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Collection Overview

Southern Mosaic: The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip is a multi-format ethnographic field collection that contains sound recordings, field notes, dust jackets, and other manuscripts. The collection documents the Lomaxes' three-month, 6,502-mile trip through the southern United States. The materials include 25 hours of folk music from more than 300 performers that feature ballads, blues, children's songs, cowboy songs, fiddle tunes, field hollers, lullabies, play-party songs, religious dramas, spirituals, and work songs. Photographic prints from the Lomaxes' other Southern states expeditions illustrate the collection.

In a hurry? Save or print these Collection Connections as a single file.

Special Features

These online exhibits provide context and additional information about this collection.

• Research Materials
• The 1939 Recording Expedition

Historical Eras

These historical era(s) are best represented in the collection, although they may not be all-encompassing.

• The Development of the Industrial United States, 1876-1915
• The Emergence of Modern America, 1890-1930
• The Great Depression and World War II, 1929-1945

Related Collections and Exhibits

These collections and exhibits contain thematically-related primary and secondary sources. Browse the Collection Finder for more related material on the American Memory Web site.

• African American Odyssey
• American Life Histories, 1936-1940
• California Gold: Folk Music from the Thirties
• FSA-OWI Photographs ca. 1935-1945.
• Hispano Music and Culture of the Northern Rio Grande
• The South Texas Border, 1900-1920
• Voices from the Dust Bowl, 1940-1941

Other Resources

Recommended additional sources of information.

• Biographies: John Avery Lomax and Ruby Terrill Lomax
• Related Resources
• A Teacher's Guide to Folklife Resources for K-12

Search Tips

Specific guidance for searching this collection.

To find items in this collection, search by Keyword or browse by Photo Subject Index, Audio Subject Index, Audio Title Index, Performer Index, and Photo Title Index. To locate song lyrics and documents do a full-text search and, having selected a document, scroll down to find the highlighted search term, or use the Best Match function to find the pertinent reference.

For help with general search strategies, see Finding Items in American Memory.

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Last Updated: 11/ 3/2009