LCFAFA No. 11 August 1992 ZORA NEALE HURSTON: RECORDINGS, MANUSCRIPTS, AND EPHEMERA IN THE ARCHIVE OF FOLK CULTURE AND OTHER DIVISIONS OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Compiled by Laura K. Crawley and Joseph C. Hickerson ***************************************************************** Throughout this finding aid you will encounter several abbreviations. AFS refers to Archive of Folk Song, the Folk Archive's title from 1955 to 1981. AFS numbers refer to the sequential numbering of recordings cataloged and controlled by the Archive. The LWO, RWC, VBF, and VBG numbers are shelflist designations used by the Library's Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. All indications of time duration are estimates. For information on listening to and obtaining copies of the Folk Archive's recordings listed in this finding aid, please request a copy of A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS OF RECORDED FOLK MUSIC AND FOLKLORE IN THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS from the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540-8100. For information on obtaining copies of manuscripts or photographs listed in this finding aid, please contact the Photoduplication Service, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540-5230, for their PRICE LIST FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC PRODUCTS. For information on viewing the films listed in this finding aid, qualified researchers may contact the Motion Picture and Television Reading Room, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540-4805. For information on listening to and obtaining copies of the radio program listed in this finding aid, please contact the Recorded Sound Reference Center, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540-4805. ARCHIVE OF FOLK CULTURE *********************************** SOUND RECORDINGS AFS 370-387 Eighteen 12-inch discs of songs, stories, and instrumentals recorded in Florida and Georgia by Mary Elizabeth Barnicle, Zora Neale Hurston, and Alan Lomax, summer 1935. AFS 377 B1: One disc containing "Bella Mina" sung by group led by Hurston, recorded in Chosen, Florida, June 1935. (One minute; tape copy on LWO 4872 reel 27A) AFS 1877-1936 Sixty 10-inch discs of songs, stories, and instrumentals recorded in Haiti by Alan Lomax, December 1936--January 1937. AFS 1879 A1-3: One disc containing three American Negro children's game songs and explanation, sung and spoken by Hurston. Recorded in Petionville, Haiti, December 21, 1936. (Hurston was in Haiti conducting independent research.) (Three minutes; tape copy on LWO 4872 reel 132B) AFS 1879 A1: "Bluebird." AFS 1879 A2: "Bama, Bama." AFS 1879 A3: "There Stands a Bluebird," with explanation. AFS 2735-3153 Four hundred nineteen 12-inch discs of songs, stories, and instrumentals recorded in several southern states by Herbert Halpert, March 15--June 15, 1939, under the joint sponsorship of the Library of Congress and the Folk Arts Committee of the W.P.A. AFS 3135-3136; 3137B-3139; 3144B: Six discs containing eighteen songs, stories, and explanations sung and spoken by Hurston. Recorded in Jacksonville, Florida, June 18, 1939. (Forty- five minutes; tape copy on LWO 4872 reels 208B- 209A) AFS 3135 A: "Gonna See My Long-Haired Babe." Railroad spiking song with explanation. AFS 3135 B1: "Let's Shake It." Railroad lining song with explanation. AFS 3135 B2: "Dat Old Black Gal." Spiking song with explanation. AFS 3136 A: "Shove It Over." Lining song with explanation. AFS 3136 B: "Mule on the Mount." Lining song also used in other work, with explanation. AFS 3137 B1-2: "Georgia Skin" and "Let the Deal Go Down." Spoken description of a card game interspersed with a gambling song, with explanation. AFS 3138 A1: "Uncle Bud." "Jook" song with explanation. AFS 3138 A2: "Oh, the Buford Boat Done Come." Dance song with explanation. AFS 3138 B1: "Ever Been Down." Blues song with explanation. AFS 3138 B2: "Halimuhfack." "Jook" song with explanation. AFS 3139 A1: "Tampa." Song Hurston says she learned as a child, with explanation. AFS 3139 A2: "Po' Gal." Blues song with explanation. AFS 3139 B1: "Mama Don't Want No Peas, No Rice." Bahaman song with explanation. AFS 3139 B2: "Crow Dance." Bahaman dance song with explanation. AFS 3144 B1: "Wake Up, Jacob." Camp rousing song with explanation. AFS 3144 B2: "Oh, Mr. Brown." Dance song with explanation. AFS 3144 B3: "Tilly, Lend Me Your Pigeon." Bahaman song with explanation. AFS 3144 B4: "Evelina," with explanation. AFS 9829-9868 One 12-inch and thirty-nine 16-inch discs of songs and instrumentals recorded at the National Folk Festival in Washington, D.C., by the U.S. Recording Company, May 1938. AFS 9845 A1-6: One 16-inch disc containing six songs sung by a choir led by Hurston, recorded May 6, 1938. The choir was sponsored by the Rollins College