Houston folklorist's storied blues and jazz archive finds home at Smithsonian
A drawer of files from Mack McCormick's archive. McCormick was a Houston-based folklorist whose body of work was acquired by the Smithsonian and will begin to be presented in 2023.Brilliant, complicated, dogged, difficult and motivated by things grander than money, Robert “Mack” McCormick died in 2015 leaving behind a trove of research that historians treated as Indiana Jones did the lost Ark of the Covenant.
According to the Smithsonian, the collection includes nearly 600 reels of audio recordings and another 165 boxes of other materials, including “more than 70 cubic feet of unpublished manuscripts, original interviews and research notes, thousands of photographs and negatives, playbills, posters, maps, booking contracts and business records.”"There were people online talking about coming into his house after he died, breaking in and taking stuff," Nix said.
Full presentation of the archive could take years, but the Smithsonian’s approach is to treat history as an organic entity to be seen, not stored.Nix said of her father's archive,"Some of it is junk, and a lot of it isn't junk. We needed an expert to determine what was what." Kroger pointed out that McCormick's work lent credence to Houston and East Texas as an under-heralded space in American music history that proved crucial to 20th century music.
The Johnson book is of particular interest to music scholars. When singer-songwriter Steve Earle made an album of Johnson covers several years ago, he told the Chronicle that Johnson “wrote seven or eight of the most important songs in the genre and created templates for nearly all the songs that have gone on in the genre since then."
“McCormick’s archive has long been of near-mythical proportions within research and music history circles, and it lives up to its promise,” said John Troutman curator of music for the Smithsonian. “He loved volunteering to work in the Black neighborhoods,” Wood said. “It allowed him to meet people and get information. Working for the Census, he loved asking questions, the kind of that nobody tolerates today. He had a genuine curiosity about philosophy in a classical sense. He was someone who loved knowledge, particularly about things that were discounted or under-appreciated or unrecognized in their value.”McCormick was a diligent listener.
“He knew they existed from talking to people who’d been in labor camps. So they got drunk and started singing. Things that would’ve gotten stopped by censorship and penalties. It’s nasty stuff, and it represented how these men were. He asked me if I recognized any voices on there."
Indonesia Berita Terbaru, Indonesia Berita utama
Similar News:Anda juga dapat membaca berita serupa dengan ini yang kami kumpulkan dari sumber berita lain.
Houston couple rebuilds homes in north Houston to be Airbnb'sA Houston couple redesigned old homes into Airbnb's to bring new life to old neighborhoods in north Houston.
Baca lebih lajut »
Houston homicide investigators looking into fatal shooting at a NW Houston apartment, HPD saysTenants told officers they heard gunfire and took a look inside the apartment and saw the victim on the floor.
Baca lebih lajut »
Houston Zoo welcomes 2 cougar cubs, including new mascot, Shasta VII, for University of HoustonWelcome to H-town, Shasta VII and Louie! The cougar cubs found a new home at the Houston Zoo after a rancher discovered them orphaned at just 4-weeks old.
Baca lebih lajut »
The Archive of the Folklorist Who Unplugged Bob Dylan at Newport Is Headed to the SmithsonianA trove of sound recordings, manuscripts, photographs, and ephemera from the blues and folklore archive of Robert “Mack” McCormick will get a new home at the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History.
Baca lebih lajut »
Mattress Mack makes another enormous bet after $75 million Astros’ World Series winMattress Mack is already betting his winnings and targeting a different Houston team to win it all this year.
Baca lebih lajut »
Who is Mattress Mack? What to know about the Houston furniture mogul and avid sports bettorLong before becoming a social media sensation during the Astros' 2022 World Series run,...
Baca lebih lajut »