Alan Lomax - Jean Ritchie 1949 and 1950

Perry County, Kentucky native Jean Ritchie was the youngest of fourteen children in a family rich in oral tradition. She emerged from this background as a singer of incomparable voice and repertoire, as well as an instrumentalist, songwriter, author, and a collector in her own right. She went to work at the Henry Street Settlement School in New York City after college graduation in 1946. There she met Alan Lomax, who recorded her songs for the Library of Congress. He recorded these several hours of Jean’s songs, stories, and oral history in 1949 and 1950, in New York City.