Papers
setName: label: See more items in
content: John Reynolds Collection
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1870-2014
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Series 1 consists of folders of papers arranged alphabetically by subject or proper name. The materials document Lead Belly's music, personal life, and career. The folders also include documents related to other people connected to Lead Belly or inspired by Lead Belly. Formats include clippings (newspaper, magazine, newsletters), correspondence, articles (academically focused articles in scholarly journals or published by institutions, book excerpts, longer profiles in magazines), reviews, transcripts, reminiscences, interviews, essays, internet printouts, journals, magazines, booklets, photocopies of photographs, photographs, slides, artwork, poems, sheet music, song lyrics, album liner notes, concert programs, other event programs, concert promotional materials, marketing materials, radio scripts, play scripts, financial documents, legal documents, prison records, FBI files, census records, personal items, and ephemera. Original materials and copied materials are interfiled throughout the folders. Many of the original documents are fragile or in poor condition. 

The fourteen folders associated with the "Chronological Binder" contain material originally found in a three-ring binder, but were removed for preservation purposes. These folders relate to the life and career of Lead Belly and are organized chronologically as a timeline of Lead Belly's life. Some material in these folders may have been written or published after the time frame indicated on the folder.