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• Collection: Groups of Images (LOTs)
• Collection: Guide Records

• Title: Lomax photographs depicting folk musicians, primarily in the southern United States and the Bahamas
• Other Title: Southern mosaic, the John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip.
• Related Names:
     Lomax, John A. (John Avery), 1867-1948.
     Lomax, Alan, 1915-2002 , photographer
     Lomax, Ruby T. (Ruby Terrill) , photographer
     Archive of American Folk Song.
• Date Created/Published: 1934-ca. 1950.
• Medium: 400 photographic prints : gelatin silver ; 8x10 in. and smaller.
• Summary: Snapshots primarily documenting sound recording expeditions carried out by John Avery Lomax, Alan Lomax, and Ruby Terrill Lomax for the Archive of American Folk Song from 1934 to ca. 1950. Photographs depict African American, white, and Latino musicians, singers and dancers, in the southern United States (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia) and the Bahamas (Nassau, Andros Island, and Cat Island). Includes portraits of musicians posed with and without their instruments; many photos show musicians in various settings and activities--at homes, working in prison yards, working on chain gangs, performing outside and on stage at the Asheville Mountain Music Festival, North Carolina. Some photos depict daily life, including domestic activities, baptisms, and farming. Also includes some landscape and marine views, houses, and children playing singing games. Musicians depicted include, among others, Henry Truvillion, James "Iron Head" Baker, Moses "Clear Rock" Platt, Leadbelly, Crockett "Davy" Ward, Bill Hensley, Uncle Bob Ledbetter, and Bascom Lamar Lunsford. Folklorist Zora Neale Hurston, who assisted the Lomaxes on expeditions to Georgia and Florida, is identified in four photographs in subdivisions 7414-C and 7414-G.
• Reproduction Number: ---
• Rights Advisory: No known restrictions. For more information, see: "Lomax Collection,"(http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/res/159_loma.html)
  
• Access Advisory: For reference access, please use the digital image surrogates in the online catalog to preserve the fragile original items.
• Call Number: LOT 7414 (F) (Use Surrogate) [P&P]
• Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
• Notes:
  • Arrangement: Photographs are organized into eight subdivisions generally corresponding to each of the Lomaxes recording expeditions. Each subdivision is lettered A-H as follows: LOT 7414-A (Asheville Mountain Music Festival); LOT 7414-B (Louisiana and Alabama); LOT 7414-C (Georgia and Florida); LOT 7414-D (Virginia); LOT 7414-E (Prison camps and state farms); LOT 7414-F (Texas); LOT 7414-G (Misc. contact strips and single photos); LOT 7414-H (Bahamas). Arrangement: Items within each subdivision are numbered consecutively throughout the LOT. Item numbers are preceded by the letter N (i.e., LOT 7414-B, no. N138).
  • Photographer names do not appear on the photographs. Many images were taken by Alan Lomax and Ruby Terrill Lomax, and possibly others working with them. Photos of the Bog Trotters Band, Galax, Va., are marked: "These pictures were made by CBS photographer at the time of the A. Lomax School of the Air Broadcast in Galax".
  • Most photographs have handwritten or typed identifications or other markings on the versos.
  • In 2015, the Library digitized 48 nitrate negatives (PR 06 CN 1186) for which no prints had been found and made online catalog records. These photos and their numbering fit with the Texas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Georgia photos of LOT 7414. The negatives date from Sept. to Nov. 1940 and are attributed to Ruby Lomax. Another 31 negatives that correspond to prints were also digitized and described in the catalog records for the prints.
  • LOT title devised by Library staff.
  • Digitized images of these items display with associated descriptions in the Prints & Photographs Division Online Catalog, http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html
  • Digitized images are also available through the Library of Congress Web site under the title: Southern mosaic, The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip, produced in 1999 for the National Digital Library Program, American Memory collections. This site also features associated sound recordings, field notes, and other manuscript materials.
  • Transfer; Archive of American Folk Song; 1950?
• Subjects:
  • African Americans--Music--1930-1950.
  • African Americans--Women
  • Musicians--Southern States--1930-1950.
  • Musicians--Bahamas--1930-1950.
  • Folk dancers--Southern States--1930-1950.
  • Music festivals--North Carolina--Asheville--1930-1950.
  • Prisoners--Southern States--1930-1950.
• Format:
  • Gelatin silver prints--1930-1950.
  • Group portraits--1930-1950.
  • Portrait photographs--1930-1950.
• Collections:
  • Groups of Images (LOTs)
  • Guide Records
• Bookmark This Record:
     https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/99405204/

View the MARC Record for this item.

The Library of Congress generally does not own rights to material in its collections and, therefore, cannot grant or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute the material. For further rights information, see "Rights Information" below and the Rights and Restrictions Information page ( https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/rights.html ).

• Rights Advisory: No known restrictions. For more information, see: "Lomax Collection," http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/res/159_loma.html
• Reproduction Number: ---
• Call Number: LOT 7414 (F) (Use Surrogate) [P&P]
• Medium: 400 photographic prints : gelatin silver ; 8x10 in. and smaller.

Generally, Guide Records describe large groups of items from which a selection must be made. The individual items in the group may or may not be represented online.

1. Determine whether the desired materials can be retrieved online.

• Select the "About this Item" tab and look for a note about tools for searching the group
• If there is a note such as "Digitized images of most prints along with associated descriptive information are available through the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog," try searching the name of the collection in Search All
• Select the "Obtaining Copies" tab for any retrieved items that are of interest.

2. If the desired material cannot be retrieved online:

• A visit to the Prints & Photographs Reading Room may be necessary. You may wish to discuss access to the group of images with reference staff. General information about service in the reading room is available at: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/info/001_ref.html and contact information is available at: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/address.html

• Call Number: LOT 7414 (F) (Use Surrogate) [P&P]
• Medium: 400 photographic prints : gelatin silver ; 8x10 in. and smaller.
• Access Advisory: For reference access, please use the digital image surrogates in the online catalog to preserve the fragile original items.

Please use the following steps to determine whether you need to fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room to view the original item(s). In some cases, a surrogate (substitute image) is available, often in the form of a digital image, a copy print, or microfilm.

1. Is the item digitized? (A thumbnail (small) image will be visible on the left.)

   • Yes, the item is digitized. Please use the digital image in preference to requesting the original. All images can be viewed at a large size when you are in any reading room at the Library of Congress. In some cases, only thumbnail (small) images are available when you are outside the Library of Congress because the item is rights restricted or has not been evaluated for rights restrictions.

     As a preservation measure, we generally do not serve an original item when a digital image is available. If you have a compelling reason to see the original, consult with a reference librarian. (Sometimes, the original is simply too fragile to serve. For example, glass and film photographic negatives are particularly subject to damage. They are also easier to see online where they are presented as positive images.)

   • No, the item is not digitized. Please go to #2.

2. Do the Access Advisory or Call Number fields above indicate that a non-digital surrogate exists, such as microfilm or copy prints?

   • Yes, another surrogate exists. Reference staff can direct you to this surrogate.

   • No, another surrogate does not exist. Please go to #3.

3. If you do not see a thumbnail image or a reference to another surrogate, please fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room. In many cases, the originals can be served in a few minutes. Other materials require appointments for later the same day or in the future. Reference staff can advise you in both how to fill out a call slip and when the item can be served.

To contact Reference staff in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room, please use our Ask A Librarian service or call the reading room between 8:30 and 5:00 at 202-707-6394, and Press 3.