Department of Cultural and Community Engagement. Division of Arts and Museums. Folk Arts Program New Beehive Songster records, 1975-1977.

This series contains two parts-- material recorded by early Utah folklorists and copied from original recordings in other archival collections, and original field recordings made in 1975 and 1976. The records include reels of the New Beehive Songster, as well as vinyl copies of the same, documents and photos related to the distribution and creation of the Beehive Songster and its accompanying booklet, and copies of field recordings. These are selections of early, noncommercial field recordings of the folk music found in the Mormon culture region -- those areas of the Great Basin settled predominantly by the Latter-day Saints. This material is intended as a general introduction to the types of songs which were popular with the early settlers. Although primary attention is directed toward the Mormon influence, there are also songs of later arrivals - cowboys, miners, and others - who helped build and sustain the "Great Basin Empire." These songs and instrumental tunes provide an excellent document of the pioneer tradition, for many of the performers, born in the latter half of the nineteenth century, learned their music as it was passed down from the first generation of immigrants. The second period of collection reveals the changes in folk music a generation and a half later produced by the grand children and great-grandchildren of pioneer settlers. As the changes in folk music a generation and a half later produced by the grand children and great-grandchildren of pioneer settlers.