Folklore Group of Winter Park, Florida. (Eleven minutes; tape copy on LWO 5111 reel 266B) AFS 9845 A1: "Can't You Line It." Lining song similar to AFS 3136 A. AFS 9845 A2: "Mule on de Mount." Spiking song similar to AFS 3136 B. AFS 9845 A3: "Dat Old Black Gal." Spiking song similar to AFS 3135 B2. AFS 9845 A4: "Oh Lula, Oh Gal." Spiking song similar to AFS 3135 A1. AFS 9845 A5: "Somebody's Knockin' at My Door." Blues song with guitar. AFS 9845 A6: Unidentified song. AFS 19,536-19,539 Four 7-inch tapes of an interview with Mary Elizabeth Barnicle and Tillman Cadle recorded in Townsend, Tennessee, by Michael Clark and Gene Moore, January--February 1977. Subjects include personal and family history; Barnicle's career as a folklorist; friendships with Zora Neale Hurston, Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, Alan and John A. Lomax, and Aunt Molly Jackson; fieldwork in Kentucky; and a Harlan County strike. AFS 19,536A: One tape that includes (about two-thirds of the way through) Barnicle discussing Hurston, the Lomaxes, and the 1935 expedition to Florida, Georgia, and The Bahamas. (Twenty minutes; LWO 12,983 reel 1A) VERTICAL FILES Corporate Subject File: Two folders containing articles, correspondence, and clippings concerning Hurston. Some highlights are: 1. A review by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., of Robert Hemenway's biography ZORA NEALE HURSTON (THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, February 19, 1978). 2. An article by Michele Wallace called "Who Dat Say Who Dat When I Say Who Dat?: Zora Neale Hurston Then and Now" (VOICE LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, April 1988). Includes a bibliography. 3. An essay by Daryl C. Dance titled "Zora Neale Hurston," from the book AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS: BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAYS (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1983). 4. An article by Jacqueline Trescott titled "The Fabulous Zora Neale Hurston!" about revived interest in Hurston's work (WASHINGTON POST, May 21, 1978). 5. Several articles and programs about Ruby Dee's stage production "Zora is My Name!" 6. Several articles about Ellen Sebastian's stage production "The Sanctified Church" or "Sanctified." 7. Several articles and brochures about the annual Zora Festival in Eatonville, Florida. 8. An article by Alan Lomax titled "Zora Neale Hurston--A Life of Negro Folklore" (SING OUT!, October-November 1960). 9. Copies of five photographs of Hurston. 10. An article by Hurston titled "A Negro Deplores the Segregation Decision" (RICHMOND SENTINEL, ca. 1956). 11. A typescript titled "Proposed Recording Expedition into the Floridas," prepared by Hurston as "Negro editor of the Florida Project" of the W.P.A. 12. Letter from Alan Lomax to Oliver Strunk dated August 3, 1935, in which he describes Hurston's role in the Lomax-Hurston-Barnicle expedition of 1935. Correspondence File: Two folders containing correspondence to and from Hurston. Some highlights are: 1. Letter from B. A. Botkin to Hurston dated July 14, 1943, regarding the book 75 YEARS OF FREEDOM, and a reply from Hurston dated July 25, 1943. 2. Letter from Hurston to B. A. Botkin dated October 6, 1944, regarding a proposed expedition to Honduras, and a reply from Botkin dated October 16, 1944. 3. Letter from Hurston to Harold Spivacke dated August 21, 1945, regarding a proposed expedition to Honduras. MANUSCRIPT DIVISION ***************************** Franz Boas Papers Microfilm Reels 27-33, 37, 43 Includes letters to and from Hurston, which are arranged by date. 1. Thirteen letters from Hurston to Boas spanning the period of March 29, 1927, to April 1940. 2. Sixteen letters from Boas to Hurston spanning the period of March 24, 1927, to April 1, 1935. 3. One letter from Hurston to Otto Klineberg dated October 22, 1929. 4. One letter from the Julius Rosenwald Fund to Hurston dated December 19, 1935. Other letters that mention Hurston or her work may be included in this collection. Check the published guide to the microfilm edition of the Boas Papers in the Manuscript Reading Room. Countee Cullen Papers Microfilm Reel 1 Includes two letters from Hurston to Cullen dated March 11, 1926, and March 5, 1943. Margaret Mead Papers Container C5 Includes thirty-seven page Hurston manuscript titled "Ritualistic Expression from the Lips of the Communicants of the Seventh Day Church of God, Beaufort, South Carolina" and a letter to Hurston from Mead dated May 20, 1940, in Folder H, 1940. Container O20 Includes several letters from Hurston to Jane Belo, and from Hurston to Jane Belo and Frank Tannenbaum. 1. Four letters from Hurston to Jane Belo dated December 3, 1938; March 20 and May 2, 1940; and October 1, 1944. 2. Two letters from Hurston to Jane Belo and Frank Tannenbaum dated October 14 and October 18, 1944. 