Ed Ward Collection | Berea College Special Collections and Archives Catalog

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Collection Overview

Title: Ed Ward Collection

Predominant Dates:1937-1991

Primary Creator: Ward, Ed

Extent: 4.0 Boxes (General)

Subjects: Country music -- History., Folk music., Harlan County (Ky.).

Languages: English

Abstract

Ed Ward was a private record and tape collector, poet, prose writer, and community historian who lived at Bledsoe in Harlan County, Kentucky.

The digitized material in this collection includes recordings of interviews with Ed Ward, his reading from his writings such as Tall Tales of the Hills, musician interviews he recorded, and selected tape copies from Ward’s record collection of commercial recordings of Kentucky old time and early country music artists.

The collection’s interviews and music performances document such historically significant Kentucky old time musicians as Blind Dick Burnett, John V. Walker, Arthur Johnson, Ernest Martin, W.L. Gregory, the Jones Creek Quartet, and others including the widow of Blind James Howard whose ballads and fiddle tunes were recorded for the Library of Congress in 1937.

The substantial portion of the collection that is not yet digitized is comprised of taped copies of several dozen 78 rpm discs that document many lesser known traditional recording artists of the 1920s and 1930s representing areas beyond Kentucky. These recordings can be accessed in the Special Collections reading room.

Subject/Index Terms

Country music -- History.
Folk music.
Harlan County (Ky.).

Administrative Information

Repository: Berea College Special Collections and Archives Catalog

Access Restrictions: Records can be accessed through the Reading Room, Berea College Special Collections and Archives, Hutchins Library, Berea College. Some recordings are available online.

Use Restrictions: There are no restrictions on use of this material other than federal copyright regulations.

Acquisition Source: Ed Ward donated the collection to the Berea College Special Collections and Archives.

Preferred Citation: [Object identification], Ed Ward Collection, Berea College Special Collections and Archives, Berea, KY.

Processing Information: The collection was arranged by Harry Rice, Sound Archivist. The finding aid was created in August 2015 by Collections Archivist, Lori Myers-Steele, and Harry Rice. Links to digital recordings added 2019.

Other Note: Collection Number: BCA 0137 SAA 137

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Box:

[Box 1-4: Recordings],
[Box 1: Digitized Collection Recordings],
[Box 2: Early Commercial Country Music Recording Copies],
[Box 3: Early Commercial Country Music Recording Copies],
[Box 4: Early Commercial Country Music Recording Copies],
[All]

Box 1-4: Recordings

Box 1: Digitized Collection Recordings

This series contains recordings of interviews with Ed Ward, his poetry reading, interviews he rcorded with others and tape copies of early commercial recordings by lesser known Kentucky old time and country music artists.

Item 1: AC-CT-275-001

Ed Ward: INTERVIEW recorded by Stephen Green 2-20-91 @ Bledsoe, KY, Pt. 1

Listen Part One Listen Part Two Read Transcript

Item 2: AC-CT-275-002

Ed Ward: INTERVIEW recorded by Stephen Green 2-20-91 @ Bledsoe, KY, Pt. 2

Listen Part One Listen Part Two Read Transcript

Item 3: AC-CT-275-003