Voice of the People

Using Woody Guthrie’s writings for searching, reflecting and creating

Christopher Jennings, John Kendal (and Donna Levene)

The NPR Top 100

• The most important American musical works of the 20th century:

Original Lyrics for “This Land is Your Land:”http://www.woodyguthrie.org/images/OrigThisLand.jpg

Other Voices on Woody

Arlo Guthrie: “My dad’s songs were really written to make certain people feel as though they had some kind of value.” Arlo Guthrie, interview for American Roots Music, http://www.pbs.org/americanrootsmusic/pbs_arm_oralh_arloguthrie.html

Steinbeck, John: “He sings the songs of a people…and there is nothing sweet about the songs he sings. But there is something more important for those who will listen. There is the will of a people to endure and fight against oppression. I think we call this the American Spirit.” Hard Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People.

Dear Library of Congress,

• “Folk singer and composer of songs and ballads…

• Worked on all of the major radio nets…

• All sorts of rallies of labor and the people”

Timeline of Guthrie’s life

Combining Primary Source Types

• Break it Down (Analyzing)

• Search it Out (Reflective, Transformational)

• Built it Up (Creating)

Break it Down

1. Start with an essay or song:

2. Copy the web page text into a Word document or Print the text

3. Essay: identify keywords and delete the rest of the text

4. Song: define and describe lyrics using historical verbiage

Search it Out

1. Find a Collection from American Memory to narrow your search

2. Select to Browse By a media type or Search by Keyword

3. Use your keywords and/or historical definitions to search for photos, audio, video, and manuscripts

4. Download to a file folder on your computer

Build it Up

1. Select a program - PowerPoint, Flash, Movie Maker/iMovie, or even Word

2. Record audio from oral histories or essays if needed

3. Add Audio and Text first - use them as a guide to add other Primary Sources

4. Use the edited text as a script

Working with Collections

• Three collections used for putting together a piece on Woody Guthrie:– Woody Guthrie and the Archive of American F

olk Song, Correspondence 1940-1950http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wwghtml/wwghome.html

– Voices from the Dust Bowlhttp://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afctshtml/tshome.html

– Depression Era to WWIIhttp://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsowhome.html

1927 - “Family hit a little hard luck…”

• Analyze the text• Search for primary

sources using terms• Download primary

sources• Build a presentation• Final Result

Guthrie Legacy

• Compare Woody’s Music - Then and Now:– Bruce Springsteen– Son Volt– Billy Bragg and Wilco

• Relevance Today– Create the video and do your own version of a

Guthrie Song

BibliographyChristensen, Bonnie. Woody Guthrie: Poet of the People.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001.Cray, Ed. Ramblin’ Man: The Life and Times of Woody

Guthrie. New York: W. W. Norton, 2004.Guthrie, Woody. Bound for Glory. E. Rutherford, NJ: New

American Library, 1995.Hard Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People. Lincoln, NE: Univ. of

Nebraska Press, 1999.Klein, Joe. Woody Guthrie: A Life. New York: Delta Trade

Paperbacks, 1999.Partridge, Elizabeth. This Land Was Made for You and Me:

The Life & Songs of Woody Guthrie. New York: Viking, 2002.

Bibliography, cont.Partridge, Elizabeth. This Land Was Made for You and Me:

The Life & Songs of Woody Guthrie. New York: Viking, 2002.

Santelli, Robert, and Emily Davidson, ed. The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan Univ. Press, 1999.

Webliography“Bound for Glory; The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie.” The

MOMI.org, The Museum of Musical Instruments. http://www.themomi.org/museum/Guthrie/index_1024.html

“Collection Connections.” Woody Guthrie and the Archive of American Folk Song, Correspondence 1940-1950. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/collections/woody/

Roosevelt, Franklin D. “Fireside Chats of Franklin D. Roosevelt.” Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum. http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/firesi90.html

“Woody Guthrie: Dust Bowl Balladeer.” This Land Is Your Land: Rural Music and the Depression. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s/RADIO/c_w/guthrie.html

Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives. http://www.woodyguthrie.org/