William L. and Gowan Merson Smith Recordings

Collection

Identifier: AppMs-0639

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The William L. and Gowan Merson Smith Recordings consist of 78 open reel audiotapes and 5 audiocassettes. They include tapes of William and Gowan Smith, live and home performances of fiddle playing, compilations of recorded fiddle playing, and tapes of mass-produced television, radio, and commercial fiddle recordings.

Dates

1957-1976 and undated

Creator

Smith, Bill (William L.), -1977 (Person)
Smith, Margaret "Gowan" F. Merson (-1995) (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Extent

83.00 sound recordings (78 open reel audiotapes; 5 audiocassettes)

0.25 linear feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into five series. Series 1, William Gowan Smith, 1957-1976 and undated, tapes 1-9; Series 2, Performances, 1962-1976 and undated, tapes 10-58; Series 3 Compliations, 1960-1975 and undated, tapes 59-76; Series 4, Commercial, 1965-1975, tapes 77-83 and Series 5, Printed Documentation.

Some individual tapes included material appropriate for inclusion in multiple series. In these cases, live performances were given precedence over commercial recordings, and the tape was placed in the appropriate live performance series with a reference to the additional commercially recorded material.

Method of Acquisition

Thomas J. Merson of Los Alamos, New Mexico, nephew of William L. Smith, donated the collection to the Archives on April 24, 2003.

Processing Information

John Fleenor, Kathy Meade, and Dusty Hibbs completed processing and the collection was opened for research in April 2004.

Subjects

Hardie, Bill
Irwin, Eddie
Junner, John
Lamey, Bill
MacLeod, Herbie
Skinner, Scott
Burns Night Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Fiddle tunes Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Organ music Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Performances, live and home ceilidh Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
Personal papers Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
Perth Contest Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
Piano music Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Scottish Fiddle Music Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
Scottish concerts Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
Smith, Margaret "Gowan" F. Merson (-1995)
Strathspey & Reel Societies of Scotland Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source