Charles M. Bogert audio recordings
odd: label: Shared Stewardship of Collections
content: The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://doi.org/10.25573/data.21771155.
name: label: Creator
content: Bogert, Charles M. (Charles Mitchill), 1908-1992
place: label: Place
content: Sri Lanka
label: Place
content: Michoacán de Ocampo (Mexico)
label: Place
content: Nayarit (Mexico)
label: Place
content: Arizona
label: Place
content: Oaxaca (Mexico : State)
label: Place
content: Sonora (Mexico : State)
label: Place
content: New Mexico
label: Place
content: Jalisco (Mexico)
topic: label: Topic
content: Tarasco Indians
label: Topic
content: Tarahumara Indians
label: Topic
content: Hopi dance
label: Topic
content: Folk songs, Tarahumara
label: Topic
content: Folk music--Mexico
label: Topic
content: insect sounds
label: Topic
content: bird calls
label: Topic
content: Chirimía (Musical instrument)
label: Topic
content: Frog sounds
label: Topic
content: Bat sounds
label: Topic
content: Toad sounds
creator: label: Creator
content: Bogert, Charles M. (Charles Mitchill), 1908-1992
culture: label: Culture
content: Tarahumara language
label: Culture
content: Purépecha
label: Culture
content: Sinhalese language
setName: label: See more items in
content: Charles M. Bogert audio recordings
abstract: label: Summary
content: Five boxes containing sixty-four 5 inch and fifteen 7 inch open reel tapes recorded primarily by American herpetologist Charles M. Bogert from 1953-1965. This collection has two parts: the first focusing mainly on traditional music and liturgical music from several regions in Mexico: Oaxaca, Jalisco, Nayarit. Also included is music recorded in the Southwestern United States. The second portion of the collection contains amphibian, bird, and insect calls and choruses, mostly from these same regions in Mexico, the Southwestern, Western, and Southern United States, and Sri Lanka.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Charles Mitchill Bogert (June 4, 1908–April 10, 1992) was an American herpetologist, researcher, and curator of herpetology for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and a notable early ethnomusicologist. Bogert was a major figure in twentieth century herpetology, as a researcher and as administrator at the American Museum of Natural History for 25 years, as well as a folksong collector. Bogert traveled widely--including to Sri Lanka, Central America, the Southwestern United States, Florida, and the Bahamas--in search of experimental settings and samples of indigenous frog species. He would also use these travels to record the local folk music, usually performed by informal groups and in church celebrations. 

He felt especially at home in Mexico, where in addition to conducting faunal surveys he made recordings of traditional music that were later commercially released on Folkways Records. In 1955, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for a year's research; a portion of his results are in the collection. 

In 1960, he became a lecturer at the University of Colorado, and began an extensive study of the Oaxaca region of Mexico. In 1966, he was given an honorary LLD from UCLA. In 1978, he became a consultant at the Los Alamos National Environmental Research Park for a year. Afterwards, he continued to travel and conduct further studies, until his death in 1992 in his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Folkways Records Releases

1954 -- FX 6122, Sounds of the American Southwest

1958 -- FX 6166 (SFW45060), Sounds of North American Frogs FW 8867, Tarascan and Other Music of Mexico: Songs and Dances of the Mexican Plateau

1960 -- FW 8870, Mariachi Aguilas de Chapala
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 79 Sound tape reels (1.6 cubic feet)
label: Extent
content: Tapes are in original boxes.
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1952-1965
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
identifier: label: Identifier
content: CFCH.BOGE
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sound tape reels
label: Type
content: Field recordings
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Tapes are arranged into two series. Series 1: Musical Performances, 1953-1965, and Series 2: Field Recordings of Amphibians, Birds, and Insects, 1954-1964. Within each series, tapes are arranged by size, followed by chronological order, with undated tapes placed at the end of each sequence.
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by Steve Lorenz, August 2012.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Field recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection is divided into 2 series. Series 1 contains forty-three 5 inch and twelve 7 inch open reel tapes of musical performances by groups and individuals Bogert recorded throughout Mexico, South America, and the southwestern United States between 1952 and 1965. Series 2 contains twenty-one 5 inch and 3 7 inch open reel tapes of field recordings made by Bogert in natural settings in Mexico, Southwestern United States, and Sri Lanka. Sounds include amphibian choruses, mating calls and warnings, bird calls, and insect communication.