Summary The Maryland Arts Council Collection at the Maryland State Archives (MSA) and the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) consists of approximately 74.75 cubic feet of archival material collected by the Maryland Folklife Program from its inception in 1974 and through 2000. None of the materials at either MSA or NCTA have been formally processed. The Maryland State Archives portion of this collection includes an inventory of 51 boxes as listed on the MSA website (
http://speccol.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol/catalog/cfm/dsp_number.cfm?speccol=5528). This inventory consists of 594 reels of 7-inch audio tape, photographs, slides, film, video, paper files, musical instruments, ephemera, pen and ink drawings, quilt pieces, hymnals, posters, news clippings, and fieldwork files.The portion of this collection stored at the National Council for the Traditional Arts includes 11 cubic feet of material consisting of 533 open reel tapes (409 of which are 7-inch reels and 124 are 5-inch reels), approximately 20 cassettes, five rolls of film, and approximately 1,000 slides.
We are currently identifying these materials as a “collection” as a short-term placeholder for a larger processing effort that is now under way, which includes of a formal archival survey and assessment of all the materials. Most parts of the collection will be arranged into archival collections that are already established or that are now in process. Our current assessment of these materials is as follows:
Jason Pate Collection [in process]– A collection of materials donated to the Maryland State Arts Council in the 1980s, consisting primarily of audio reel-to-reel tapes. Tapes document music of the Appalachian migration to Maryland (in the Upper Chesapeake region) with a significant focus on singer/songwriter/banjoist Ola Belle Reed of Rising Sun, Maryland. Tapes also focus on the African-American jubilee gospel quartet music of the Little Wonders of Havre de Grace. Mr. Pate, whose family owned and operated radio stations in the Havre de Grace area (WASA and WHDG), also donated a number of radio transcriptions, air checks, and feature-length broadcasts of country and gospel music. These materials need to be processed and properly cataloged.
Maryland Folklife Program Collection– consists of ethnographic field documentation of Maryland folklife, mainly collected in advance of the Maryland Folklife Festivals (1975-1980) as well as film footage for (and final edits of) film projects on Maryland Folklife produced by MSAC with Maryland Public Television (
The Folk Way,
Calling Me Home). Contents include audio recordings, slides, photographs, film, print materials and administrative files. These materials will ultimately be parsed out into the Maryland Folklife Festival Series, George Carey Series
, and the Charley Camp Series.
Reference Materials for Maryalnd Folklife Program [in process] – A collection of folklife and historical reference materials (books, hymnals, films, video, CDs, LPs, etc.) collected by the Maryland state folklorist (Charley Camp, George Carey – 1974-2000) as a reference library for the folklife program.
MSAC Archival Material (non-Folklife) [in process]– General administrative files of the Maryland State Arts Council that were included among the folklife materials accessioned by the MSA.
Ola Belle Reed Personal Ephemera (non-Pate Collection) [in process] – Personal ephemera (musical instruments, stage outfits, crafts, letters, photo albums, etc.) donated by Ola Belle Reed to MSAC for use in museum exhibitions related to Maryland folklife.
Dorothy Howard Collection– materials collected by folklorist Dorothy Howard and her students at Frostburg State University (circa 1940-1990), donated by Dr. Howard to MSAC for inclusion in the Maryland Folklife Archives. Materials also include personal correspondence and publications (drafts and final copies authored by Howard).
