The Archive of Folk Culture (originally named The Archive of American Folk Song) was established in 1928 as the first national collection of American folk music in the United States of America. It was initially part of the Music Division of the Library of Congress and now resides in the American Folklife Center.
History
The Archive of American Folk Song 1928–1946
The Music Division's director Carl Engel announced in April 1928 that the Library of Congress would appoint the folk song collector Robert Winslow Gordon as the archive's first director and explained the archive's scope as “a national collection of folk song … to ensure their preservation and to recognize the value of the folk heritage.” In the Library of Congress’ annual report for 1928 Engel argued the country's diverse contributors to its folk music made it richer than any other country's and he believed the scattered, unrecorded folk heritage was threatened by popular music and technological advances such as the radio and phonograph. In 1926 Gordon approached Engel and proposed a folk music collecting project that would allow Gordon to continue the collecting and research he began in San Francisco and Oakland, California in the early 1900s. Working with Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam, Engel raised private funds to support the first post of Chair of American Folk Music. From its very beginning, the Archive was not a passive receptacle. Rather Gordon, with Engel's blessing, went into communities, actively solicited and collected folk music and brought them to the Archive.
Gordon spent his first year in the post in Darien, Georgia collecting materials such as song sheets and reels for the archive. Although Engel, Putnam and Gordon agreed that folk music was an important addition to the Library's music collections, they did not agree on the methods. Gordon expected autonomy as an independent researcher but his absence from the Library of Congress did not meet Engel or Putman's expectations. Engel and Putman frequently wrote to Gordon enquiring about his location and requesting updates about collecting activities and in order to improve relations with the Library's management, Gordon relocated to Washington, D.C. in 1929. He used his time in Washington, D.C. to experiment with phonographs and recording formats like wax cylinders and after borrowing an Amplifon disc recorder, he re-entered the field in 1932 and travelled around Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky. However, the Great Depression decimated the country's economy and private donations that fund the post ran out in 1932 and Gordon left the Library of Congress.
Shortly after Gordon's departure, John Avery Lomax visited the Archive to consult its collections for American Ballads and Folk Songs, an extensive folk music anthology he co-authored with his son Alan Lomax and was financed by the Macmillan publishing company. Lomax had a project and backing but he needed recording equipment to capture folk music during his fieldwork. He made a deal with Engel; in exchange for borrowing a phonograph from the Library of Congress and providing recording blanks Lomax would deposit his materials into the Archive of American Folk Song. After finishing his anthology, Lomax received a grant in 1933 from the American Council of Learned Societies and undertook his first recording trip under the Library's auspices to collect new material to expand the Archive's collections. In 1934 Lomax was appointed the Honorary Consultant and Curator of the Archive of American Folk Song and with help from his wife Ruby Terrill Lomax, daughter Shirley Lomax, son John Jr. Lomax and son Alan Lomax, he travelled all over the United States but they extensively toured Southern states including Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia and notably recorded performances by Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter while the musician was incarcerated in a Louisiana state penitentiary. Lomax's understanding of folk culture was such that he viewed artefacts as survivors of times past. They were items that needed to be collected and protected before modern society could damage or erase them. He also believed that artefacts obtained from remote locations were purer, untainted and thus genuine expression of that culture. Although Lomax Sr. worked with the Library of Congress for over a decade and kept the title of Honorary Curator until his death, he was never an employee and was expected to support himself and his work through grants and payment for lecturing.