Library of Congress guards Louisiana’s musical treasures
Louisiana treasures
The Library of Congress holds a number of recordings of Louisiana’s blues, folk and jazz pioneers in the 1930s and ’40s To view the Louisiana holdings in the Library’s American Folklife Center, go to: http://www.loc.gov/folklife.
Type Louisiana or the full name of the artist in the search engine.
A large collection of Library of Congress discs of the artists are also available at: http://www.rounder.com.
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PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Library of Congress archivist John A. Lomax and his son, Alan, lugged this 300-pound acetate machine in the trunk of their car as they traveled throughout the country in the 1930s and 1940s to preserve the songs of the nation’s blues, folk and jazz artists. Using the device, they recorded Huddie ‘Lead Belly’ Ledbetter at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.