BLAUSTEIN-SONGER COLLECTION
c. 1925

East Tennessee State University
Archives of Appalachia
Box 70295
Johnson City, Tennessee 37614

E-mail: archives@etsu.edu
Telephone: (423) 439-4338


INTRODUCTION

Title:

The Blaustein-Songer Collection

Collection Number:

Accession No. 383

Physical Description:

1 folder
1 10-inch vinyl recording

Creator:

Drs. Richard J. Blaustein and Lewis A. Songer

Repository:

Archives of Appalachia, East Tennessee State University

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Provenance: The Blaustein-Songer Collection was donated to the Archives of Appalachia on May 13, 1991, by Drs. Richard J. Blaustein and Lewis A. Songer of the Departments of Sociology & Anthropology and Music, respectively, at East Tennessee State University.

Access: The collection is open for research.

Processing Information: Ed Speer completed processing, and the collection was opened to researchers in March 1997.

HISTORICAL NOTE

Floyd Collins (1890-1925) died after being trapped in a cave near Mammoth Cave in Edmonson County, Kentucky. The attempts to rescue Collins were widely publicized on radio and in newspapers.

Andrew Jenkins (1885-1956) was a blind evangelist and songwriter in Atlanta who was persuaded by Polk Brockman, a record company executive, to write a song about Collins. Jenkins's composition, "The Death of Floyd Collins," was recorded by Vernon Dalhart (1883-1948), born Marion Try Slaughter, a prolific county music recording artist from Texas.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The Blaustein-Songer Collection consists of "The Death of Floyd Collins," sheet music published by Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., New York; and a ten-inch vinyl recording of "Death of Floyd Collins" and "Dream of a Miner's Child" by Vernon Dalhart.

Important subjects of the collection are:

Collins, Floyd, 1890-1925--Songs and music
Country music
Dalhart, Vernon, 1883-1948

 

ITEM LIST

1. "The Death of Floyd Collins," sheet music published by Shapiro, Bernstein & Co. Inc., New York; words by Rev. Andrew Jenkins and music by Mrs. Irene Spain; copyright 1925 by P. C. Brockman
2. Ten-inch orthophonic recording of "Death of Floyd Collins" (#19821-A) and "Dream of a Miner's Child" (#19821-B) by Vernon Dalhart; published by Victor Talking Machine Co., Camden, N.J.; both songs composed by Andrew Jenkins

 

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