Lincolnshire Folk Archive, 1908-1991


Reference and contact details: GB 0159 LFA
Title: Lincolnshire Folk Archive, 1908-1991
Dates of creation: 1908-1991
Held at: The University of Nottingham Dept. of Manuscripts and Special Collections, Hallward Library
Extent: 9 boxes including 23 tapes and 31 discs
Name of Creator: Pilgrim College (Boston, Lincolnshire). Lincolnshire Folk Archive
Level of Description: Fonds
Language: Finding aid written in English .

Administrative/Biographical History

The Lincolnshire Folk Archive was established in the early 1960s at Pilgrim College, Boston to preserve folk songs from Lincolnshire and South Humberside. The archive preserved and built upon the early recording activities of Percy Grainger (1882-1961). Patrick O'Shaughnessy of Pilgrim College, who edited and wrote about Lincolnshire folksong, was central to the collection's development and publicity. The archive contains no material dated post-1991. It was transferred to The University of Nottingham's Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections in 1993.

Pilgrim College, Fydell House, Boston was founded in 1945 and for many years has been part of The University of Nottingham's School of Continuing Education. It is supported by Boston Borough Council, Boston Preservation Trust, Lincolnshire County Council and the East Midlands District of the Workers' Educational Association. It provides open studies, certificate, part-time degree, and postgraduate courses as well as a variety of societies and clubs.

Percy Grainger was born in Melbourne, Australia on 8 July 1882. He studied in Frankfurt before becoming a successful concert pianist in England at the start of the 20th century. In the years 1905-1908, Grainger meticulously studied Lincolnshire folksongs, making precise notes about dialect, rhythm, and accentuation. From 1906, he recorded many of these songs using an Edison-Bell phonograph, thereby becoming the first folksong collector to use mechanical recording apparatus. He later returned to these recordings where he found inspiration for his masterpiece, 'A Lincolnshire Posy' (1937). Frederick Delius also found inspiration in Grainger's notations for his English Rhapsody, Brigg Fair , being a set of orchestral variations on the song 'Brigg Fair', as recorded by Grainger. Percy Grainger died in the USA in 1961.

A copy set of Grainger's phonograph folksong recordings on magnetic tape are part of the Lincolnshire Folk Archive. Many of these songs have been published in some form or another beginning in 1908 when the Gramophone Company (now HMV) began to issue records of genuine folk singers. Joseph Taylor was one of the best known Lincolnshire folk singers at that Grainger recorded.

Scope and Content

The collection comprises:

  • Published works (books, periodicals and music scripts), photocopies and manuscript notes relating exclusively or in part to Lincolnshire folk music, dialect and language. 1957-1991 (LFA 1);
  • Published works (books, periodicals and music scripts), photocopies, newspaper cuttings, concert bills, indexes to transcriptions and recordings, photographs and other printed and typescript biographical and critical notes relating to Percy Grainger. 1908-1980 (LFA 2);
  • Case files of correspondence and other papers, mainly with Patrick O'Shaughnessy, on the subject of publications about Lincolnshire and English folksong. 1962-1974 (LFA 3);
  • Sound recordings dating from 1908 of radio broadcasts, folk songs, and interviews recorded on reel to reel magnetic tape in the 1960s-1970s (LFA 4);
  • Published recordings of Percy Grainger, English folk music, and poems read in Lincolnshire dialect recorded mainly on long-playing records. 1960s-1970s (LFA 5).

System of Arrangement

The collection has been divided by document type into five groups.

Administrative Information

Custodial History

The collection was acquired by The University of Nottingham's Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections in January 1993.

Access Conditions

ACCESS: The collection is accessible to registered readers only if advance notice is given in writing by the person wishing to use it.

LANGUAGE: English

Copyright/Reproduction

COPYRIGHT: Permission to make published use of any material from this collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Keeper of the Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections (email mss-library@nottingham.ac.uk ). The Department will try to assist in identifying copyright owners but this can be difficult and the responsibility for copyright clearance before publication ultimately rests with the person wishing to publish.

REPROGRAPHIC: Reprographic copies of documents can be supplied for educational use and private study purposes only, depending on access status and the condition of the documents.

Further Information

Finding Aids

  • This description is the only finding aid available for the collection. Copyright in the description belongs to The University of Nottingham.

Related Units of Description

  • The British Library; Music Collections and National Sound Archive: The largest collections of music manuscripts and sound recordings in the UK including items relating to Lincolnshire folk music and Percy Grainger.

Associated Material