Rhodes, Willard
While working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs with equipment supplied in part by the Library of Congress, Rhodes recorded the music of fifty Indian tribes living primarily in the western United States. From the start of the project in 1940, the ethnomusicologist found that Indian music was "not a relic of the dead past but a vital, dynamic force." He documented, in addition to traditional genres, Christian hymns in native languages, songs with English words, and other music of recent composition. Rhodes was one of the founders and the first president of the Society for Ethnomusicology and a Professor of Ethnomusicology at Columbia University. For a list of his publications, see his obituary in Ethnomusicology (1993: 251-262).
Archive call number: 83.2
358 sound tape reels: Field recordings made by Williard Rhodes in North American Indian Communities in 1939-43, 1947, 1949-52; in Zimbabwe and Zaire in 1959, 1961-62; in South India in 1966; in Nigeria in 1974.
Contents: music of the Dakota Sioux, Hopi, Zuni, Choctaw, Navajo, Laguna, San Ildefonso, Pawnee, Kiowa, Apache, Caddo, Comanche, Ute, Potowatomie, Creek, Cherokee, Tewa, Washo, Crow, Paiute, Klamath, Walapai, Havasupai, Taos, Puyallup, Nisqually, Lummi, Snohomish, Skokiomish, Snuqualmi, Skagit, Nooksack, Swinomish, Samish, Shaker, Nitinat, Makah, Clayquot, Ozette, Quinault, Kwakiutl, Klallam, Quileute, Chinook, Twana, Bannock, Shoshone, Arapaho, Arikara, Eskimo; music of the Shona, Mtoko, Bulawayo, Mtemwa, Kano, Ewe, Hausa, Luo; music of India; music of East Asia; and research and study tapes used as teaching materials by Willard Rhodes during his 30-year tenure at Columbia University.