Category: Collections

As the museum collections manager, it’s my job to take care of and keep track of all the STUFF in the museum. Which is great, because I love old stuff! I love my old stuff. I love the museum’s old stuff. I might love your old stuff, too!

In the museum biz, though, we have to put the brakes on our love of stuff and be very thoughtful about what we bring into our permanent collection. We’re talking about a serious long-term relationship, to have and to hold, forever and ever. It’s not something to be entered into lightly. Have you ever brought an object to the front desk of a museum, only to be told that you need to make an appointment and come back later? What’s the big deal about dropping something off? Well, it’s not you, it’s us – I promise. Let me explain…

My other true love is paperwork

When we accept objects into the museum’s permanent collection, we really do mean permanent. The museum is promising to be stewards of these important historical objects and to keep them in perpetuity. As a nonprofit organization that serves the community, we take our duties as stewards of these objects seriously. We keep track of them and take care of them so they will be available to the community for research and via exhibitions and publications. Through saving objects and audio/visual material, we are saving and perpetuating the incredible stories of people in our community and region.

Keeping track of the museum’s objects, their condition, and their location involves a lot of database records, file folders, lists, photographs, tracking numbers…you get the idea. The Collections Management department is responsible for the large amount of tracking documentation and legal paperwork that follows each and every object we accept, so it makes sense for us to be the ones to be the gateway for object donations. Our friendly and hardworking Visitor Services staff has plenty to do without having to keep track of objects and huge amounts of paperwork, too! It would be tragic if something was dropped off at the front desk and it got lost in the shuffle, or if the amazing story behind an object got lost. To keep things straightforward and streamlined, our policy only allows the Collections Management staff to accept objects.

If I can’t have the one I love, I won’t have none at all

You may have heard the Smithsonian Institution referred to as “America’s Attic.” That makes collections managers cringe, because not only are attics too hot for storing museum objects, but attics are notorious for being disorganized. Also, sometimes they have squirrels in them. We pride ourselves here at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum on being both organized and squirrel-free!

In order to remain so, we have a Scope of Collections. Instead of collecting anything and everything related to country music and Bristol, we collect objects that support the types of exhibitions we want to do. This is driven by the Birthplace of Country Music’s mission, which is to perpetuate, promote, and celebrate Bristol’s rich musical heritage; to educate and engage audiences worldwide regarding the history, impact and legacy of the 1927 Bristol Sessions from which we derive our name; and to create recognition, opportunities, and economic benefit for our local and regional communities. You can find a list of what we do and do not collect here! The Curatorial and Collections staff carefully reviews each and every potential object donation to be sure it fits our mission before we make room for it on the shelf – this is another reason we require an appointment to discuss donations.

I just need some space

We have our Scope of Collections not only as a guide to help us keep our collecting activity mission-driven, but also for practical reasons. For one thing, we want to provide meaningful collections for research and not collect the exact same things that other institutions are collecting. Additionally, we simply have limited space, time, and money! Before we agree to take an object or collection of objects, we have to make sure we have a safe place to put it. We also have to plan our budget to cover costs associated with processing new objects – things like archival boxes, supportive foam and tissue, new shelving, and staff time. Speaking of staff time, it can take weeks (or even years, depending on the size of the collection) to fully process a donation of objects. Because of these constraints, we must be careful to only accept objects that are truly within our scope.

Call us, maybe?

If you think we might want your object to have and to hold, in the public trust, forever and ever, please don’t drop it off at the front desk. Your stuff is special! It deserves careful consideration and attention! To make sure I can provide that attention, please email me at erobinson@birthplaceofcountrymusic.org or call me at 423-573-1927. I will happily find a time for us to talk about the potential of a serious long-term relationship between the Birthplace of Country Music and your amazing STUFF!

Emily Robinson is the Collections Manager at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.

By Hannah Arnett, September 26, 2017

Want to know what’s behind our closed museum vault door? With this occasional series, we take you behind the scenes to learn more about some of the interesting objects in our museum collections. 

This Saturday, September 30, the Birthplace of Country Music Museum will be hosting a Shape Note Sing led by The Old Field Singers, an event that is free and open to the public – no singing experience necessary!

