Lamar Stringfield (1897-1959) of North Carolina was a composer of symphonic works based on American folklore, Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship winner, conductor, flutist, teacher, and promoter of local and regional musical groups, chiefly in North Carolina. The collection contains the papers of Stringfield including correspondence, mostly 1940-1956, with colleagues and friends, poets, and dramatists with whom he collaborated, publishers, pupils, and civic leaders and patrons of the arts in North Carolina and Tennessee; typed and mimeographed books of plays, historical operas, and other works for which he composed music; scrapbooks; photographs; and miscellaneous writings for articles, speeches, and lyrics. Correspondents include Robert Russell Bennett, William Berney, Percy Goetschius, Edwin Franke Goldman, Morton Gould, Paul E. Green, Thor Johnson, Richard Korn, Ernest La Prade, Geoffrey O'Hara, Winfred Overholser, Jan Peerce, John Powell, Howard Richardson, Arthur Shepherd, and Leopold Stokowski. Topics include the development of American music; the organization of local orchestras, music groups, and concerts; fair compensation to composers for the performance of their works, including his own; flute construction and repair, along with other woodwind instruments; Stringfield's appearance as a guest artist at arts festivals and concerts in North Carolina; the development of state and regional orchestras with government aid during the early 1930s; the performance of Stringfield's works by other conductors; efforts to have certain works performed by other conductors; financial problems; and illnesses and operations. Works represented include and Carolina Charcoal, Mountain Song, Mountain Blood, Sodom, Tennessee, Born Climbin', John Henry.
