This site is an outgrowth of independent research projects conducted in 2004 by Nicole Saylor, then graduate student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Research was made possible through a grant from the Gerald E. and Corinne L. Parsons Fund for Ethnography at the Library of Congress. A special thanks to archivist Cathy Hiebert Kerst and everyone at the American Folklife Center, Betty Auman in the Music Division of the Library of Congress, Professors James P. Leary and Susan C. Cook, UW music librarians Steve Sundell and Geri Laudati, and Hiroko Sakurazawa with the Cowell Estate. Also, help provided by Charlie Spencer, grandson of singer Charlie Spencer; Bruce Brosoe, grandson of Leizime Brusoe proved invaluable.
After existing offline for several years, this exhibit was migrated to a new Web platform and made accessible again in 2023 by undergraduate student Sydney Mueller under the supervision of CSUMC Director Anna Rue.