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National Sampler:
Selections from California Collections

Mary and Hartop Goshtigian performing Armenian and Armeno-Turkish music on the violin and oud, April 17, 1939, collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell in Fresno, California. Call number AFC 1940/001: P068

California is one of the nation's most complex and multi-faceted states. Originally inhabited by scores of culturally and linguistically distinct Native American groups, it was colonized by the Spanish during the 18th Century. When Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821, it joined the new republic as Alta California. Following the Mexican-American war (1846-48), the United States took control of the region, and in 1851, it joined the Union as America's 31st State. Geographically, the nation's third-largest state is as varied as its population: its landscapes encompass both the Pacific coast and the Mojave Desert, and stretch from the majestic Sierra Nevada Mountains to the agriculturally rich Central Valley.

The following examples from the American Folklife Center's (AFC) extensive holdings include folklife interviews, songs, ballads, instrumental music, and oral histories from various collections documenting California's cultural heritage.

For more information about the American Folklife Center's California collections and services, go to Folklife in Your State: California. For a more complete list of collections, see the finding aid, California Collections in the Archive of Folk Culture.

View Selected Photographs From the Collections

Browse the California Audio and Video Samples and Notes (21 tracks)

Some of these recordings are in mp3 or wav format, while others require free media software available from RealPlayer (as noted in the full descriptions).

• Track 1. Ellen Brazill Grant sings a "Konomihu lullaby," Somes Bar, CA, 1926. (Helen Heffron Roberts Collection).
• The Robert Winslow Gordon Collection:
  • Track 2. "Haul the Woodpile Down"
  • Track 3. "Roll the Old Chariot Along"
• Track 4. Alberto Mendes performs "Minha mai e pobresinha," 1939. The WPA California Folk Music Project Collection:
• Warde Ford documented by Sidney Robertson Cowell. The WPA California Folk Music Project Collection.
  • Track 5. Warde Ford singing "The Lowlands Low" (two versions), 1938.
  • Track 6. Comments on recordings of the Ford family by collector Sidney Robertson Cowell, 1938.
• Track 7. "Camel's Caravan" performed by Aslanian's Armenian Orchestra. The WPA California Folk Music Project Collection, 1939:
• The Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Worker Collection:
  • Track 8. Lois Judd sings "Barbara Allen," recorded at the Arvin FSA Camp, 1940.
  • Track 9. Mrs. O.C. Davis sings "Blackjack Davey," recorded at the Shafter FSA camp, 1940.
  • Track 10. Fiddler Charles Henry plays "Bonaparte's Retreat," at the Farm Security Administration migrant workers camp, 1941.
  • Track 11. Camp elections at the Visalia FSA Camp on August 7, 1940.
• Track 12. "CCC Blues" recorded by Margaret Valiant at the Brawley Migratory Camp, 1939 (Margaret Valiant Southwest and California Recordings Collection).
• Track 13. "Drum Song of Feng-yang." Chinese Songs collected by Rulan Chao Pian and Margaret Speaks, 1943 (Chinese Music Recording Project Collection. Performer unknown).
• Track 14. Selection from the Mrs. Randolph Huntington Miner / Tales of Early Pioneer Life in California Collection.
• Track 15: The Ethnic Broadcasting in America Project – examples from California, 1977-1978 (includes Filipino and Portuguese in the same program, as well as Armenian and Assyrian.
• Track 16. Veteran Manuel Castro Perez recalls WWII experiences for AFC's Veterans History Project, 2003.
• Track 17. "Black Hair," told by Brenda Wong Aoki (International Storytelling Collection).
• Track 18. San Diegan Tony McGee interviews his father, Edward, about segregation experiences for StoryCorps, 2006.
• Californians document themselves in two Local Legacies Projects, 1999-2000:
  • Track 19. Bruce Anderson interviewed by Kesley Harnest, for the project "Stories of Anderson Valley Elders Collected by Anderson Valley Youth."
  • Track 20. Boonville resident Bobby Glover explains secret local language, "Boont."
• Track 21. Kathleen Kuczynski interviews Donna Hedman on her reactions to World Trade Center attacks, November 4, 2001 (September 11, 2001, Documentary Project Collection).
• Track 22. Cantos de mi Cantón:Agustín Lira and Alma and Quetzalz: Chicano Music from California.