Jonny Grass Blog 5, Woody Guthrie Manuscript Collection

Woody Guthrie and the Archive of American Folk Song: Correspondence, 1940-1950 is a digital library featuring 53 manuscripts from the American Folklife Center’s collection.  The objects are digital surrogates of manuscripts written by, to, or about Woody Guthrie between the years of 1940 and 1950, though the physical collection contains items from 1935-1951. 

 

Collection Principles

The online collection was created by selecting items from the physical collection that fall between the years of 1940-1950.  These items include manuscripts that are organized in the following order: administrative, song lyrics, writings, correspondence, and oversize material.  The original items in the physical collection were procured from Woody Guthrie himself through his personal relationship with Alan Lomax, who was assistant in charge of the Archive of American Folk Song from 1937.  Most of the items in the collection were added and processed between 1940 and 1951.

 

Metadata

A search page offers descriptive information (metadata) searches and full text searches by keyword.  The digital collection provides a “finding aid,” which consists of collection-level metadata on the physical collection, but not on the digital collection.  It includes an abstract and a “scope and content note” summarizing the collection, a list of applicable subject headings, and the name of the individuals who processed the included materials.  An About the Collection section provides better administrative metadata about the physical collection.  The site offers “Special Presentations,” which are a biography and a timeline of his life.  As for the actual collection items, a chronological list of titles (20 at a time) is available, but not easily browsable.  Each item contains basic metadata, including call numbers and subject headings that are links to a list of items with that subject heading.  

 

Object Characteristics

Manuscripts are presented as jpegs, so it is not possible to search or highlight text.  When you click on a link, a thumbnail is provided with accompanying metadata.  If you click on the thumbnail, a larger jpeg is opened.  If you click on this jpeg, a higher quality jpeg is opened, which is accompanied by a zoom function.  A full text search accessed replicated text, either OCR or keyed text, with an option to view the document as a jpeg.  Information about digital objects is not readily available.

  

Target Audience

The audience of the collection seems to be the general public.  The access is listed as unrestricted, though restrictions apply to use and reproduction of materials.   As a part of the Library of Congress, the general mission to “make its resources available and useful to Congress and the American eople” is applicable to this collection and is stated on the collection’s homepage.