Related Berea Sound Archives Sites
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Traditional Music and Spoken Word Performances This link opens in a new windowLISTEN to selected musical performances and storytelling from the Berea Sound Archives.
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Traditional Music Video PerformancesVIEW selected traditional music video performances from the Berea Sound Archives
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Alan Lomax Kentucky CollectionLISTEN to documentary sound recordings of rural Kentucky music and lore collected under the auspices of the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress between 1933 and 1942.
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Oral History Collections GuideBerea's online oral history collections cover a broad range of topics in the areas of Appalachian history and culture, and the history of Berea College. In many instances searchable transcripts accompany the digitized audio recordings.
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Examples of Oral Histories For Use As Primary SourcesSelected interview texts and recordings covering a wide range of topics.
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Sound Recording Analysis WorksheetA teaching / learning resource from the National Archives.
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Berea Sound Archives HomepageBrowse By Topic
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Sound Archives Research GuidesResearch guides are the work of Archives staff and the College's Sound Archives Fellows. Using audio and video illustrations, the guides cover a wide range of topics.
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Sound Preservation ProgramThe program's focus is on Berea's collections of noncommercial recordings that document Appalachian history and culture and the history of Berea College.
Contact the Berea Sound Archives
Historic Radio Research Guides
- Historic Radio Research Guides
- Community History, Music, & Radio in Kentucky's Cumberland Plateau
Sound Fellow, William Sears' "Community History" approach to understanding work, education, religion, and social life though the under-documented music making traditions in Knox, Whitley, Laurel, and McCreary Counties in Kentucky.
- Gospel Quartet Radio Performances
Kevin Kehrberg, 2007 Sound Archives Fellow, focused on the gospel quartets documented in Berea's radio program collections, especially the Renfro Valley Gatherin' and other programs John Lair aired on network radio from Renfro Valley in the 1940s and 1950Monday Nitht At Renfro Valley
- Radio and 1940's Recording Ban
Marina Peterson, an anthropologist and Assistant Professor of Performance Studies in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts at Ohio University, focused her Berea Sound Fellowship research on the 1940s musician's union recording bans.
- Relics and Treasures, Old and New: A Celebration of Traditional Music Found in Berea College's Appalachian Sound Archives
Six radio programs of traditional music produced for WMMT-FM Whitesburg, KY., by Suzanne Savell, Berea Sound Fellow.
- The Spirit of Man Goeth Upward: A 2012 Sound Archives Fellowship Project
Research by Laura S. McKee, Berea Sound Archives Fellow, regrading how WW-II era radio and personal histories have shaped the development of "From the Diary of Eve", a narrative series of poems set in Southern Appalachia.
Historic Radio Collection Finding Aids
Going beyond the limitations of words on paper, these rare recordings make possible hearing in the present the same accents, emotions, and issues that entertained and informed a past generation.
These collections contain audio and / or video content available in the Berea Sound Archives or the Digital Archives (Berea College). Click on the collection title for more information, a complete list of collection materials, and links to the digitized content.
Asa Martin Collection, 1920-1979
Includes original recordings of 1970's era radio programs featuring Asa Martin and his band, the Cumberland Rangers heard on WIRV in Irvine, Kentucky.
Asher and Little Jimmie Sizemore Radio Program Reference Collection, 1933-1990
Includes Asher and Little Jimmie Sizemore 1936 and 1940 era radio performances.
Cash Gospel Quartet Collection
Includes radio performances of the Cash Gospel Quartet from Rockcastle County, Kentucky on the WRVK program Sinclair Sunday Serenade during the 1950s and 1960s.
Ernest C. Martin Radio Program Collection, 1950-1968
Recordings of Ernest Martin’s program of singing and preaching entitled Highway to Heaven. They date mostly from 1950 and were aired on a Frankfort, Kentucky radio station. One additional was recorded in 1968 for WYGO in Corbin, Kentucky.
Homer Ledford Radio Program Collection, 1988-1997
Includes recordings of Homer Ledford and the Cabin Creek Band on their radio program, Kentucky Traditions which was broadcast on station WSKV, Stanton, Kentucky from 1988 to 1997.
John Lair Papers, 1930-1999
Renfro Valley Barn Dance and related programs originating from Renfro Valley, Kentucky mostly during the 1930s through the 1950s.
John Miles Gospel Music Radio Program, c.1950s-1964
The Prichard Quartet and the Melody Five gospel singing group as heard weekly on Barbourville, Kentucky radio station WBVL during the late 1950s and early 1960s.
McLain Family Band Records
Includes television performances of the McLain Family Band and recordings of the Kentucky Blue radio program hosted by Raymond McLain.
Over Home Radio Programs, 1988-1990
Thirteen recordings of Over Home, a radio program series documenting Western North Carolina traditional musicians and storytellers that aired on WNCW in Spindale, North Carolina, December 1988 - June 1990.
WHAS Radio Historical Collection, 1936-1967
Audio recordings of programs broadcast by Louisville, Kentucky radio station WHAS. The collection is especially strong in documenting a wide range of state, national, and world political figures and news events during the late 1930s, throughout the 1940s, and into the middle 1950s.
William Sears Home and Field Recordings Collection, 1950-2008
Includes recordings of the Country Music Express radio stage show from Stearns Theatre in Stearns, Kentucky the Capital Theatre in Jellico, Tennessee heard on WEZJ in Williamsburg, Kentucky.