The FNE Archives
Following is a list of active FNE Archives in the collection. Individual catalogues available in hard copy to members and academic institutions upon request. Please contact us by mail or at [email protected].
Coffee Houses
Broadside
Club 47
The Mooncusser
Cafe Yana
The New England Folk Revival records: 1948 to 1968
Performers
Dudley Laufman Contradance
Jim Rooney
SOME NEW ENGLAND COFFEEHOUSES, 1956-1968
The Ballad & Banjo – Hyannis, Mass. (1962)
The Ballad Room – near Copley Square (1960)
The Boars’ Head – US Route 1, Kennebunk Center Maine (1964)
Cafe Yana – in Boston on Beacon St, then 50 Brookline Ave, Kenmore Sq. (c. 1960)
Cholmondeley’s – 413 South Street, Waltham on Brandeis campus (1960)
The Club 47 – 47 Mt. Auburn, Cambridge (1958— 47 Palmer St. after 10/1963)
The Golden Vanity Coffee House – on Boston University campus (1960)
The Green Frog – Kenmore Square (c. 1960, closed by 1962)
The Hillbilly Ranch – Stuart Street, Boston (late 1950s)
The Jolly Beaver – Cambridge (1962)
The King’s Rook – 4 South Main St., Ipswich Mass. (by 1963)
The King’s Rook – 12 State St., Marblehead, Mass.(by 1963)
The Loft – upstairs at 54 Charles, Boston. (c. 1963)
The Moon-Cusser – Circuit Ave. Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard (1964-67)
Moondial – 53 Berkley St. Boston (1966)
The Odyssey – corner of Cambridge and Hancock, Boston.
One-Eyed Jack’s – Manchester NH (c. 1965)
The Orleans – 13 Charles Street, Boston (c. 1964- c.1968, then “Sword In The Stone”)
The Pesky Serpent – 612 1/2 Page Blvd. Springfield, Mass.(1966)
The Rose – 122 Salem Street, Boston (1964)
The Saladin – Amherst, Mass. (c. 1964)
The Salamander Coffee House – Huntington Avenue (c.1961)
The Silver Vanity – 640 Main St. Worcester Mass. (1963)
This Is It – near Symphony Hall (1968)
Tulla’s Coffee Grinder – 30 Dunster Street, Cambridge- (1956)
The Turk’s Head – 71 1/2 Charles St, Boston- (“Boston’s Oldest Coffeehouse;” c. 1957)
The Turk’s Head – Orleans, Massachusetts (mid-1960s);
The Unicorn Coffee House – 825 Boylston Street, Boston (c. 1961)
The Unicorn II – Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. (1963)
The White Whale – Beverly, Mass. (c.1967)
*Coffeehouse listings are subject to addition and correction.
The following archive projects are in process.
Paul Clayton
Work in progress covering the career of one of the New Bedford folklorist and folk musician.
Manny Greenhill
Recordings, books, periodicals, and posters relating to the influence, work and times of one of the most important and dedicated figures in the folk revival, and the founder of Folklore Productions..
David Wilson (link to Broadsides)
Interviews, articles, remembrances, and Broadside copies by one of the most influential architects of the Boston-Cambridge folk scene. A major collection digitized by volunteer financial support, 2015-16.
Folk Festival
Photographs, recordings, remembrances, and ephemera associated with regional and cooperating folk festivals, including Brandeis, Newport, Beers, Philadelphia, and Miramichi Folk Festivals.
Eric Von Schmidt
Recordings, tapes, drawing, ephemera, and remembrances of one of the earliest and most dynamic figures on the Boston folk and folk-blues era. A major concentration and work in progress 2016-17. Donation by the Von Schmidt family.
New England Fuguing Tune
Digitized manuscripts of colonial era songbooks; recordings of performances on long playing records and compact discs of material written in New England between 1770 and 1820.
Betsy Minot Schmidt
Recordings, remembrances, and photographs donated by the Cafe Yana waitress, Club 47 manager, and founder of Folk New England. Donation by Betsy Siggins Schmidt.
Byron Lord Linardos
Artwork and calendars by the impresario of the Club 47 and major patron of the arts in Cambridge and its environs. Donation by the Linardos Family.
Folk Musician
Work in progress
Books on Folk Music and Folklore
Folk Music Periodicals
Broadside, Sing Out, Caravan, Gardyloo, Folkin’ Around, Little Sandy Review, and other publications
Records, Tapes and CD’s
Thousands of 78 rpm’s, 33 1/3 rpm’s, and CD’s, including labels such as Folk Legacy, Folk Lyric, Folkways, Flying Fish, Prestige Folklore, Elektra, Vanguard, Bear Family, and Rounder Records. Donations by anonymous collectors.
Reel-to-reel tapes recorded live at the Club 47 in Cambridge and other coffeehouses between 1961 and 1963. Now digitized through the generosity of the Grammy Foundation, awaiting cataloguing and evaluation of potential permissions for dissemination.
Additional tapes made at various coffeehouses and performances, and radio shows during the folk revival period, converted to CD and archived.
Photographs
Images archived by permission of photographers active in the folk revival era.
Instruments and Ephemera
Guitars, dulcimers, and banjos with folk provenance and signatures.
While we await identification of a permanent home and library, the Folk New England collections are housed in archives located in Somerville, Massachusetts, and Danbury, New Hampshire.