Thomas G. Burton-Ambrose N. Manning Collection, 1899-1989 | Archives of Appalachia

Title: Thomas G. Burton-Ambrose N. Manning Collection, 1899-1989

Predomianant Dates: 1967-1971

ID: 500/AppMs 25

Created by: Burton-Manning Folklore Project, Burton, Thomas G. (1935-), Manning, Ambrose N. (b. 1922)

Thomas G. Burton and Ambrose N. Manning, Department of English, East Tennessee State University, in 1964 began taping folk songs, ballads, tales, and other types of folklore from East Tennessee and western North Carolina. In 1969 they received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and taught high school students of Avery and Watauga Counties, North Carolina how to conduct oral research interviews and to operate portable tape recorders. The students' efforts centered on residents of the Beech Mountain area of North Carolina and resulted in the production of taped interviews, musical performances and storytelling sessions.

The tapes from these interviews, together with other audio and videotapes on folklore, music, and manners and customs in southern Appalachia constitute the archives' earliest, and most important, folk life collection. These tapes formed the core of East Tennessee State University's Oral History Archives, founded by Burton and Manning in 1968. A decade after the establishment of the Oral History Archives, but prior to the opening of the Archives of Appalachia, the tapes were placed in the Appalachian Room of the Sherrod Library. Then, upon the establishment of the archives, Burton and Manning donated the tapes and related materials to that organization.

From 1966 to 1971, Professors Burton and Manning co-authored a column in the Johnson City Press-Chronicle which was entitled "Singing Out." This weekly column dealt mainly with songs and ballads. While some readers contributed variations of ballads, others contributed their personal collections of folklore.

Burton and Manning edited several books containing folk songs and folklore collected by their students. Both have served as president of the Tennessee Folklore Association and have been active in other folklore organizations. From 1966 to 1972, they directed the East Tennessee State University Folk Festival.

Manning retired from the English department in 1983. Burton continues to teach a variety of courses, among them folklore and Shakespearean literature. Burton has researched the practice of serpent-handling in southern Appalachia. This research resulted in the publication in 1993 of the book Serpent-Handling Believers (University of Tennessee Press). Burton also is active in directing the Appalachian-Scottish Studies program sponsored by ETSU's Center for Appalachian Studies and Services.

Arrangement: The collection is divided into ten series as follows: Series 1, Correspondence, 1965-74; Series 2, Dub Sheets and Transcripts, 1964-79; Series 3, Indices, 1932, 1965-71 and undated; Series 4, Project Publications and Project Publicity, 1966-71; Series 5, Research Materials, ca. 1969; Series 6, Community Contributions, ca. 1966-74; Series 7, Folk Festivals, 1966-74; Series 8, Tapes: Audiotapes 1-157 and Videotapes BMV 3-6, 9-10, 1964-70; Series 8, Photographic Materials, 1925, 1932, 1956, 1968-1974 and undated; and Series 10, General Subject Files, 1899-1989. (Oversized items have been removed and placed in an oversized box and two oversized folders.)

Extent: 37.5 Linear feet

Finding Aid/Inventory
Series 1: Correspondence, 1965-1974
Series 2: Dub Sheets and Transcripts, 1964-1979
Series 3: Indices, 1965-1971
Series 4: Project Publications and Project Publicity, 1966-1971
Series 5: Research Materials, ca. 1969
Series 6: Community Contributions, ca. 1966-1974
Series 7: Folk Festivals, 1966-74
Series 8: Field Recordings, 1964-1989
Series 9: Photographic Materials, 1925, 1932, 1956, 1968-1974
Series 10: General Subject Files, 1899-1989

Other Note: Click on URL below for Index to collection.

Other URL: http://www.etsu.edu/cass/Archives/Collections/afindaid/a25.html

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Scope and Contents: The collection resulted from Dr. Burton’s and Mr. Manning’s interests in Appalachian folklore and related teaching, research, and service activities. A central component of the collection consists of reel-to-reel audio recordings, dub sheets, transcripts, and indices created as part of the professors' efforts to gather ballads, instrumental music, stories, superstitions and beliefs, folk remedies, and accounts of everyday life from individuals in Western North Carolina and East Tennessee. Interviews were conducted by the two professors and their students as part of class assignments.

The collection also includes correspondence concerning ballads, folk festivals, and taping of songs; lists and photographs of informants; newspaper clippings from the "Singing Out" column; plans for the folk festivals; and musical notations of traditional ballads, manuscripts, and publicity for the books which Professors Burton and Manning co-authored.

Index to collection available.