Romaine and Bernice Johnson Reagon, the Southern Folk Cultural Revival Project (SFCRP) worked to present traditional musicians from black and white cultures in performance together at a time when this was considered controversial. The SFCRP continued presenting musical performances throughout the South until the late 1980s and kept close ties with the activism of the civil rights era.
The organizational records of the SFCRP are almost entirely the work of musician and historian Anne Romaine, the organization's only director and administrator. From her base in Nashville, Tenn., Romaine, who died in 1995, worked to organize the many programs of the SFCRP, seek funding from institutions, and keep track of its financial records. At its height in the mid-1980s, the organization routinely ran two lengthy musical performance tours a year, sponsored the Tennessee Grassroots Days in Nashville, and had its hand in many other local projects and concerts. Other projects of note that Romaine worked on under the auspices of the SFCRP were the opening of Alex Haley House Museum (she was writing Haley's biography at the time of her death) and the co-production of Carry It On, a nine-part television special about traditional American music aired on PBS.
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Scope and Content
Records of the Southern Folk Cultural Revival Project (SFCRP) document performing folk musicians from or associated with the southeastern United States. Director Anne Romaine kept correspondence, artist files, contracts, photographs, and recordings of a large number of musicians who worked for the organization, including Dewey Balfa, Dock Boggs, Reverend Pearly Brown, Alice Gerrard, Hazel Dickens, Mable Hillary, Jane Sapp, Lily May Ledford, Furry Lewis, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Ola Belle Reed, Frazier Moss, Sparky Rucker, Mike Seeger, Johnny Shines, Hedy West, and Nimrod Workman.
Included are files from SFCRP tours, such as the Southern Folk Festival, the Appalachian Music Festival, the Oldtime Mountain Music Show and the Southern Grassroots Music Tour. There are also files from Tennessee Grassroots Days, which took place in Nashville, Tenn., and other festivals, music in the schools series, prison performances, benefit concerts, and Anne Romaine's work with the opening of the Alex Haley House Museum.
Also included are general office and grant files, among them information about the proposed merger of the SFCRP with Tennessee State University; photographs of musicians; audio recordings and videotapes from meetings, workshops, and musical performances at festivals, schools, and prisons; and posters from various events. Among the videotapes are several episodes of the SFCRP-produced Carry it On television series that aired on PBS.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Artist Files, 1966-1989.
Correspondence with and publicity about musicians either associated with the SFCRP or of interest to Anne Romaine. The files include significant correspondence with Dock Boggs, Alice Gerrard, Hazel Dickens, Mable Hillary, Roscoe Holcomb, Lily May Ledford, Furry Lewis, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Ola Belle Reed, Sparky Rucker, Mike Seeger, Johnny Shines, Drink Small, and Hedy West.
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Series 2. Events and Projects, 1966-1989.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Files relating to projects and events sponsored by the SFCRP. The Southern Folk Festival and related tours the Appalachian Music Festival, the Oldtime Mountain Music Show and its inheritor the Southern Grassroots Music Tour are the original projects of the organization that became the SFCRP. Files dating to 1967 provide a history of the origins of the SFCRP. From that time, materials each year typically include correspondence about potential jobs at college campuses and other venues, itineraries, and contracts with performers. There are also extensive files relating to the Tennessee Grassroots Days, a two-day festival the SFCRP sponsored in Nashville each fall from 1976 to 1989. Other projects documented are the SFCRP's sponsorship of the Georgia Sea Islands Festival; the Alabama Soul Roots Festival; several music in the schools series, among them the noted Acadian Music and History series with Dewey Balfa; prison tours in Louisiana and Tennessee; and other projects including Anne Romaine's work with the opening of the Alex Haley House Museum.
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Subseries 2.1. Alabama Events and Projects, 1975-1981.
Materials relating to the Alabama School performance series in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and the Alabama Soul Roots Festival in Eutaw, Ala.
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Subseries 2.2. Georgia Events and Projects, 1968-1983.
SFCRP projects in Georgia include sponsorship of the Georgia Sea Islands Festival for three years, the 1967 production of the Penny Festival, and various school projects in Atlanta, Ga.
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Subseries 2.3. Louisiana Events and Projects, 1974-1981.
SFCRP worked with cajun musician Dewey Balfa on the much-acclaimed Acadiana Music and History school series. This project was eventually administrated by Balfa and other musicians in Louisiana.
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Subseries 2.4. Tennessee Grassroots Days, 1976-1989.
Tennessee Grassroots Days was an annual two-day event sponsored by SFCRP from 1976 to 1989 in Nashville, Tenn. The event featured traditional musicians, folk musicians, and craftspeople largely from Tennessee and grew to attract thousands of people. Materials document Anne Romaine's work to find sponsorship and funding for the festival as well as her networking with Tennessee arts and music scholars David Evans, Roby Cogswell, and Bobby Fulcher to locate suitable performers and demonstrators for the festival. The SFCRP worked with both the organizers of Memphis' Mud Island Festival and Historic Nashville at various times. Files include correspondence, contracts, and promotional material along with biographies of the festival artists.