3. One letter from Norman Chalfin and co- signed by Hurston to Jane Belo dated May 20, 1940. Container P94 Includes five photographs of Hurston in folder "Jane Belo Photos--Portrait File." NAACP Papers Group I Walter White's personal correspondence file is located in this collection. The bulk of White's personal correspondence (containers 90 through 112) has been reproduced on thirteen reels of microfilm. There is no exact listing of the number or dates of letters to or from Hurston contained in White's correspondence. One letter has been documented, from White to Hurston dated March 14, 1934 (container C104, reel 29). Lawrence Spivak Papers Container 37 Includes six-page page proof titled "You Don't Know Us Negroes" submitted to AMERICAN MERCURY magazine. This article was never published in the magazine. According to the author index cards in Container C3 of the Spivak Papers, Hurston's published articles were titled: "Story in Harlem Slang" (July 1942); "The `Pet Negro' System" (May 1943); "High John de Conquer" (October 1943); "Negroes Without Self-Pity" (November 1943); "The Last Slave Ship" (March 1944); and "Rise of the Begging Joints" (March 1945). Carter G. Woodson Papers Microfilm Reel 3 Woodson's correspondence is arranged alphabetically. One undated letter from Hurston to Woodson has been identified on this reel (the letter and enclosure are filed in the "H" miscellany folder in container 5 of the collection). W.P.A. Federal Writers Project Container A591 Includes, under "Traditional Folklore Project--Florida; Negro Lore," folders containing four Hurston manuscripts: "Negro Folk Tales" (two pages); "Negro Legends" (seven pages); "Negro Religious Customs" (eight pages); and "Negro Folk Customs and Folk Lore" (twenty-six pages). Container A878 Includes, under "Negro Studies Project-- Florida," folders containing three Hurston manuscripts: "Eatonville (When You Look at It)" (two pages), in "Contemporary Culture-- Lifestyle" folder. "The Sanctified Church" (six pages), in "Contemporary Culture--Religious Organizations" folder (same as "Negro Religious Customs" in Container A591). "Negro Work Songs" (five pages), in "Folklore--Songs, Ballads, and Rhymes" folder. Note: Plays by Zora Neale Hurston were recently discovered in the Copyright Drama Collection. [added 7/11/97 SAH] MOTION PICTURE, BROADCASTING AND RECORDED SOUND DIVISION ***************************************************************** MOTION PICTURE AND TELEVISION READING ROOM VBF 3411 "Hurston, Zora Neale." Thirty-minute silent film footage in the Margaret Mead Collection taken by Hurston in the field ca. 1927-29. Contents include a barbecue; baseball crowd and boy dancing; children dancing and girl rocking on a porch; children's games and baptism; man with an axe; "Kissula--Last of the Takkoi Slaves"; logging. VBG 6995-6996 "Zora is My Name!" Ninety-minute video recording of February 14, 1990, American Playhouse television broadcast of Ruby Dee's stage production. RECORDED SOUND REFERENCE CENTER RWC 6858B One 10-inch tape of Mary Margaret McBride interviewing Hurston on WEAF radio, January 25, 1943. Topics include DUST TRACKS ON A ROAD, Hurston's experiences while writing JONAH'S GOURD VINE, and a description of zombies in Haiti. Hurston also briefly describes her first experiences in the field gathering folklore (listening copy is R-Dat cassette RGA 4836). PRINTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS DIVISION *********************************************** Biographical File Includes photograph of Hurston standing outdoors against a city building, wearing a hat. (Negative #LC-USZ62-62394) Lomax Collection Includes several photographs of Hurston. Lot 7414-C, N94: Taken in Eatonville, Florida, 1935, of Hurston seated on a porch with Rochelle Harris and Gabriel Brown playing his guitar. (Negative #LC-USZ61- 1777) Lot 7414-C, N109: Taken in Eatonville, Florida, 1935, of Hurston, wearing a hat, standing outdoors with children. Lot 7414-G, N300: Hurston, wearing a hat and laughing, standing outdoors. (Negative #LC- USZ61-1859) Lot 7414-G, N301: Hurston wearing a hat and standing outdoors; similar to N300. Lot 7414-G, N318: Taken in Belle Glade, Florida, 1935, of Hurston standing outdoors with field and building in the background. Carl Van Vechten Photographs Includes photograph taken in 1938 of Hurston, wearing a hat, seated before a zig-zag patterned backdrop in a studio. (Negative #LC-USZ62-79898) END ******************************************************* Note: This file has been edited for use on computer networks. This editing required the removal of diacritics and fonts such as italics and bold. A hard copy of this publication in its original format may be obtained by writing to the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540-8100. kde 8/92 Updated by SAH 11/19/99, online version only