Photos: A look at the musicians and instruments used to make Wisconsin folk music
The Wisconsin Folksong Collection was recorded over 85 years ago in homes, taverns, logging camps, churches and dance halls throughout the state and features 900 performances.
Scott Roller and Lisa Saywell look over a vintage fiddle used decades ago to make folk music.
Lisa Saywell, Wisconsin State Historical Society Director of Public Services, Library-Archives, and Tom Caw, UW-Madison Music Public Services Librarian for Mills Music Library, view artifacts related to Wisconsin folk musicians working in the mid-20th century at WHS’ Archives Facility in Madison, Wis. Thursday, May 2, 2024. Field recordings made by Wisconsin musicians in the 1930’s and 1940’s and catalogued as the Wisconsin Folksong Collection, 1937-1946, have been inducted by the Library of Congress into the National Recording Registry. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
James Leary, emeritus professor of Folklore and Scandinavian Studies and co-founder of the Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures, left, and Scott Roller, collections manager for the Wisconsin State Historical Society, look at artifacts related to Wisconsin folk musicians active in the 1930s and 1940s.
Iva Rindlisbacher, from left, Helene Stratman-Thomas and Lois Rindlisbacher are seen in this 1941 photo of Swiss bells taken in Rice Lake, as Lisa Saywell from the Wisconsin Historical Society explains the image. Stratman-Thomas roamed Wisconsin in the 1940s, recording folk music from a wide swath of cultures.
This is an example of a portable disc-cutting machine used to make field recordings of folk music in the 1930s and 1940s. More than 900 performances were recorded and are now part of the Wisconsin Folksong Collection in the Mills Music Library at UW-Madison.
A card catalog holds detailed notes about folk singers recorded in the 1930s and 1940s throughout Wisconsin.
Photographs of Wisconsin folk musicians active in the 1930s and 1940s are displayed at the Wisconsin State Historical Society’s State Archives Preservation Facility in Madison.
Scott Roller, collections manager for the Wisconsin Historical Society, shows off a homemade string instrument used to make folk music in northern Wisconsin. Field recordings made by Wisconsin musicians in the 1930s and 1940s and catalogued as the Wisconsin Folksong Collection have been inducted into the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.
James Leary, UW-Madison Emeritus Professor of Folklore and Scandinavian Studies & Co-founder, Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures views artifacts related to Wisconsin folk musicians working in the mid-20th century at WHS’ Archives Facility in Madison, Wis. Thursday, May 2, 2024. Field recordings made by Wisconsin musicians in the 1930’s and 1940’s and catalogued as the Wisconsin Folksong Collection, 1937-1946, have been inducted by the Library of Congress into the National Recording Registry. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
A vintage folk instrument used by Wisconsin folk musicians working in the 1930’s and 1940’s is displayed at the Wisconsin State Historical Society’s Archives Facility in Madison, Wis. Thursday, May 2, 2024. Field recordings of of the musicians and catalogued as the Wisconsin Folksong Collection, 1937-1946, have been inducted by the Library of Congress into the National Recording Registry. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
James Leary, UW-Madison Emeritus Professor of Folklore and Scandinavian Studies & Co-founder, Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures, left, and Scott Roller, collections manager for the Wisconsin State Historical Society, converse about artifacts related to Wisconsin folk musicians working in the mid-20th century at WHS’ Archives Facility in Madison, Wis. Thursday, May 2, 2024. Field recordings made by Wisconsin musicians in the 1930’s and 1940’s and catalogued as the Wisconsin Folksong Collection, 1937-1946, have been inducted by the Library of Congress into the National Recording Registry. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
A vintage folk instrument used by Wisconsin folk musicians working in the 1930’s and 1940’s is displayed at the Wisconsin State Historical Society’s Archives Facility in Madison, Wis. Thursday, May 2, 2024. Field recordings of of the musicians and catalogued as the Wisconsin Folksong Collection, 1937-1946, have been inducted by the Library of Congress into the National Recording Registry. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Charles Robinson, singer of lumberjack songs, left, with an unidentified man sitting behind what appears to be a microphone on a stand. Photo courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Society
Bessie Gordon (b. 1901) at the cut-down reed organ under the tavern counter. Photo courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Society
Members of the Yuba (Bohemian) Band posing outdoors. Photo courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Society
Charlie Spencer (b.1873?), a Kentuckian who migrated to Crandon, recorded white spirituals for song collector Helene Stratman-Thomas. He is sitting in a chair outdoors in front of a building. A young girl is sitting in his lap, and there is a microphone in front of them. Photo courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Society
Harry Dyer (b.1864), a former logger and Mississippi riverman, with Helene Statman-Thomas. Photo courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Society
Fiddle player Emil Boulanger played for dances since he was a boy. He played entirely by ear, and on a violin which he made himself. He was born in Dyckesville (a Belgian community) and neither spoke nor understood English. Photo courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Society
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