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Subseries 2.5. Tennessee Miscellaneous Events and Projects, 1967-1988.
While based in Nashville, Tenn., the SFCRP was involved with a myriad of projects, including Anne Romaine's work on the opening of the Alex Haley House Museum and Oldtime Music Days in Hendersonville, Tenn. The SSOC (Southern Students Organizing Committee) workshop at the Highlander Center was one of the first workshops sponsored by Anne Romaine, and represents her early administrative work that led to the rise of the SFCRP.
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Subseries 2.6. Tours, 1966-1988.
Arrangement: chronological.
The Southern Folk Festival, along with the closely-related Appalachian Mountain Festival, Oldtime Mountain Music Show and the resulting Southern Grassroots Music Tour are significant in the work of the SFCRP. Materials document Anne Romaine's work to book the music tours twice a year, including correspondence, solicitation for jobs, musician and venue contracts, and itineraries. The musicians for these tours included Hazel Dickens, Alice Gerrard, Johnny Shines, Nimrod Workman, Frazier Moss, Jane Sapp, and Sparky Rucker. The Appalachian Mountain Festival and Oldtime Mountain Music Show used venerable traditional musicians such as Dock Boggs, Roscoe Holcomb, Lily May Ledford, and Ola Belle Reed and family.
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Subseries 2.7. Miscellaneous SFCRP Events and Projects, 1972-1989.
Materials documenting projects undertaken by the SFCRP, including a 1984 nine-part television special for PBS called Carry It On featuring musicians associated with SFCRP. Also of note are numerous prison performance projects and two LPs produced by SFCRP: It's a Mean Ole World and Oh What a Time . Oh What a Time includes a companion booklet with extensive information about SFCRP musicians and the music presented.
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Series 3. Fiscal and Organizational Records, 1967-1988.
Fiscal and organizational records of the SFCRP include income tax statements, incorporation and by-laws, and loan agreements with individuals.
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Subseries 3.1 Income taxes, 1970-1987.
Income tax and financial statements documenting income and expenditures for the SFCRP.
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Subseries 3.2 Incorporation and by-laws, 1967-1987.
Legal documents, including SFCRP's incorporation papers as a non-profit, by-laws, and Tennessee charter.
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Subseries 3.3. Loan agreements, 1980-1988.
Documentation of loans to the SFCRP made by individuals.
| Folder 390 |
Loans #20004, Subseries: "3.3. Loan agreements, 1980-1988. " Folder 390 |
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Series 4. Funding and Grants, 1967-1989.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Documentation of funding for the many projects of the SFCRP relied on a series of grants at the federal and state level, as well as many private foundations. These materials include grant applications for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Tennessee Arts Commission, Tennessee Committee for the Humanities, and private funding agencies including the We Shall Overcome Fund, American Federation of Musicians, Newport Folk Foundation, and the Fund for Southern Communities.
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Subseries 4.1. NEA Grants, 1975-1989.
Applications to the NEA in support of SFCRP programming. Many are to the Folk Arts Division via Bess Lomax Hawes. There are several NEA Expansion Arts grants and several institutional advancement grants. SFCRP tried unsuccessfully to receive grant money from the NEA to become a booking agency for traditional southern musicians.
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Subseries 4.2. NEH Grants, 1981-1984.
SFCRP applied to the NEH to fund the research and writing of a script narrative for the Southern Grassroots Music Tour.
| Folder 399-401 |
NEH grants materials #20004, Subseries: "4.2. NEH Grants, 1981-1984. " Folder 399-401 |
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Subseries 4.3 Tennessee Arts Commission, 1976-1987.
Materials relating to grants from the Tennessee Arts Commission, which supported the SFCRP's Tennessee Grassroots Days for a number of years. The evaluation in 1987, however, was critical of the SFCRP and pointed out a number of perceived flaws in the festival.
| Folder 402-405 |
Tennessee Arts Commission grants #20004, Subseries: "4.3 Tennessee Arts Commission, 1976-1987. " Folder 402-405 |
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Subseries 4.4. Tennessee Committee for the Humanities, 1980-1984.
Materials relating to grants from the Tennessee Committee for the Humanities, which provided financial support for Tennessee Grassroots Days for several years.
| Folder 406-409 |
Tennessee Committee for the Humanities grants #20004, Subseries: "4.4. Tennessee Committee for the Humanities, 1980-1984. " Folder 406-409 |
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Subseries 4.5. Miscellaneous Foundations, 1967-1987.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Materials relating to foundations from which SFCRP sought funding.
