One component of the recently opened Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa OK is a collection of musical recordings, books and periodicals amassed by the late EGC Bishop Harry Smith. The Center’s site says:
“The Harry Smith Library is a 4,200-piece collection of books, LPs, journals and pamphlets owned by the hugely important music curator, collector and anthropologist who died in 1991. The library collection contains numerous volumes devoted to anthropology, music, art, folklore, religion, literature, math and science, the occult, astrology, and astronomy. The LP collection is similarly broad, including blues, jazz, folk, rock, classical, and ethnographic field recordings.
“In 1951, Smith moved to New York City where he began his most well-known work, The Anthology of American Folk Music. Issued in 1952 in three volumes, the anthology of 84 music tracks from commercially recorded 78 rpm records marked the first time a collection of music was curated and presented as a unified work of art. It became an inspiration to the generation that launched the folk revival of the 1960s and still reverberates throughout our culture.”
Over the years Bob Dylan recorded his versions or rewrites of songs he most likely first encountered on the Anthology.
https://bobdylancenter.com/nov-2021-release/.
