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UNC Asheville acquires mountain dance and folk festival collection; archive includes historic documents and photos; available to the public

When the 2005 Shindig on the Green season wraps up on Saturday, Sept. 3, local folks may want to turn to the Internet to get their fill of local music and dance culture.

Asheville’s D. Hidden Ramsey Library Special Collections Department recently acquired the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival Collection. Donated by the Folk Heritage Committee, the archive contains photographs, manuscripts, silver clogging championship cups and posters, some dating back to the early days of the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival and Shindig on the Green. Much material has now been digitized and is available at: http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findingaids/mss/mountain_dance/default.htm. More material will be added to the site as it is digitized.       

“We are delighted to take in this collection and to properly preserve and archive the materials. We have a very rich Special Collections at UNC Asheville, but this is the first collection that will strengthen our holdings in the area of music and dance,” said Helen Wykle, UNC Asheville Ramsey Library Special Collections coordinator.      

Joe Holbert, chair of the archival sub committee, and other members of the Folk Heritage Committee were instrumental in helping get the collection moved from the basement of the Asheville Chamber of Commerce to proper long-term archival storage at Ramsey Library. The committee also secured a grant through the North Carolina Arts Council to subsidize the project. Funding was provided to UNC Asheville to preserve and organize the archive.         

“We are thrilled that there is now digitized documentation of 78 years of the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival and 39 years of Shindig on the Green,” said Holbert. “It’s thrilling to know that folks can learn more about continuing the tradition of music, dance and storytelling heritage of our southern mountains through this collection”

Wykle said that community members are invited to visit the collection in person at the library or view much of the material online – and perhaps help provide details for parts of the collection. For instance, many of the photographs lack proper identification. 

“A lot of people are associated with this collection through the Festival and Shindig on the Green and it always brings back happy memories,” said Wykle. “Viewing the collection is a wonderful way for the community to relive some of the previous years and to perhaps identify dancers, musicians or audience members featured in old photographs. Knowing who these performers are enriches the history.”

While UNC Asheville holds the official archives of the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival and Shindig on the Green, other material related to the Festival and to Shindig can be found at Mars Hill College Liston B. Ramsey Center, in the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and at the Library of Congress.

Founded in Asheville in 1928, the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival is the oldest gathering of its kind in the nation and the first event dubbed a “folk festival.” The annual festival has served a crucial role in raising widespread awareness and understanding of Southern Appalachian culture. Festival founder Bascom Lamar Lunsford’s mission was to present the finest of the Appalachian ballad singers, string bands and square dance teams for education and entertainment. The songs and dances performed at this event echo centuries of Scottish, English, Irish, Cherokee and African heritage found in the valleys and coves between the Great Smokies and the Blue Ridge Mountains.

UNC Asheville’s Ramsey Library Special Collection is open from 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday and is located on top floor of the library. For more information, call 828/251-6645.