Introduction

*Alan Lomax Collection, Manuscripts, Brown Girl in the Ring, 1997* Bound catalogue of song games of Trinidad & Tobago from T&T folklore Archive 1970. Alan Lomax collection. Library of Congress American Folklife Center.

American Folklife Center collections documenting the peoples of Trinidad and Tobago represent the diversity of their expressive culture in Trinidad and Tobago and in the United States. Among its unique recordings are the Melville Herskovits and Frances S. Herskovits Trinidad recordings, the Joseph E. Hall Calypso Recordings, as well as recordings and photographs by Alan Lomax.

Alan Lomax Collection: 1962 Caribbean Folksong Recording Project

In 1962, the pan-Caribbean political movement stirred Alan Lomax, Antoinette Marchand Lomax, and Anna Lomax to document the varied music and dance genres found in the West Indies, including Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Carriacou, St. Lucia, St. Barthelemy, Anguilla, Nevis, and Trinidad.

Their search for stylistic similarities would eventually manifest in the books Cantometrics and Brown Girl in the Ring.

Audio recordings and photographs have been made available by the Lomax Digital Archive:

Trinidad and Tobago recorded sound and photograph portions of this collection are available online as part of the Lomax Digital Archive.External

Manuscripts and coding sheets made during this trip are now available online as part of the Alan Lomax Collection, available as part of the Library of Congress digital collections.

Explore the Alan Lomax Collection
The Alan Lomax Collection includes ethnographic field documentation, materials from Lomax’s various projects, and cross-cultural research created and collected by Alan Lomax and others on traditional song, music, dance, and body movement from around the world. Lomax conducted fieldwork in the Bahamas, the Caribbean, England, France, Georgia (Republic), Haiti, Ireland, Italy, Morocco, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Spain, the United States, and Wales from the 1930s-1990s. The collection contains approximately 650 linear feet of manuscripts, 6400 sound recordings, 5500 graphic images, and 6000 moving images.This presentation contains more than 500,000 pages of Alan Lomax’s personal papers and office files from his time at the Library of Congress (1932-1942) and from his post-Library career through the 1990s.

Collections of Interest

The following materials link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to digital content are provided when available.

Alan Lomax collection
Call Number: AFC 2004/004
Published/Created: 1933-2004
Collection comprises manuscripts, sound recordings, photographs, film, and videorecordings created and collected by Alan Lomax in his work documenting song, music, dance, and body movement from many cultures. Includes field recordings and photographs Lomax made in the Bahamas, the Caribbean, England, France, Georgia, Haiti, Ireland, Italy, Morocco, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Spain, the United States, and Wales, 1930s-2004; plus his worldwide collection of ethnographic documentary materials from many collaborators for his studies of cantometrics and choreometrics. Includes Trinidad and Tobago.
Melville Herskovits and Frances S. Herskovits Trinidad recordings
Call Number: AFC 1942/008
Published/Created: 1939
Collection of field recordings of bélé, carnival, calenda, bungo, passé, and calipso music and songs; religious songs, including Baptist hymns and shouts, Shango songs, and Yariba (Yoruba) songs with some translations of texts into English; popular sentimental songs; Anansi (nansi) story songs and stories; wake-play and ring games; children's songs; and a few songs in Spanish, including Christmas songs; recorded in Trinidad, West Indies, by Mr. and Mrs. Melville J. Herskovits, in January 1939. The collection includes 6 linear inches of logs, partial song texts, and notes.
Joseph E Hall collection of calypso recordings
Call Number: AFC 1965/004
Published/Created: 1965, 1950
One 10-inch tape of calypso songs by Atilla, Lord Invader, The Skipper, Lord Melody, King Radio, etc. Recorded in Port au Spain, Trinidad, by John Bessor, 1950. The collection includes a one-page log.
Bess Lomax Hawes collection, 1894-2009
Call Number: AFC 2014/008
Papers and audiovisual materials relating to the career and personal life of folk arts administrator, folklorist, ethnomusicologist, filmmaker, musician, and teacher Bess Lomax Hawes, most from 1960-2001. The collection includes writings, correspondence, business records, musical transcriptions, photographs, and other documents related to her travels to a number of countries, including Trinidad and Tobago. Online resource: Manuscript portions of this collection have been made available online.

Podcasts and Blog Posts

Folklife at the International Level: the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowships, with Clifford Murphy
Learn about Trinidad-born musician Elliott "Ellie" Mannette, who was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship in 1999. (Folklife Today Blog: July 31, 2019)

Public Programming

Collection of digital video, sound recordings, and photographs documenting a concert by Major League Tassa in the Library's Coolidge Auditorium as part of the Homegrown concert series sponsored by the American Folklife Center. Major League Tassa, and accompanying dancers, from Queens, New York present rhythms used for processions, the Diwali holiday, and weddings, along with contemporary tunes performed at clubs, sports bars, and social events in the New York City area. All of the members of Major League Tassa are Trinidadian Americans in their twenties and thirties. (Event date: January 31, 2008)

American Folklife Center Collections: Trinidad and Tobago

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Introduction

Alan Lomax Collection: 1962 Caribbean Folksong Recording Project

Collections of Interest

Podcasts and Blog Posts

Public Programming