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University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library

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Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2113, USA
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Ivan Walton Papers and Sound Recordings, 1930-1962 (majority within 1932-1958)

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Restrictions:
The collection is open to research. The audio material has been digitized by the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, 2011-2012. The collection contains audio tapes from which digital...

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Summary

Creator:
Walton, Ivan.
Abstract:
Professor of English in the College of Engineering at University of Michigan, and student of songs and folklore of the Great Lakes. Correspondence, 1931-1956, bibliographic notecards on Great Lakes and Michigan folklore, unpublished manuscript entitled, "The Great Lakes", recordings of Great Lakes folk music, transcribed lyrics for the folksongs, notes, books and newspaper clippings on topics relating to folklore and history of the Great Lakes; and photographs.
Extent:
21 linear feet (in 22 boxes)
40 audiotapes (reel-to-reel)
100 GB
Language:
English
Call Number:
86328 Aa 2
Authors:
Finding aid created by Michigan Historical Collections staff, 1970. Melinda Babcock (1989 reprocessing). Michigan Historical Collections staff, 2013.

Background

Scope and Content:

The Ivan Walton collection documents Professor Walton's persistent efforts over a period of several decades to gather and preserve the cultural heritage of the Great Lakes, and to make its existence and significance known to his colleagues and the general public.

The collection is organized into eleven major series: Correspondence; Michigan Folklore Society; Field notes and logs; Student class notes; Research materials; Research notes (paper slips); 3x5 card files; Walton manuscripts; Transcripts; Photographs; and Sound recordings. In addition, Box 1 contains the Introductory series that includes the 1979 finding aid to the collection, prepared by Wil Rollman and Cheryl Baker under the auspices of the Michigan Sea Grant Program. Researchers should be advised that the 1979 finding aid contains some inacuracies.

Biographical / Historical:

Ivan H. Walton was born in Mount Pleasant, Michigan on 10 August 1893. He received all of his early education there, including three years of undergraduate university training at Central Michigan University (1911-1913). In 1913 he left school to work as a journalist. Over the next several years he was employed on the news staffs of the Detroit News, the Toledo Blade and the Grand Rapids Herald. In 1917, when the United States entered World War I, he joined the U. S. Army Air Corps and served until shortly after the war's end, attaining the rank of second lieutenant. He then resumed his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan, and received a B. A. degree from there in 1917. A few months later he joined the faculty of Engineering as a lecturer in English. He remained with that department until his retirement forty-three years later (July 1962) with the rank of professor.

During his early years of teaching, Mr. Walton continued his formal education at the University of Michigan, receiving his M. A. in 1921. He subsequently did further graduate work on American Folklore at the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois. In 1938 he helped found the Michigan Folklore Group, which became the Michigan Folklore Society in 1940. He served as its president for two terms and thereafter was its permanent executive secretary for many years. Professor Walton died on April 14, 1968 in Tucson, Arizona where he and his wife Mildred had retired in 1963.

Though he maintained a strong interest in American folklore generally throughout his career, from the late 1920s onward he focused his attention and scholarly efforts increasingly on the Great Lakes. He became particularly interested in the ballads, chanties (work songs) and lore which had their origins in the lives and work of sailors there during the "schooner age"-- that period in the history of shipping on the Great Lakes which encompassed much of the 19th century, but especially the several decades between the Civil War and World War I.

In a letter to an acquaintance written in 1939, Walton summarized his life's work to that date, also giving thought to the importance that his collection of manuscripts and sound recordings would have for future scholars.

I am a native of Michigan, have studied at the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago, and for the last fifteen years have been teaching English at the University of Michigan here in Ann Arbor, my special field being American Literature. I have had the good fortune of being able to spend a number of my vacation periods on and about the Great Lakes and have taken advantage of this opportunity to assemble all that I could of the extant lore that is associated with these lakes. I have visited all the ports on both the American and Canadian sides and have talked to scores of old sailors, and from them I have assembled a considerable body of yarns, legends, superstitions, weather sayings, shanties, amusement songs, and other such material that grew out of commercial navigation. I have been particularly interested in sailor life and the lore that came out of it during the last half of the last century when the bulk of commerce between the lake ports was carried in sailing vessels. Life aboard these old schooners, barques, fore-'n-afters, and even sailing barges had a quality that was especially conducive to the growth of stories and songs.

The material I have assembled, as far as I have been able to learn, is the only collection of its kind in existence. Some of it is a bit rough, as should be expected, but all of it is redolent of the devil-may-care, colorful, and often tragic life out which it grew.

Acquisition Information:
The collection was the gift of Professor and Mrs. Mildred Walton (donor no. 3942 ) and came to the library in 1962-1963 and 1968.
Processing information:

In preparing digital material for long-term preservation and access, the Bentley Historical Library adheres to professional best practices and standards to ensure that content will retain its authenticity and integrity. For more information on procedures for the ingest and processing of digital materials, please see Bentley Historical Library Digital Processing Note. Access to digital material may be provided either as a direct link to an individual file or as a downloadable package of files bundled in a zip file.

Accruals:

Periodic additions to the records are expected.

Rules or Conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Contents

Using These Materials

Info for Visitors

How to Request

Ordering Reproductions

Download PDF Finding Aid
RESTRICTIONS:

The collection is open to research. The audio material has been digitized by the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, 2011-2012. The collection contains audio tapes from which digital copies have been made. Source tapes are for staff use only. Audio files are only available in the Bentley Historical Library reading room on designated Bentley Library computers.

USE & PERMISSIONS:

Walton did not assign his copyright to the Regents of the University of Michigan. Copyright status of recordings is uncertain. Patrons are responsible for determining the appropriate use or reuse of materials.

PREFERRED CITATION:

[item], folder, box, Ivan Walton Papers and Sound Recordings, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.

[item], [link to digital file], Ivan Walton Papers and Sound Recordings, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.

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Collection

Ivan Walton Papers and Sound Recordings, 1930-1962 (majority within 1932-1958)
Call Number 86328 Aa 2
Total components 1,555
Items available online Online 239
Last indexed 2023-08-08