Re: [ARSCLIST] Recordings of lynchings?

[David Lewis <davlew@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

RA Friedman wrote:

I know there are recordings that I have access to at The Historical Society
of Pennsylvania from the 1920s/30s that were issued by the KKK. They were
collected by the Balch Institute. Don't know what's on them. They have no
matrix # or maker's mark.

>>>
I wouldn't waste your time there, unless you want to listen to the KKK's
boring songs like "The Bright Fiery Cross," which may inform your study in
other ways, but - 

Lynching is a crime, and smart criminals don't make tangible documents of
their criminal acts. Child murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hendley made tape
recordings of their victims' screams that they took to the local department
store to have cut into lacquers so they could listen to their recordings on
their Hi-Fi set. They were not smart criminals, and they got caught.

However LIFE magazine's photographers took still photos of lynchings in the
south in the 1930s, and when published this helped to raise awareness about
these atrocities. If you are likely to find any audio of an authentic
lynching at all, it is going to be from a filmed newsreel or from some
outside source; a radio news report perhaps. I would get a copy of Ralph
Ginzburg's book "100 Years of Lynchings" to pin down the number of lynchings
that might have been filmed or recorded; certainly none from the period of
your study (1880-1920) would have been, but a period of 1930-1960 would be
more likely.

Gus writes:
	There are references to such
	recordings in works by several recent historians, but some of the
	information comes from a single memoir, and some is simply presented
	without footnotes.

Without mention of what this memoir is, or what the references are, there
isn't much to go on here.

Gus:
It seems quite possible that if these recordings were made, they were
	reenactments, given the technological challenges of recording with a
	horn. Even so, I'm interested in finding out anything possible about
	the production, distribution, and consumption of such recordings.
Has
	anyone in the list ever encountered such a thing?

There are many bizarre kinds of re-enactments on cylinders and early
records. As tasteless as some of the "coon" repertoire is from this time,
for myself I would have to say I seriously doubt that any mainstream
commercial firm would produce a record so sensationalistic, graphic and
socially irresponsible - though it was an intolerant era, it was genteel.
For a regional cylinder firm or private individual with a cylinder machine;
yes, possible, if unlikely. But then the "distribution and consumption"
aspect of it would be practically non-existent. 

David N. Lewis
Ann Arbor


-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of RA Friedman
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2007 8:49 AM
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Recordings of lynchings?

I know there are recordings that I have access to at The Historical Society
of Pennsylvania from the 1920s/30s that were issued by the KKK. They were
collected by the Balch Institute. Don't know what's on them. They have no
matrix # or maker's mark.
 
Feel free to contact me off-list if you think it's worth giving these an
audition to see what's on them.
 
RA Friedman, Archivist, Freedman Jewish Music Archive
University of Pennsylvania
 

	-----Original Message----- 
	From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List on behalf of
Gustavus Stadler 
	Sent: Mon 10/15/2007 10:39 AM 
	To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
	Cc: 
	Subject: [ARSCLIST] Recordings of lynchings?
	
	

	Hello-
	
	I am a scholar in American literature and cultural studies. For a
	project on aural representations of African-Americans from
	approximately 1880-1920, I'm trying to find information about
	possible recordings of lynchings. There are references to such
	recordings in works by several recent historians, but some of the
	information comes from a single memoir, and some is simply presented
	without footnotes. I've tried the recorded sound and folklore
	collections at the LOC; they referred me to this list.
	
	It seems quite possible that if these recordings were made, they
were
	reenactments, given the technological challenges of recording with a
	horn. Even so, I'm interested in finding out anything possible about
	the production, distribution, and consumption of such recordings.
Has
	anyone in the list ever encountered such a thing?
	
	Many thanks for your help.
	
	Best,
	Gus
	--
	Gustavus T. Stadler
	Associate Professor and Chair
	Department of English
	Haverford College
	Haverford, PA 19041
	(610) 896-1278