WASHINGTON -- It was billed as a dedication of the Library of Congress' latest acquisition, but it felt more like a mini-folk culture revival.
Friends and family, musicians and journalists gathered at the Library of Congress Wednesday to celebrate the work of the late American folklorist Alan Lomax, which the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress recently acquired.
"He believed in the power of music -- that it was an anecdote for hate," said Mickey Hart, best known as the longtime drummer for the Grateful Dead who also serves on the board of the American Folklife Center. "(Lomax) believed that music is not a luxury but a necessity of life. I feel like the collection has come home to roost."
Lomax, who initially worked with his father John, was widely credited as the person most responsible for the renewed interest in folk music in the 1950s and 60s. Lomax spent more than 70 years collecting and creating items that reflected his passion for the indigenous culture in this country and around the world during a colorful career as an author, radio broadcaster, filmmaker, concert and record producer and television host.
The collection offers a vast array of folklife research from around the world and includes more than 5,000 hours of sound recordings, 400,000 feet of motion picture film, 2,450 videotapes, 2,000 scholarly books and journals and hundreds of photo prints and negatives, among other miscellaneous correspondence and manuscripts.
"His entire collection will now be available in one place," said American Folklife Center Director Peggy Bulger. "The collection is simultaneously a monument to one of the greatest cultural documenters of the 20th century and a priceless storehouse of traditional artistry." The Lomax family's connection to the Library of Congress is long and storied. John Avery Lomax spent 10 years working with the Library, beginning in June 1933 when he set out with Alan, then 18, on their first folksong gathering expedition for the national archive. John Lomax became the honorary consultant and curator of the Library's Archive of American Folk Song, and Alan Lomax became the archive's "assistant in charge" in 1937.
Alan Lomax made field trips around the country to record musicians such as Leadbelly, Muddy Waters and David "Honeyboy" Edwards, musicians who were unknown at the time he worked with them. In 1940 he recorded more than four hours of Woody Guthrie's songs and stories for the folk song archive.
The Library purchased the collection through a gift by an anonymous donor, and won't discuss how much it paid for it.
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