Folk-Legacy Records collection
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.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Folk-Legacy Records collection
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Folk-Legacy Records was founded in 1961 by folk musicians Sandy and Caroline Paton with their friend and business partner Lee Haggerty. Their mission was to preserve, create, and share traditional folk music with the public. "People's music", or songs, stories, and tunes passed down generationally and shared within communities were of special importance to them, and as folklorists and enthusiasts, they learned the extensive history of songs and traditions, pouring a wealth of cultural knowledge in liner notes and booklets accompanying albums.

Early releases from Folk-Legacy include field recordings of traditional singers and instrumentalists of the British Isles, as well as regions of the U.S. including Appalachia, the Ozarks, New England, the Southwest, and beyond. Many Folk-Legacy albums in later years feature emerging artists, or folk song interpreters, with the continuing tradition in mind. The catalogue includes over 140 albums recorded by the Patons at informal gatherings of friends, live concerts, sessions in the Folk-Legacy studio and family home atop Sharon Mountain in the northwest corner of Connecticut, and right in the homes of traditional musicians.

This collection has a wide range of beautiful and lively music steeped in rich folk traditions that can be enjoyed and sung by all. It is through the work of the Patons and Haggerty that these traditional songs and their value may continue to flourish--so people will keep singing together.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 250 Cubic feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1961-2019
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
identifier: label: Identifier
content: CFCH.FLGR
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged in six series with sub-series as appropriate:
Series 1: Production Files
Series 2: Business Files
Series 3: Correspondence
Series 4: Photographs
Series 5: General
Series 6: Audio recordings
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection has been minimally processed and arranged.
label: Processing Information
content: The collection has been assessed and minimally processed where necessary for access. 

When the collection was accessioned in 2019 it was necessary for the entire collection to undergo cleaning and conservation. This work was completed and the collection was returned to the archives over the course of 2024. 

The Unique ID field reflects the number assigned to each folder during the conservation process. It has been maintained to enable each folder to be tracked back to the spreadsheet created during the conservatio process, which contains additional information about the found condition of the contents and the original location of the contents at the Folk-Legacy property. Where folders have been combined, the new folder carries the assigned numbers from all of the original folders. 

Series 1: Production Files has received the most processing attention, including arrangement according to catalog number and preliminary description. 

Series 2: Business Files has been minimally inventoried but has not received detailed description or arrangement. An inventory of this series is available upon request. 

Series 3: Correspondence has only been inventoried based on the transcription of the original housings that were created during the conservation process. 

Series 4: Photographs were arranged by media type during the conservation process and the information written on original housings was transcribed and is currently being used as description. Photographs that came out of unlabeled original housings have not received further descriptive assessment. 

Series 5: General has been minimally described but much of it will require further processing to increase accessibility. 

Series 6: Audio has received no processing attention, but an inventory made during the conservation process is available upon request.