This event also provides us with a great opportunity to share part of our collection with you: shape note hymnals from the 1950s and 1960s, gifted to the museum by Dorothy Horne in memory of her mother, Ruth Hamm. I didn’t know much about shape notes before I did some research, but goodness, you don’t grow up Baptist without knowing somebody that remembers singing with shape notes. And I promise you, they’ll tell you all about it if you get them started.

The use of shape notes is rooted in the pre-Civil War South, and if you trace those roots back even further, you’ll find yourself in Great Awakening-era New England – though that’s a completely different blog post. For readers that don’t know, shape notes are a method of musical notation in which each tone is given a distinct shape and syllable to represent it. There are all sorts of shape note traditions, but Sacred Harp and Christian Harmony may be the most well known. The Sacred Harp tradition of shape note singing uses four syllables – fa, sol, la, mi – and four shapes. Christian Harmony – the tradition of The Old Fields Singers – uses seven shapes and seven syllables: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti. Both schools are named for the “tunebooks” associated with them.  If you want to learn more about the particulars of shape notes, this site may be a good place to start.

Vaughn’s Up-To-Date Rudiments and Music Reader was one of the songbooks used by Ruth Hamm when she attended J. M. Dixon’s singing school in Kingsport, Tennessee. Mr. Dixon’s singing school was part of a larger shape note tradition. In the mid-19th century, singing schools sponsored by local singing conventions gained popularity in the south. These sorts of schools used a seven-shape system and relied on “little-books.” James D. Vaughn and Stamps-Baxter music publishing companies were popular suppliers of these kinds of songbooks. They also supplied the bulk of Mrs. Hamm’s collection!

Mrs. Hamm, according to her daughter, sang her entire life. “Mom grew up singing,” Horne remembers. “Her father sang in a quartet. She sang in a quartet, and she took us with her on the practice sessions and all of the places they sang. She later sang with the Happy Day Singers at the Senior Center here in Kingsport.” Throughout her singing career, Mrs. Hamm accumulated a variety of songbooks – 43 of which are now in our collection. They contain some of the most recognizable sacred songs in the south (and anywhere, for that matter): “Victory in Jesus,” “Rock of Ages,” and of course, “Amazing Grace,” to name only a few. Horne has a special connection with one songbook in particular. “My favorite songbook is Lasting Glory and the song I remember so much is ‘I Feel Like Traveling On,’” she recalls. “It is on page 29.  I can [still] see Mr. Dixon leading that song.”

Mrs. Hamm’s songbooks have been through a lot. They’ve been worn all around the edges, marked on, and creased, and some have even had a run-in with water. Those imperfections are part of what makes these songbooks so special: it’s apparent that they’ve been used over and over again. They are well loved. They tell us that singing with these hymnals was an important part of Mrs. Hamm’s life – and likewise, the lives of many that sang by shape notes throughout this region. For those that sang with shape notes, attending singing schools and community sings were once an integral part of keeping in touch with your neighbors. Some sources even indicate that the possibility of courting drew in young members – if they weren’t already “drew in” by their parents.

Community-driven shape note singing in the 1950s and 1960s saw a decline after gospel quartet performances became popular. Although the act of singing in church is still an essential part of the religious experience, there are not anywhere near as many singing schools as there once were. Don Wiley, leader of the Old Fields Singers, notes: “Although opportunities exist today, folks lead busy, even frantic lives.” Those busy days unfortunately mean that shape note singing isn’t as much a part of people’s lives now.

The social aspect of shape note singing might seem irrelevant in this age of social media, where people have more convenient ways to catch up with friends and can “court” with a few swipes on their phones. I asked Wiley what he thought the “most important” reason to continue the tradition of shape note singing was. Wiley gave me an interesting answer: “I can’t do ‘most important’…it seems that the singing itself either strikes a chord inside a person, or not.”

If you do some digging on YouTube, or better yet, join us at the Shape Note Sing on Saturday, I can almost guarantee you that the chord Wiley speaks of will resonate in you. There’s something irresistible about voices raised in gorgeous harmony, led only by a conductor and printed shapes on a page.

Hannah Arnett was an intern at the Birthplace of Country Music Musem in the summer of 2017. She is a senior museum studies and history student at Tusculum College, set to graduate in December 2017. You can learn more about Saturday’s Shape Note Sing here.