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Series 5. General SFCRP Office Material, 1967-1989.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Board of Directors correspondence, general organizational files, general folklore interest clippings, miscellaneous files with correspondence mostly about Anne Romaine's bookings in the late 1980s, publicity material, graphics materials, and materials relating to a proposed merger of SFCRP with Tennessee State University (TSU).
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Subseries 5.1. Board of SFCRP, 1973-1989.
Correspondence, minutes, notes, and Anne Romaine's board reports. Of particular interest are letters from Bernice Johnson Reagon and other board members.
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Subseries 5.2. Organizations, 1965-1987.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Organizational files containing either general information or correspondence from the organizations. Highlights include the Highlander Center and SDS/SSOC files.
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Subseries 5.3 Miscellaneous Office Materials, 1964-1987.
A scholarly article about the SFCRP, clippings of general folklore interest, SFCRP correspondence tracking Anne Romaine's personal bookings in the late 1980s (including a tour of Italy with Mike Seeger in 1986), and a number of labor song workshops attended by Anne Romaine.
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Subseries 5.4. Concert and Event Recording, 1967-1982.
Information about SFCRP policy and permissions for live tape recording and filming of concerts and events.
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Subseries 5.5. Publicity, 1967-1988.
Publicity material generated by SFCRP including a collection of photocopied articles, brochures, and testimonial letters written mostly by schoolchildren, school administrators, and arts presenters.
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Subseries 5.6 Tennessee State University Merger Proposal, 1982-1988.
Materials relating to a proposal to the NEH for funds for a merger of SFCRP with Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tenn. SFCRP would have worked to offer interdisciplinary courses at TSU. The proposal ultimately failed.
| Folder 509-510 |
Tennessee State University merger proposal #20004, Subseries: "5.6 Tennessee State University Merger Proposal, 1982-1988. " Folder 509-510 |
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Series 6. Anne Romaine Materials, 1965-1986.
Material relating directly to Anne Romaine, including a narrative of SFCRP history that Romaine wrote in 1980 and correspondence from Anne Romaine and Howard Romaine's early years in Charlottesville, Va.
| Folder 511-513 |
Anne Romaine materials #20004, Series: "6. Anne Romaine Materials, 1965-1986. " Folder 511-513 |
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Series 7. Photographs, 1966-1988.
SFCRP photographs of artists performing at events and publicity shots of artists. Photographs are separated into SFC general photograph collection and are accessible through the SFC in-house database.
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Series 8. Audio Recordings, 1967-1986.
Audio recordings on open-reel tape and audiocassette that document events sponsored by the SFCRP, primarily Tennessee Grassroots Days, the Southern Folk Festival, and other musical tours. There are also recordings of board meetings, other meetings, school performances, prison performances, demo tapes, album project master tapes, and workshops. Also included are interviews with SFCRP artists, notably Hazel Dickens, Furry Lewis, Othar Turner, Bessie Jones, Jane Sapp, Dewey Balfa, and the Georgia Sea Island Singers. Audio recordings are separated into the SFC general audio holdings.
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Series 9. Videotapes, 1979-1988.
SFCRP videotapes mainly of performances at Tennessee Grassroots Days and the Southern Grassroots Music Tour. There are also several episodes from the SFCRP-produced Carry it On series aired on PBS. Videos are separated into the SFC general video collection.
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Series 10. Posters, 1966-1989.
Arrangement: Chiefly grouped by project.
SFCRP event posters, including Tennessee Grassroots Days, the Southern Folk Festival, the Southern Grassroots Music Tour, the Appalachian Mountain Festival, and the Oldtime Mountain Music Show. There are also posters for shows produced in Georgia and benefit concerts for the SFCRP. Of note are several posters produced by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill advertising the Southern Folk Festival tour.
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Subseries 10.1. Appalachian Mountain Festival/Oldtime Mountain Music Show, 1967-1976.
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Subseries 10.2. Southern Folk Festival, 1966-1978.
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Subseries 10.3. Southern Grassroots Music Tour, 1978-1988.
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Subseries 10.4. Tennessee Grassroots Days, 1977-1989.
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Subseries 10.5. Other Posters, 1975-1986.
Posters for projects by the SFCRP other than the Appalachian Mountain Festival, the Oldtime Mountain Music Show, the Southern Folk Festival, the Southern Grassroots Music Tour, and Tennessee Grassroots Days. There are also posters promoting artists associated with the SFCRP.
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Items Separated
Items separated include photographs (P-2788 through P-3026, P-3105 through P-3114, and P-3995 through P-4030); audio recordings (FS-1270 through FS-1591, FS-2158 through FS-2159, FS-4194 through FS-4196, and FT-5892 through FT-6012); videotapes (VT-20004/1 through VT-20004/28); oversized papers and posters (XOP-20004/1-19 and OP-20004/1-89).
Back to TopPreservation of and access to the Southern Folk Cultural Revival Project Collection were made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Finding Aid Updated for Digitization by: Amanda Loeb, August 2012
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