Archives Collection
WORK, JOHN WESLEY
III (d. 1967) 93-004
SOUND RECORDINGS AND PAPERS
Physical
description:
.75
l.f. including 23 audio discs, 1 audio tape, 6 monographs,
3 serials and 3 photographs.
Dates:
1935-1956 (bulk: 1941-1947)
Provenance:
These materials were
deposited in the Center in 1993 by the estate of Edith M. Work (Mrs. John W.
Work III) by her son John Wesley Work IV.
The sound recordings were made by John W. Work III, ca. 1937‑1942. The photographic and typed copies of
materials owned by the Work family were made in 1988 by Center audio specialist
Bruce Nemerov and represent only a portion of the Work family papers. Duplicates of some of this material are also
available on microfilm at
Biographical sketch:
John Wesley Work III (d.
1967), son of John Work II, a professor of music at Fisk University and leader
of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, received his musical training at Fisk, Columbia
and Yale universities.
From 1935 to 1942 Work, by
then a professor of music at Fisk himself, collected black American secular and
sacred folk music in a variety of styles in
For additional information
on Work see Bruce Nemerov "John Wesley Work III: Field Recordings of
Southern Black Folk Music, 1935‑1942" in Tennessee Folklore
Society Bulletin, LIII:3 (Fall, 1987) on which the above is based.
Scope and content:
This group consists of
correspondence; writings and course syllabi; field notes and recording lists;
manuscript and published research materials; and field recordings of John
Wesley Work III. Some of this material relates
to the development and implementation of Work's research projects in
This material is arranged
in five series: correspondence; writings and course syllabi; manuscript field
notes and research materials; printed research materials; and field
recordings. Several tributes to Dr. Work
are filed at the beginning of Series I and a published score by Work is filed
in series IV.
Series Description:
Incoming and outgoing
correspondence between Work and folklorists with whom he collaborated on
projects in Tennessee, Georgia and Coahoma county Mississippi including Alan
Lomax and B.A. Botkin of the Library of Congress Archive of Folk Song;
colleagues at Fisk University, especially President Thomas E. Jones, Jackson
Davis of the General Education Board, and A[ngela?] Lockhart. This correspondence relates primarily to
field recording projects undertaken by Work in Tennessee in 1941 and in Georgia
and Mississippi in 1942 and recounts the purpose and nature of the projects;
the selection and maintenance of recording equipment; raising money for
expenses; and publication of the materials from the projects, especially the
Coahoma recordings.
Of particular interest are
letters from Work to President Jones 18 August and 21 November 1942 describing
in detail the scholarly work necessary to prepare a publication based on his
field recordings; letters in 1943 and 1945 from B.A. Botkin of the Archive of
Folk Song explaining the delays in publication of Work's manuscript; and
several 1947 letters from Alan Lomax requesting copies of the Fisk recordings
for use in his own book.
Filed among these papers
are scattered typescripts of the correspondence made by Center audio specialist
Bruce Nemerov while using these materials in preparation of "Roots of
American Popular Music" (q.v.).
Series II. Writings and syllabi. Folders 4-6.
Materials in this series
document the evolution of the Coahoma project and Work's own scholarship on
Negro folk music. Included are a report
of the music group of the 1939 Fisk summer training school for high school
teachers which Work led; duplicates of correspondence concerning the Coahoma
project which are filed in series I; an article "Plantation
Meistersinger" by Work published in the Musical Quarterly January 1941;
manuscript and typed copies of an address given by Work at the Negro folk music
program held as part of Fisk's 75th anniversary celebration and an agenda for
the program; an undated typescript "Negro Folk Music"; a schedule,
report to Dr. Jones, numerous typed and manuscript writings based on the
Coahoma recordings which describe and analyze the music recorded by Work and a
classified list of the songs included in the project; and a letter 13 October
1942 to Work from Lewis W. Jones concerning the Fisk Folk Culture seminar for
which Work was a consultant and a detailed course syllabus including summaries
of each topic to be covered and a list of faculty responsible for each session.
WORK, JOHN WESLEY III (d. 1967) 93-004
SOUND RECORDINGS AND PAPERS
Series Description: (continued)
Series III. Manuscript field notes and research materials. Folders 7-9.
This series and the one
which follows consist of materials gathered and consulted by Work to support
his scholarship in Negro folk music.
Included are lists of field recordings given by John W. Work III to Alan
Lomax, 1941 and 1942; an undated list of [field?] recordings in Work's hand and
a copy of a holograph list of mostly commercial recordings from the Work's
record case; lists of performers and notes and transcriptions of Negro folk
music collected by Work, some identified by location or source; slight,
scattered magazine and newspaper clippings; copies of titles pages and
occasional tables of contents of publications; two flyers from the Festival of
Old Time Music, Fort Valley Georgia 6-8 March 1942; and a 5x7 black and
white 1942 photograph of "Son" Sims and Muddy Water[s] labelled in
Work's hand. (Copies of this photographs are filed in the Center photograph
file.)
Series IV. Printed research materials. Folders 10-12.
Included are six
monographs and scores (In Arcadia, A Musical Play in Two Acts, by David
Stevens, Songs of Stephen Foster, Ten American Songs by Gladys
Pitcher, Songs of All Time by Olive Dame Campbell, Songs With A
Message No. 1 by Thomas A. Dorsey, and Asher Sizemore and Little
Jimmie's Songs of the Soil) and three serials (Tones and Overtones,
fall and summer 1954, and Tennessee
Folklore Society Bulletin, September 1955).
Filed following these materials is a score, Appalachia: Three Fiddle
and Game Tunes, by John W. Work.
Series V. Sound recordings. 10 10" instantaneous discs. 13
12" instantaneous discs. 1200' audio tape. Commercial 78 rpm album set.
These instantenous discs
include recordings of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, a Pulaski TN church service,
the
Location:
Series I‑IV are
filed by accession number with other manuscript groups. Series V is filed with other manuscript sound
discs. The two 8x10 glossy publicity
photographs of Thomas A. Dorsey are filed by name in the photographic file.
WORK, JOHN WESLEY III (d. 1967) 93-;004
SOUND RECORDINGS AND PAPERS
Related materials:
Two sets of Work materials
were assembled by Center director Paul Wells and audio specialist Bruce Nemerov
in 1988/89 for a half-hour radio program "Roots of American Popular
Music" which featured research and recordings by Work. The JOHN WESLEY WORK III COLLECTION includes
copies of recordings given by Work to the Library of Congress Archive of
American Folk Song listed by Work in series III above and tape copies of the
discs described in Series V. Series I in
the "ROOTS OF AMERICAN POPULAR MUSIC" RECORDS includes audio tapes of
interviews with Work's colleagues and informants, copies of articles by/about
Work and an audio tape and sheet music of a composition by Work.