Public domain recordings and images from the American South


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Mountain Music...

Public domain recordings and images from the American South

Sounds and visuals celebrating Southern song

Taping Travels

In 1939 the Archive of American Folk Song of the Library of Congress sponsored researchers on a 6500 mile trip across the American south to make recordings and document the culture of the region. The result was 25 hours of audio, almost 700 songs from over 300 performers that represent ballads, blues, children's songs, cowboy songs, fiddle tunes, lullabies, spirituals, and work songs.

Texts and Photos

You can browse the available audio recordings by subject, title, or performer, and they are downloadable as MP3's, WAV's, or RealAudio. Some of the songs have had their lyrics transcribed, and you can access these texts as well. Even more, there is a collection of photographic prints taken from the region that you can browse by subject or description. These are downloadable as JPEG's or TIF's in different resolutions.

Southern Mosaic

· The public domain motion pictures and sound recordings of Thomas Edison
· Photographic public domain images of the American experience from 1935 to 1945
· The premiere public domain collection of Civil War photographs
· Brass band public domain compositions from the time of the Civil War
· Public domain collector cards from the beginnings of baseball