Introduction

On the stage of the Coolidge Auditorium, Harold Spivacke, Chief of the Library of Congress Music Division, Helen Hartness Flanders, folklore scholar and wife of U.S. Senator Ralph Flanders, and Duncan Emrich, head of the Music Division’s Folklore Section, stand behind ballad singers James Finnemore of Maine, Elmer George of Vermont, and Asa Davis of Vermont. 1948. Folklife Today Blog. Library of Congress American Folklife Center.

American Folklife Center collections contain rich material documenting the folk traditions of Vermont. Among its sound recordings are cylinder recordings of New England ballads and folksongs collected by Phillips Barry dating from the 1930s, the Helen Hartness Flanders Collection documenting the folk music of New England, and recordings made by ballad collector and singer Margaret MacArthur.

Read a short biography of Helen Hartness Flanders

In addition, a collection by anthropologist Anthony (Tony) Grant Barrand includes audio and video documentation of traditional English song and dance, May Day traditions, and performances by the Marlboro Morris Men, Green Mountain Mummers, and others at various locations in Vermont and New England.

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.

Phillips Barry collection of New England ballads and folksongs
Call Number: AFC 1945/015
Published/Created: 1930-1936
Collection of field recordings of ballads (including Child ballads), folk songs, sea songs, lumbering songs, popular and humorous songs, Shaker hymns and airs, French songs, Swedish songs and airs, Irish songs, Polish ballads, and organ airs recorded on cylinders by Phillips Barry, primarily in various locations in Maine and also in New Hampshire and Vermont between 1930 and 1936.
Alan Lomax and Helen Hartness Flanders recordings from New Hampshire and Vermont
Call Number: AFC 1939/020
Published/Created: 1939
Collection of field recordings of folk songs; ballads; New England and Irish fiddle tunes and Irish songs; bawdy songs; narratives, ghost stories, and recitations; dance music and dance calls; recorded in Vermont and New Hampshire by Alan Lomax and Helen Hartness Flanders during November 1939. Includes instrumentals on fiddle, piano, and trumpet; folk dance music on fiddle, piano, bass, and guitar, and interviews with some performers by Alan Lomax.
New England balladry [sound recording] / a lecture by Mrs. Helen Hartness Flanders.
Call Number: AFC 1948/001
Published/Created: 1948-02-27
Lecture titled "New England Balladry," delivered by Helen Hartness Flanders at the Library of Congress, with musical illustrations of ballads from the Helen Hartness Flanders Collection at Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont, performed by singers Elmer George and Asa Davis of Vermont, and by Charles Finnemore of Maine.
Margaret MacArthur duplication project
Call Number: AFC 1972/004
Published/Created: 1972; 1961-1968
Field recordings of folk songs, ballads, early American popular songs, games, poems, rhymes, and interviews recorded primarily in southern Vermont by Margaret MacArthur, 1961-1968.
Trash talk: workers in Vermont's waste management industry : Archie Green Fellows Project
Call Number: AFC 2018/031
Published/Created: 2018-2019
Collection of 21 interviews including sound recordings, photographs, and interview logs and transcriptions documenting the occupational folklore of people engaged in different sectors of the waste management chain -- trash collection, sorting, marketing, processing, management, and regulation -- to provide a picture of the daily lives of workers in an economically and environmentally important, but often hidden, industry during a time of significant technological change. Online Resource: Trash talk : workers in Vermont's waste management industry

Public Programming

Daisy Turner (1883-1988), born in Grafton, Vermont, the daughter of freed African American slaves, grew up listening to her father, Alec (1845-1923), tell stories of his family’s heritage. It was a multigenerational saga spanning two centuries, from enslavement in Africa, to a farmstead in Grafton. Over the course of numerous interviews with folklorist Jane Beck, Daisy shared these stories of her family, and also told her own life story, one of discrimination, resilience and strength—a powerful and rare account of the African American experience in New England from the 1880s forward. This talk considers Daisy Turner’s narrative in terms of memory and within a larger canvas of social, cultural, and historical events.

Additional Public Programming

Margaret MacArthur (Video Recording)
Margaret MacArthur traveled through Vermont and other parts of northern New England starting in 1948 recording old songs that had been passed down through generations and giving them new life through her own performances. In this concert she performs several examples of ballads and songs that she collected.
The Famer's Curst Wife (Audio Recording)
Forms part of "New England Balladry," a lecture and concert presented by Helen Hartness Flanders at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., on February 27, 1948. Helen Hartness Flanders Collection. sound recording | 1 reel. | Helen Hartness Flanders Collection (Source). February 27, 1948. (Date). Recorded at the Library of Congress. (Venue). This ballad is found in The English and Scottish Popular Ballads by James Francis Chilld,(1882-1898 )ballad #278, commony referred to as a Child ballad. (Bibliographic History). Sound Recording (Form).

American Folklife Center Collections: Vermont

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Introduction

Collections of Interest

Public Programming

Additional Public Programming