John Morgan Salyer Collection

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: BCA 0122 SAA 122

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of forty eight acetate disc recordings made in the early 1940s that document Magoffin County, Kentucky fiddler and banjo player, John Morgan Salyer.

Listen To Recordings

Salyer was born in 1882 and was master of an older eastern Kentucky style that is only barely discernible in the playing of present day fiddlers and banjoists. The recordings were made in 1941-42 by his sons Grover and Glen Salyer using a home disc-cutting machine. Many of John Salyer's tunes have not been documented elsewhere. On several of the recordings Salyer uses cross-tunings and some have banjo, mandolin, and guitar accompaniment provided by Grover and Glen Salyer.

Dates

created: 1941-1942

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on use of this material other than federal copyright regulations. Records can be accessed through the Reading Room, Berea College Special Collections and Archives, Hutchins Library, Berea College. A sampling of audio files may be heard online.

Extent

3.00 ms_boxes

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement Note

The collection is primarily arranged by:

1. Audio Discs

2. Open Reel Discs

3. Beta Discs

Other Descriptive Information

BCA 0122 SAA 122

Processing Information

The collection was processed by Harry Rice, Sound Archivist. The finding aid was created in 2015 by Harry Rice and Lori Myers-Steele, Collections Archivist.