The Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures (CSUMC), University of Wisconsin- Madison’s Mills Music Library and the Wisconsin Historical Society are thrilled to announce that the Library of Congress, following advice from the National Recording Preservation Board (NRPB), has inducted the Wisconsin Folksong Collection, 1937-1946 into the National Recording Registry. Other notable 2024 entries include recordings from ABBA, Blondie, The Cars, The Chicks, Juan Gabriel, Green Day, The Notorious B.I.G. and Lily Tomlin.
Housed at Mills Music Library, the Wisconsin Folksong Collection combines separate but closely related field recordings made by Helene Stratman-Thomas and Sidney Robertson Cowell. Stratman-Thomas, a School of Music faculty member, recorded performers in the summers of 1940, 1941, and 1946, with support from UW-Madison and the Library of Congress. Sidney Robertson Cowell did her work in summer 1937 for the Special Skills Division of the federal government’s Resettlement Administration.
“We are ecstatic the recordings in our Wisconsin Folksong Collection have been selected for induction, as this acknowledges the importance we have always placed on them. This now brings them to the attention of a wider audience and preserves them for all time,” says Tom Caw, Music Public Services Librarian at Mills Library. “We are proud stewards of these recordings, which offer listeners the chance to hear music made by people from all over Wisconsin who came here from around the world, as well as from people whose ancestors have lived here since time immemorial—including Ho-Chunk, Ojibwe, and Oneida. We are grateful to James P. Leary, UW-Madison Professor Emeritus of Folklore and Scandinavian Studies, for championing these treasures and advocating for them to be inducted.”
Stratman-Thomas and Cowell’s pioneering efforts with portable disc-cutting equipment captured over 900 performances in homes and public places throughout the state. All the recordings are freely accessible online through the UW Library’s Digital Collections site, where users are welcomed to stream tunes and songs, and view the images captured by these two remarkable researchers.
The Wisconsin Historical Society houses photographs from the collection as well as several instruments featured in the recordings. “I am deeply gratified to witness this significant Wisconsin folk music collection receiving national recognition, and it is an honor to have played a role in its development,” says Lisa Saywell, director of public services for the Wisconsin Historical Society’s library and archives. Saywell helped process the Helene Stratman-Thomas papers at Mills Library as a student and later worked on digitizing the project as a part of the UW-Madison Libraries. “Between the historic photographs and related musical instruments in the Society’s collection, it is exciting to be a part of Wisconsin’s lasting impact on American folk music traditions.”
CSUMC co-founder James P. Leary, drew on this collection for his groundbreaking Grammy-nominated book and multi-CD set, Folksongs of Another America: Field Recordings in the Upper Midwest, 1937-1946. Reflecting on the collection’s importance within the National Recording Registry, Leary explains that the recordings “exemplify the grassroots soundtrack of our many-splendored state from the 19th through the mid-20th centuries. Performed in 25 languages by Indigenous and immigrant rural and working-class communities, the Collection is not only an overdue Upper Midwestern addition to the National Recording Registry’s overwhelmingly Eastern, Southern, and Western roster but also evidence of Wisconsin’s vibrant longstanding cultural pluralism.”
While the recordings will remain at the Mills Music Library, the National Recording Registry aims to increase awareness of the range and diversity of America’s legacy of recorded sound. Enriching the Registry significantly, the collection’s induction ensures well deserved recognition of Wisconsin’s distinct folk musical heritage.
The unique contribution of the Wisconsin Folksong Collection warrants special attention. According to Leary, “it is the most diverse, equitable, and inclusive folksong field collection ever made for the Library of Congress, reminding us that we cannot fully grasp the richness of American roots music without recognizing the many peoples, tongues, and sounds that–whether past or present, from mainstream or margins, deservedly acknowledged or unjustly ignored–have always made America great.”
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About the Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs and services. For more information, visit www.wisconsinhistory.org.