Cecil Sharp In Virginia: A Website

Liz Milner (George Mason University) 7011 Donna Circle Annandale, VA 22003-1806 (703) 658-0957 (H) emilner3@gmu.edu Extreme Appalachia Presentation Proposal: Cecil Sharp in Virginia, a Website The year 2016 marks the 100th anniversary of Cecil Sharp’s folksong collecting trip in Virginia. In the course of the trip, Sharp photographed his informants and the places they lived and worked. These photos are available on the internet, but they lack context. My website, Cecil Sharp in Virginia (https://cecilsharpva.wordpress.com/) curates these photographs. The website: Provides biographical and genealogical information about Sharp’s informants and their relationships to one another Integrates Sharp’s photos and diary entries with timelines, maps and web links to recreate his journey. Significance: Mapping Sharp’s journey provides a better understanding of his achievement. By using dynamic mapping, the wide range of his travels becomes instantly clear. Matching the photographs of the singers with their biographies and their songs helps differentiate each singer and locate them in time and space. Many versions of the same songs were collected in different communities. Noting where the songs were collected and how they changed in the course of their travels helps to reveal how songs were disseminated. Applying digital genealogy techniques to the data also helps elucidate family relationships and artistic influences among the singers. Conclusion: Sharp’s desire to differentiate himself from the antiquarians and present his ideas as scientific may have been the source of his decision to omit photographs and anecdotal information about his informants from English Folk-Songs of the Southern Appalachians. The incorporation of Sharp’s photographs and diary entries with maps of his journey through Appalachia provides contextual information that enriches our understanding of early 20th century culture in Appalachia and also enhances our appreciation of Sharp and Karpeles’ arduous journeys and their tremendous achievement. Relevant Literature Primary Sources Karpeles, Maud. 1967. Cecil Sharp: His Life and Work. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Sharp, Cecil James. 1907. English Folk-Song: Some Conclusions. London: Simpkin & Co. Ltd. Sharp, Cecil James. 1932. English Folk-Songs from the Southern Appalachians. Edited by Karpeles, Maud; repr. 1960. London:Oxford University Press, 1960. Sharp, Cecil James. n.d. Cecil Sharp’s Appalachian Diaries: 1915-1918. Vaughan Williams Memorial Library Website, http://www.vwml.org/vwml-projects/vwml-cecil-sharp-diaries; Accessed 4/3/2016 6:03:56 PM Secondary Sources Eisenfeld, Sue. 2014. Shenandoah: A Story of Conservation and Betrayal. University of Nebraska Press. English Folk Dance & Song Society. 2004. Dear Companion: Appalachian Traditional Songs and Singers from the Cecil Sharp Collection. Edited by Mike Yates, Elaine Bradtke and Malcolm Taylor. London:English Folk Dance & Song Society. Gold, John R., and George Revill. 2006. Gathering the Voices of the People: Cecil Sharp, Cultural Hybridity, and the Folk Music of Appalachia. GeoJournal 65, no. 1/2: 55–66. Harker, Dave. 1985. Fakesong: The Manufacture of British Folksong:” 1700 to the Present Day. Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England: Open University Press. Whisnant, David E. 1983. All That Is Native and Fine: The Politics of Culture in an American Region. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. Yates, Mike. 1999. Cecil Sharp in America: Collecting in the Appalachians. Musical Traditions, Stroud, Glos, England, UK, http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/sharp.htm. Zumwalt, Rosemary Lévy. 1988. American Folklore Scholarship: A Dialogue of Dissent. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Author Biography Liz Milner is a student in George Mason University’s Graduate Folklore Program. She holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science from the University of Chicago and a BA in International Service from American University, Washington, D.C. As an independent scholar she has written about topics that range from quackery in Tudor England to the career of Appalachian dulcimer virtuoso Ralph Lee Smith. She presently works in the Virginia Room, Fairfax County Public Library’s historical archive