Collection consists of the research papers and recordings compiled by English author Michael Gray during the writing of his book on Georgia blues legend Blind Willie McTell, one of the earliest blues performers to record. McTell lived for many of his formative years in Statesboro, home of Georgia Southern University, and he is famous for his distinctive guitar playing and such classic songs as Statesboro Blues and Broke Down Engine. Mr. Gray published Hand Me My Travelin Shoes: In Search of Blind Willie McTell in England in 2007, and an American edition was released in 2009. Not only does Hand Me My Travelin Shoes contribute considerably to our knowledge and understanding of McTell, it is also a story about the challenges of uncovering the details of McTells life and death due to the lack of record keeping about black citizens in late 19th and early 20th Century rural Georgia. Hand Me My Travelin Shoes has been used as a required text in college courses teaching historical and qualitative research methods. Included in the materials obtained from Mr. Gray are recordings and transcripts of interviews with witnesses and folklorists, images of relevant census records, copies of court records, manuscript drafts, extensive correspondence, and the unissued complete recording of McTells last studio session in Atlanta, 1956.
